Why Was The Richest Eunuch in China Buried So WEIRD?

In the summer of 1966, the schoolteacher Zhao Guangzhi was ordered to break open a grave in Enjizhuang, western Beijing. It belonged to Li Lianying, Empress Dowager Cixi's chief eunuch and the most powerful eunuch of the late Qing dynasty. Inside the coffin were his robe, shoes, prayer beads and a head with a braided queue, but no body. This Chinese history documentary follows Li Lianying from a poor boy in Dacheng County, where he was born Li Yingtai (courtesy name Lingjie), to Cixi's side. He entered the palace through Duanhua, Prince Zheng, under the name Li Jinxi, and rose after the fall of An Dehai, who was executed by Ding Baozhen. The Xianfeng Emperor, Prince Gong, Prince Chun, the censor Zhu Yixin and the Yongzheng Emperor's rank rule all shape his path. Xunling's real court photographs show him beside Cixi. We also tell the story of the Pearl Consort (Consort Zhen), favorite of the Guangxu Emperor, and her sister Consort Jin. Zhen's eunuch Gao Wanzhi was executed and a maid surnamed Bai was expelled. Zhen herself died in a well in 1900. Cui Yugui's own account, preserved by the maid Rong'er (later married off to Liu Desheng), names himself and Wang Dehuan, not Li Lianying. The version that blamed Li comes from the "Diary of Jingshan", published by J.O.P. Bland and Edmund Backhouse and widely judged a forgery. Other people in the story: Empress Dowager Longyu Liu Jin, the Ming eunuch who was truly the richest The witness Lu Yuhuan The historian Tong Xun and Li's adopted granddaughter Li Lezheng Yan Yimin, Jiang Chaozong, Yuan Shikai and Xiao Dezhang, the names tied to the murder theories Sun Yaoting, the last imperial eunuch Puyi Tian Yi, whose tomb now houses the Eunuch Culture Museum References: People's Daily / Xinhua, eyewitness account of the 1966 tomb opening: http://m.people.cn/n4/2016/0805/c677-... CCTV, "Illness or murder: the mystery of Li Lianying's death": http://news.cctv.com/china/20090205/1... Beijing Daily, on the epitaph spelling 李连英: https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s61... Haidian Museum, Li Lianying's Tomb: http://www.haidianmuseum.org/hdgj/cgx... China News Service, Li Lianying's last days: https://www.chinanews.com.cn/m/cul/20... China News Service, Li Lianying's three residences: https://www.chinanews.com.cn/m/cul/20... Wikipedia, Li Lianying: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Lian... Wikipedia, Pearl Consort: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_C... Wikipedia, An Dehai: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Dehai Wikipedia, Sun Yaoting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Yao... Britannica, Liu Jin: https://www.britannica.com/biography/... China News Service, Liu Jin's confiscated fortune: https://www.chinanews.com.cn/cul/2014... Palace Museum, 宫女谈往录 (A Palace Maid's Reminiscences): https://www.dpm.org.cn/journal_detail... South China Morning Post, the making of a Forbidden City eunuch: https://multimedia.scmp.com/culture/a... Facts and Details, Eunuchs in China: https://factsanddetails.com/china/cat...