Story Highlights
- Historical event
- 16 August 1945
- The Soviets arrested Pu Yi when he was already aboard an airplane intended for his departure to Japan. They took him into captivity to the Siberian city of Chita, where they placed him in a sanatorium.
The last Chinese emperor Pu Yi was captured by Soviet troops on this day in 1945.
This occurred one day before Japan surrendered to the Allies in World War II.
Pu Yi was the emperor of the vassal state of Manchukuo (in Manchuria) during the Japanese occupation. The real power was held by Japanese, while Pu Yi served only as a figurehead.
The Soviets captured Pu Yi when he was already aboard an airplane intended for his departure to Japan.
They took him into captivity to the Siberian city of Chita, where they placed him in a sanatorium.
Chita is located roughly halfway between lake Baikal and the current Russo-Chinese border.
They later moved him to Khabarovsk, only around 30 km from the Chinese border. Pu Yi was returned to China in 1949, when the communists had already taken over most of the country.
