Ministers › Statesman / Official
Wei Zhongxian
Eunuch dictator under the Tianqi Emperor who ran the Directorate of Ceremonial and the Eastern Depot and persecuted the Donglin faction.
Mural of the event “Purge of the Donglin Faction”, which this person took part in.
Under the Tianqi Emperor (1624–1627) the eunuch Wei Zhongxian and Madam Ke dominated the court; Donglin officials such as Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou died in the imperial prison, and Zhou Shunchang's arrest in Suzhou set off a townspeople's revolt. After the Chongzhen Emperor's accession Wei hanged himself, and in 1629 the court proclaimed the Traitors' Case.
Also known as Li Jinzhong (original name) · Lord of Nine Thousand Years
- Roles
- Statesman / Official
Wei Zhongxian, born Li Jinzhong in Suning near Hejian, rose in the palace through the Tianqi Emperor's wet nurse Madame Ke to become Ceremonial Directorate scribe and head of the Eastern Depot. In the Tianqi reign his eunuch faction staged purges in which Donglin officials such as Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou died in prison, while officials across the empire built shrines to him in his lifetime. After the Chongzhen Emperor's accession he was banished to Fengyang and hanged himself at Fucheng on the way. His tyranny is the backdrop of Fang Bao's 'Anecdotes of Duke Zuo Zhongyi' and Zhang Pu's 'Inscription for the Tomb of the Five Men'.
Life and times
Dates 1568–1627 CE
- 1624Purge of the Donglin FactionTook partage 56
- 1624Yang Lian Impeaches Wei Zhongxianage 56
- 1625Six Gentlemen Die in Imperial Prisonage 57
- 1626Suzhou Edict-Reading Riot and Five Executionsage 58
- 1627Wei Zhongxian Hangs Himself at Fuchengage 59
- 1629Chongzhen Court Proclaims the Traitors' Case