Reginald Johnston: The SOAS Professor who Tutored the Dragon Emperor
Jacob Winter, Senior Staff Writer, BA Politics and International Relations
SOAS has long been recognised for its expertise in Asian and African studies, offering some of the most knowledgeable academics in these fields. Many of these scholars came directly from the British colonial service, which possessed some of the few people who had any substantial knowledge in the imperial metropole on the vast territories it ruled. One such academic was Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston, a colonial official and the last British commissioner of Weihaiwei, who later became a professor of Chinese at SOAS. Johnston’s life story is closely tied to that of Puyi, China’s last emperor, whom he tutored during a tumultuous period in China’s history.
Reginald Johnston, born in Edinburgh, studied at Magdalen College, Oxford, and at 24 joined the British Colonial Service. He was stationed in Hong Kong and later in Weihaiwei, a British leased territory in Shandong Province. Johnston travelled extensively in Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, and met the Dalai Lama’s predecessor in Tibet. He also published three books about his travels and experiences.
In 1919, Johnston was appointed by the British colonial office to tutor Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing dynasty, who at the time was a young boy residing in Beijing’s Forbidden City. The Qing Empire had formally ended in 1912 when Puyi was only five years old. However, Puyi continued to live in the Forbidden City, while the country around him collapsed into banditry and civil war, with no authority recognising the young boy-emperor. Johnston’s role was to teach Puyi, who was forbidden from leaving the palace, about the broader world beyond the palace walls.
Johnston had a significant influence on Puyi’s development. He educated him about the outside world and exposed the rampant corruption within the imperial court. Johnston even provided Puyi with glasses, something his court had refused to supply. In 1924, Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City, and Johnston returned to his work with the Colonial Office. Despite his efforts to host Puyi at the British consulate, the emperor ultimately aligned with the Japanese, becoming a puppet ruler of Japanese-occupied Manchuria. After China’s civil war, Puyi was imprisoned by the People’s Liberation Army and later released into the People’s Republic of China, where he renounced his imperial past and became a committed communist. He lived out his days as a gardener, dying in 1967 at the age of 61.
Following his departure from Puyi’s service, Johnston worked again for the Colonial Office in their business dealings in China, and became the final civilian commissioner of Weihaiwei, in Shandong province. Johnston joined SOAS in 1931 as a professor of Chinese, a position he held until his retirement in 1937. During his time at SOAS, he donated his extensive personal collection of Chinese texts and artefacts to the university library, including a fan with Han poetry that had been a gift from Puyi. The Han poetry on the fan are various poems about tutors and teachers, and the dutiful role they play in society. Johnston’s legacy at SOAS and in the field of Chinese studies is still felt today.
After retiring to the Scottish island of Eilean Righ, Johnston lived a quiet life, growing a botanical garden with plants from China. The island was unique in that it was the only place outside of China where the flag of Manchukuo, the Japanese-controlled state, flew. Johnston passed away in Edinburgh in 1938 at the age of 63.
Johnston’s work Twilight in the Forbidden City, which chronicles his time with Puyi, is a seminal text on the last emperor of China and the royal court after the 1911 revolution. The book was adapted into the Oscar-winning 1987 film The Last Emperor, with Peter O’Toole portraying Johnston. His personal library and collection are housed at SOAS, and those wishing to view it can contact the university’s Special Collections archivist at special. collections@soas.ac.uk.