when he was two years old, in 1908, he became the xuantong emperor (then spelled as hsuan tung emperor). at the age of six, he was overthrown by sun yat-sen in the 1911 revolution. he was forced to give up all political power, but he was allowed to keep his title, his servants, and everything he owned in the forbidden city. in turn, he had to pay the republic of china 4 million taels a year and was never allowed to leave the forbidden city.