Li Yuqin

Li Yuqin (15 July 1928 – 24 April 2001), sometimes referred to as the "Last Imperial Concubine" , was the fourth wife of China's last emperor Puyi. She married Puyi when the latter was the nominal ruler of Manchukuo, a puppet state established by the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

In 1945 the Manchukuo regime collapsed following the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II. Li attempted to flee from Changchun, alongside Puyi, Empress Wanrong and other remaining members of the old Qing court. She, as well as the rest of Puyi's family was evacuated with him by train from Changchun to Dalizigou. From there, however, Puyi continued by plane with only two of his sisters, his brothers, three nephews, his physician and a servant to Mukden, where he was arrested and taken to the Soviet Union. According to Puyi, Li Yuqin was very frightened and begged to be taken with him, when he left from Dalizigou to Mukden, but he assured her that she and Wanrong could reach Japan as well by train. Some documents state that Puyi let the women go by train in the belief that women would be better treated by the military than men.

They were shortly arrested by Soviet forces and sent to a prison in Changchun. Empress Wanrong was experiencing significant opium withdrawal symptoms at that time. Empress Wanrong died shortly in the same year before Li was released in 1946 and sent back home. She worked in a textile factory and in a library in Changchun, studying the works of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. In 1955 she began visiting Puyi in prison. After applying to the Chinese authorities for a divorce, Li was shown into a room with a large bed on her fifth visit to Puyi. According to Li it was the leader of Puyi who wanted to reform Puyi. During the Cultural Revolution, Li became a target for attack by the Red Guards because she used to be Puyi's concubine.

She died on 24 April 2001 at the age of 73 in Changchun after a six-year battle with cirrhosis.