Fushun War Criminals Management Centre

The Fushun War Criminals Management Centre held Emperor Puyi, the last Qing emperor, along with Japanese war criminals and Nationalist officers after the Communist victory in 1949. The facility operated as a re-education centre until 1975 and is now a museum that traces the unusual trajectory of its most famous resident with considerable directness.

The exhibits include Puyi's original cell and daily living quarters, documents from his re-education process, and artefacts from his subsequent life as an ordinary citizen — including his work unit identity card. The museum also covers the Japanese war criminals who were held here, many of whom wrote detailed confessions of their actions in Manchuria during the occupation. A separate section documents the Nationalist military officers who passed through the facility. The complex is well-maintained and provides a perspective on the post-1949 period that is available almost nowhere else.

things to do museum sight
A story
Emperor Puyi arrived at this facility in 1950 as prisoner number 981. After nine years of "thought reform" — daily study sessions, self-criticism, and agricultural labour — he was released in 1959 and spent his remaining years as an ordinary citizen working in a botanical garden. His autobiography, written with considerable candour about his collaboration with the Japanese occupation, became one of the most revealing accounts of the Qing Dynasty's final generation.