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Yuyan (17 May 1918 – 18 January 1999),courtesy nameYanrui, nicknameXiaoruizi, was a Chinese calligrapher ofManchu descent. He was a member of theAisin Gioro clan, the imperial clan of theQing dynasty. He claimed that he was appointed byPuyi, the lastEmperor of China, as the heir to the throne. His claim is the subject of the travel adventure bookThe Empty Throne by British journalistTony Scotland.^[1]

Born inWangfujing,Beijing, Yuyan was the second son of Pucheng (溥偁) and Jinggui (敬貴), a lady of the Fuca (富察) clan. His grandfather wasZailian (載濂; 1854–1917), a son ofYicong (1831–1889), the fifth son of theDaoguang Emperor. He was a distant cousin ofPuyi, the Last Emperor.

In 1936, Yuyan was summoned by Puyi, who had been enthroned as the ruler of the puppet stateManchukuo in 1934 by theEmpire of Japan, to join his imperial court inChangchun,Jilin. Yuyan was very close to Puyi, who called him "Xiaoruizi" (小瑞子; or "Little Rui").

After the fall of Manchukuo, Yuyan was arrested by the Soviets and imprisoned from 1945 to 1950 nearKhabarovsk in theSoviet Union'sFar East Region along with Puyi. He was later sent back to China, where he was incarcerated in theFushun War Criminals Management Centre inLiaoning from 1950 to 1957.

Yuyan was apretender to the Chinese throne. He claimed that Puyi appointed him as heir when they were both imprisoned in the Soviet Union in 1950. In his autobiography, Puyi wrote only that he considered selecting Yuyan as his heir.^[2] Under a succession law adopted in 1937, Puyi's younger brother,Pujie, became next in line in succession to the throne.

Following his release from Fushun, Yuyan worked as a Chinese language teacher, and later in a haberdashery factory. He was arrested in 1959 and sent for hard labour at a public security detention centre nearBeijing. Yuyan was arrested again in 1966 during theCultural Revolution andsent to do hard labour inShanxi. He was only released in 1979 and allowed to return to Beijing, where he became a road sweeper.

Yuyan was a calligrapher and poet. In 1987, he was appointed as a state consultant on the restoration of thePrince Gong Mansion inBeijing.

Yuyan is the main character in the bookThe Empty Throne: The Quest for an Imperial Heir in the People's Republic of China (1993) by the British journalistTony Scotland. Scotland was searching for an heir to the imperial throne of China.

• Elder sister: Yu Juying (毓菊英), married Chen Yingsan (陳英三), son of Chen Zengshou (陳曾壽).
• First wife, Ma Jinglan (馬靜蘭), of Manchu descent, married Yuyan in 1943.
  • Hengzhen (恆鎮; 1944 – 27 August 2023^[3]), first son, married Du Yanling (杜彥玲).
    • Jin Qixing (啟瑆; b. 1977), also known as Hengxing (恆瑆)
  • Hengkai (恆鎧; b. 1945), second son, married Liu Xiujuan (劉秀娟)
    • Jin Qiqi (金啟琪; b. 1980), also known as Yinghui (英輝;)
• Second wife, Zhang Yunfang (張雲訪), married Yuyan in 1949 after Ma Jinglan died in 1948 inTianjin.
  • Hengjun (恆鈞; b. 1966), third son, married Fan Qin (范秦; b. 1971)
    • Jin Qitong (金啟桐; b. 29 October 1996)

• Royal and noble ranks of the Qing dynasty
• Ranks of imperial consorts in China § Qing

• 1918 births
• 1997 deaths
• Chinese collaborators with Imperial Japan
• Qing dynasty imperial princes
• Manchu people
• Aisin Gioro
• Pretenders to the Chinese throne
• People from Manchukuo

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