Bøker av Reginald F. Johnston

British academic and diplomat Reginald Fleming Johnston (1874-1938) published Twilight in the Forbidden City in 1934. The work is a memoir of Johnston's time in Beijing between 1919 and 1924, at the court of the Qing Dynasty, where he served as tutor to Aisin-Gioro Puyi (1906-1967), last emperor of China. Johnston was one of only two foreigners who were permitted to enter the imperial palace, and so his account provides a unique Western perspective on the epochal events of the period. The work has a preface by the emperor Puyi and includes detailed descriptions of palace rituals, including Puyi's wedding ceremony; translations of key documents; Johnston's perspective on the revolution of 1911 and the 1917 restoration; his observations on Chinese society as a whole; and eye-witness accounts of the political intrigues of the palace. The memoir was dramatised in Bernardo Bertolucci's cinematic masterpiece, The Last Emperor.

Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston (1874-1938) was a colonial administrator and scholar with a lifelong fascination with China who was appointed tutor to the young Puyi (1906-1967), who became emperor at the age of two. Johnston was highly favoured by the emperor, receiving several imperial titles and residing in the Forbidden City. His account of his time as Puyi's tutor, Twilight in the Forbidden City, also reissued in this series, was dramatised in the film The Last Emperor. Previously, Johnston had served in a variety of colonial service positions, including three years as commissioner of the British-held territory of Weihaiwai. This book, first published in 1910, is Johnston's examination of Weihaiwei, which he considered to be a microcosm of Chinese life. Writing with obvious affection, Johnston outlines the history, culture, festivals and local folklore of Weihaiwei and explores what the future could hold for the city.