Yuzhan

Who is Yuzhan?

Yuzhan, courtesy name Jungu, is a calligrapher and member of the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan, the ruling house of the Qing Dynasty. He was the seventh son of Puwei and a great-grandson of Yixin, Prince Gong, making him also a great-great-grandson of the 19th century Daoguang Emperor.

Yuzhan was born in Dalian, Liaoning in 1923. He had a keen interest in calligraphy and learned the style of the Qing imperial clan. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Yuzhan and his father Puwei served in the puppet state of Manchukuo, where China's last emperor Puyi was installed by the Japanese as a nominal ruler. Puyi later referred to Yuzhan as "Xiaogu" in his autobiography. Yuzhan inherited his father's title of "Prince Gong of the First Rank" after the latter's death in 1936. At the end of the war in 1945, Yuzhan was captured by Soviet forces and extradited to the War Criminals Management Centre in Fushun, Liaoning. Yuzhan was released four years later in 1949.

Yuzhan was sent to do forced labour during the Cultural Revolution under the Communist regime. He is currently a member of many calligraphy societies in China and has produced many works. He specialises in the semi-cursive and cursive scripts.