Liu Jin
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Liu Jin (劉瑾), (?-1510), was a well-known Chinese eunuch during the Ming Dynasty. Liu was famous for being one of the most corrupt officials in Chinese history and the effective emperor for some time.
Zhengde Emperor 's living put heavy load on the people, and he would refuse to receive all his ministers and ignored all their petitions. He also sanctioned the rise of eunuchs around him. Liu made some reforms such as encouraging widows to remarry, against the Neo-Confucianism views of that time. [1] Many officials and other eunuchs were against him. The uprising of Prince Zhu Zhifan (安化王朱寘鐇) was to fight Liu. After the officials suppressed the uprising, an official, Yang Yiqing (楊一清), persuaded another enunuch, Zhang Yong (張永), to report Liu's plotting rebellion. Zhengde did not believe it at first and considered expelling Liu to Fengyang (鳳陽). But Zhang reported many weapons in Liu's houses. The emperor then ordered Liu executed by death by a thousand cuts in three days, which resulted in Liu being cut 3,357 times. According to witnesses, the onlookers in Beijing bought his flesh for one qian (smallest available currency) and ate the flesh while drinking rice wine. Liu died the second day after a cruel three to four hundred cuts.[2][3][4][5]
According to one report, shortly before Liu was executed, 12,057,800 tael (449,750 kg) of gold and 259,583,600 tael (9,682,470 kg) of silver were taken from his residence.[6] [7] In 2001, the Asian Wall Street Journal placed Liu in the list of 50 wealthiest persons in the past 1,000 years.[8] The actual amount may be lower.[9]
References
- ^ 寡妇再嫁农民减负：中国古代鲜为人知的太监变法
- ^ 比部招議/(明)陳璋
- ^ 辉煌闽台温的陈璋家族
- ^ 端巖公年譜/(明)張文麟
- ^ Short Biography In Chinese
- ^ 谈谈中国清朝腐败的深层次原因
- ^ 繼世紀聞/(明)陳洪謨
- ^ Asian Wall Street Journal article that briefly mentioned Liu Jin
- ^ 吴思. 血酬定律：中国历史中的生存游戏, 第一部分