On 114 years ago today, March 4, 1911 (February 4, 1911 in the lunar calendar), the chief eunuch Li Lianying passed away. Li Lianying (November 12, 1848-March 4, 1911) was a native of Lijia Village, Dacheng County, Hejian Prefecture, Hebei Province, and a famous eunuch in the late Qing Dynasty. His real name was Li Yingtai, and he changed his name to Li Jinxi after entering the palace. He was given the name Lian Ying by the Empress Dowager Cixi, and was commonly known as Lian Ying. During his stay in the palace, Lian Ying was deeply valued by the Empress Dowager Cixi. The Empress Dowager even broke the royal ancestral system of "the rank of eunuchs is limited to the fourth rank" and was granted the title of the second rank chief eunuch, leading all eunuchs in the palace. Li Lianying Li Lianying was born on November 12, the 28th year of Daoguang (1848) in a poor family in Zhili Province (now Hebei Province). In 1853, when he was 6 years old, he purified himself as an eunuch and joined Prince Duanhuafu of Zheng. In 1856, he entered the Forbidden City. He was originally called Li Yingtai, and later changed to Li Jinxi. In 1867, he was granted the title of Second Manager. In 1869, when he was 21 years old, Chief Manager An Dehai went out to the palace to play and was beheaded in Jinan by Shandong Governor Ding Baozhen. Due to Li's meritorious service in the Xin You coup, after the death of An Dehai, he was given important positions in Cixi. Soon after he was transferred to the Inner Palace to serve and promoted to Chief Manager. In 1871, Empress Dowager Cixi gave the name Lian Ying, which was falsely attributed to Lian Ying. When Lian Ying was favored by the Empress Dowager Cixi, he was known for his prudence. Court ministers also competed to bribe Li Lianying with silver. When ordinary concubines in the palace angered Cixi, Lian Ying always tried his best to cover up for others and protect many people from punishment. Therefore, everyone in the palace had positive comments on him, calling him "courtesy and prudence", which was not the type of bullying in dramas and novels. However, Lian Ying accepted money from many officials, and his greed for money was also a fact, which was recorded by many officials in the late Qing Dynasty. Generally speaking, Lian Ying is cautious and cautious. In Cixi's later years, he was more like a companion of Cixi than a slave. On October 22, the 34th year of Guangxu, Cixi died in Yiluan Hall in Xiyuan, Beijing. Li Lianying finished handling Cixi's funeral and left the palace where she had lived for 51 years on the second day of February of the first year of Xuantong. Empress Dowager Longyu, who was in charge of the inner palace at that time, thanked him for serving in the palace for many years and allowed him to "retire from the original form", that is, retire with the original salary of 60 taels of silver per month. There are many legends surrounding Li Lianying's departure from the palace and his death. Some people said that he saw Guangxu's younger brother Zaifeng supervising the country's regent and retreated outside the palace for fear of retaliation; others said that after Li Lianying's death, palace eunuchs snatched his inheritance one after another, and Empress Dowager Longyu confiscated all the property; others said that Li Lianying offended many people during her lifetime and lived in seclusion after leaving the palace, but she was eventually assassinated near Houhai. Although similar legends are very popular, judging from the arrangements made by the Qing Dynasty for Li Lianying's departure from the palace and after his death at that time, these legends are unbelievable. As a eunuch, Li Lianying's status is extremely humble. The difference is that due to the appreciation and favor of the Empress Dowager Cixi, he enjoyed the unprecedented power and status of palace eunuchs, and money and wealth also rolled in. But it was precisely because of this special relationship with Cixi that he became one of the notorious figures in modern history of China. When Li Lianying died, she received 1000 taels of silver from the Qing Dynasty court and built a luxurious tomb in the eunuch cemetery in Enji Village, Beijing. Li Lianying's tomb was destroyed 30 years ago, and only rubbings of the epitaph remain.