Emperor of China Emperor of China The Emperor or Huangdi () was the secular imperial title of the Chinese sovereign reigning between the founding of the Qin dynasty that unified China in 221 BC and the abdication of Puyi in 1912 AD following the Xinhai Revolution and the establishment of the Republic of China, although it was later restored twice in two failed revolutions in 1916 and 1917. The holy title of the Chinese emperor was the "Son of Heaven" (), a title much older than the "Emperor of China" which predates the Zhou dynasty and recognized as the ruler of ""All under
Shunzhi Emperor by King Pindale Min of the Toungoo dynasty. The last sovereign of the Southern Ming stayed there until 1662, when he was captured and executed by Wu Sangui, the former Ming general whose surrender to the Manchus in April 1644 had allowed Dorgon to start the Qing conquest of China. Zheng Chenggong ("Koxinga"), who had been adopted by the Longwu Emperor in 1646 and ennobled by Yongli in 1655, also continued to defend the cause of the Southern Ming. In 1659, just as the Shunzhi Emperor was preparing to hold a special examination to celebrate the glories of his reign