Liu Jin (; 28 February 1451 – 25 August 1510) was a powerful
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
Chinese
eunuch
A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.
The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...
during the reign of the
Zhengde Emperor
The Zhengde Emperor (; 26 October 149120 April 1521) was the 11th Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1505 to 1521.
Born Zhu Houzhao, he was the Hongzhi Emperor's eldest son. Zhu Houzhao took the throne at only 14 with the era name Zhen ...
.
Liu was famous for being one of the most influential officials in Chinese history. For some time, Liu was the emperor in all but name. He was the leader of the "
Eight Tigers
The Eight Tigers (), sometimes referred to as the Gang of Eight (八黨), were a powerful group of Eunuch (court official), eunuchs that controlled the Chinese imperial court during the reign of the Zhengde Emperor (r. 1505–1521) of the Ming Dyn ...
", a powerful group of eunuchs who controlled the imperial court. Liu was from the area of Xingping, a county in
Shaanxi
Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...
province, approximately 30 miles west of
Xi'an
Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by #Name, other names, is the list of capitals in China, capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province. A Sub-provincial division#Sub-provincial municipalities, sub-provincial city o ...
prefecture.
Liu Jin's original surname was
Tan
Tan or TAN may refer to:
Businesses and organisations
* Black and Tans, a nickname for British special constables during the Irish War of Independence. By extension "Tans" can now also colloquially refer to English or British people in general, es ...
(). When he became a
eunuch
A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.
The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...
under the aegis of a eunuch official named Liu, he changed his surname to Liu.
Plotting against the emperor
The Zhengde Emperor's dissolute lifestyle placed a heavy burden on the people of the empire. He would refuse to receive all his ministers and ignored all their petitions whilst sanctioning the growth of the eunuch community in the imperial palace. Liu made some reforms such as encouraging widows to remarry, a move which went against the
Neo-Confucianism
Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy
Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn period () and Wa ...
views of the time. Many officials and other eunuchs opposed Liu – the
Prince of Anhua rebellion
The Prince of Anhua rebellion () or Prince Anhua uprising was a rebellion by Zhu Zhifan, Prince of Anhua and member of the House of Zhu, against the reign of the Zhengde Emperor from 12 May 1510 to 30 May 1510. The Prince of Anhua revolt was one ...
of
Zhu Zhifan
Zhu Zhifan (; died 1510) was a member of the Ming dynasty's imperial family. He held the title Prince of Anhua from 1492 until 1510; his major power was in central Shaanxi.
Uprising
The Prince of Anhua had long thought himself a suitable candi ...
was a failed attempt to assassinate Liu and seize power. After officials suppressed the uprising, an official named
Yang Yiqing
Yang Yiqing (; 24 December 1454 – 5 September 1530), courtesy name Yingning (應寧), pseudonym Sui'an (邃庵) or Shizong (石淙), was a Chinese scholar-official of the Ming dynasty.
History
Yang's ancestral home was located in Yunnan, Yiqi ...
persuaded another eunuch Zhang Yong () to report Liu's plotting of rebellion. The Zhengde Emperor did not believe this report at first but took it seriously enough to consider expelling Liu to
Fengyang County
Fengyang County () is a county in north-central Anhui Province, China. It is under the administration of Chuzhou, a prefecture-level city. The county was home to 765,600 people as of 2013.
Administrative divisions
Fengyang County is divided into ...
in
Anhui Province
Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
. Zhang's discovery of many weapons in Liu's houses sealed his fate.
Death
The emperor ordered Liu executed in
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
by
death by a thousand cuts
''Lingchi'' (; ), translated variously as the slow process, the lingering death, or slow slicing, and also known as death by a thousand cuts, was a form of torture and execution used in China from roughly 900 CE up until the practice ended aro ...
over a period of three days, a process that resulted in Liu being cut 3,357 times. According to witnesses, angry onlookers bought a piece of his flesh for one qian (the smallest available currency at the time) and consumed it accompanied with rice wine. Liu died on the second day of his punishment after three to four hundred cuts.
Personal wealth
According to one report, shortly before Liu was executed, 12,057,800
Asian Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal Asia'', a version of ''The Wall Street Journal'', was a newspaper that provided news and analysis of global business developments for an Asian audience. Formerly known as ''The Asian Wall Street Journal'', it was founde ...
placed Liu on its list of the fifty wealthiest persons in the past 1,000 years although the actual amount may in fact have been lower.(In Chinese) Wu Si (吴思) ''Blood Money Law: Survival Tricks in Chinese History'' (中国历史中的生存游戏, 第一部分) .