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This book is a memoir of Johnston, Puyi's British teacher. It focuses on Puyi, the last emperor of China, and describes modern China from a Western perspective. The whole book can be roughly divided into three stages based on time: the dying struggle of the Qing Dynasty (1898-1912); the end of the imperial system (1912-1924); and the life from Puyi's expulsion from the Forbidden City to his departure to Fengtian (1924-1931). In this book, Johnston not only describes the life of the last emperor from boyhood to youth, but also shows a series of major events from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China: from the Hundred Days Reform to the Boxer Rebellion, Yuan Shikai proclaimed himself emperor, Zhang Xun was restored, Feng Yuxiang launched the Beijing coup, and so on.

This book mainly records the twilight period of the "Qing Dynasty" trapped in the Forbidden City, that is, the history from 1912 to 1924 from the founding of the Republic of China to Puyi's expulsion from the palace. The author Johnston uses the transition from monarchy to republic as the historical background, including the Reform Movement of 1898, the Boxer Rebellion, the Revolution of 1911, Yuan Shikai's proclaimed emperor, and Zhang Xun's restoration. And other events; based on his experience as an imperial advisor and coexisting with the last emperor Puyi, the book depicts the unique, closed and desirable life in the Forbidden City, and presents the real Puyi and the turbulent situation in modern China in his eyes one by one through memoirs. All kinds of characters are vivid and vivid on the page.