Former Site of Puyi’s Underground Shelter

Former Site of Puyi’s Underground Shelter

The Former Site of Puyi’s Underground Shelter is a cultural relic protection unit of Jilin Province.

About 30 meters southeast of the Tongde Hall at the former site of the Puppet Manchukuo Imperial Palace, beneath the rockery in the East Imperial Garden, there is a dark entrance. A black informational plaque mounted outside the entrance reveals that this was once Puyi’s private air-raid shelter.

According to historical records, the construction of the air-raid shelter was carried out by the Construction and Maintenance Section of the Puppet Manchukuo Construction Bureau, but the design drawings and related materials were entirely provided by the Japanese Kwantung Army, which speaks volumes about how seriously the invaders took it. After its completion, the shelter remained largely unused for a long time. However, in the days following August 9, 1945, Puyi and his family members going in and out of the shelter became a common occurrence—so much so that even the Commander of the Kwantung Army, General Yamada Otozō, once took refuge inside with Puyi during an air raid.

This air-raid shelter, buried nearly 7 meters underground, has a cylindrical shape and consists of three parts: a sloped staircase, a buffer corridor, and the refuge chamber. It was built with reinforced concrete, and the thickest part of the walls reaches 3 meters, making it exceptionally sturdy. In addition, to enhance blast resistance, the excavated earth and stones from the shelter construction were piled up on top to form a man-made hill several meters high—that is, the very rockery now located in the East Imperial Garden. As a result, the deeply buried shelter could withstand bombings exceeding two tons.

The refuge chamber of the air-raid shelter contains five rooms of varying sizes, with different floor areas and distinct functions. The first room is the ventilation chamber, equipped with a hand-cranked air pump to filter air for the other rooms and prevent poison gas intrusion. The second room is the observation room, outfitted with a periscope to monitor the surface. The fourth and fifth rooms served as shelters for Puyi and his family during air raids; due to limited space, only a few chairs were placed inside at the time. The third room is somewhat unique, measuring 13.4 square meters—the largest of the five—but it was not intended for air-raid sheltering. Instead, it was used to house Puyi’s ancestral tablets.