Residence of Heshen

Have you been to the residence of the world's most corrupt official?

In Beijing, you will find one such residence. We had seen how grand and spacious the palace-like residence was when we were at Beijing a few years ago. The residence with its interior decor was built according to imperial designs. This residence belongs to Heshen 和珅, a high ranking official of the Qing Dynasty during the reign of Qianlong Emperor. The residence was later given to Prince Gong after Heshen was found guilty and executed for crimes against the Emperor. If you know the wealth this man had amassed while in power, you would agree that he was the world's most corrupt official. His total property was estimated at around 1,100 million taels of silver, an amount equivalent to the revenue of the Qing government for 15 years. Even his chief butler, Liu Quan, amassed treasures of 240,000 taels of silver, land and properties.


The residence of Heshen

Heshen 和珅 was born the son of a Manchu military officer and was selected to go to the most privileged school for Manchu aristocratic boys. He was an excellent student, knowing several languages besides Mandarin and Manchu. In 1772, he began working in the Imperial Palace as a bodyguard stationed at the gates to the Forbidden City. At the age of 25, Heshen found favour in the eyes of Qianlong Emperor. Within a year, he was promoted to vice-president of the Ministry of Revenue, and two months later was made a Grand Councillor. As Emperor Qianlong liked him very much, within three months, he was promoted even further to a minister of the Imperial Household Department, a post usually filled with the most meritorious officials. In 1777, at the age of 27, Heshen was given the privilege of riding a horse within the Forbidden City, a prestigious privilege given only to high-ranking officials of elderly age. It was not long before Heshen was given control of both the Ministry of Revenue and the Civil Council, allowing him to control the revenue of the entire empire, and appoint his own henchmen to important posts within the officials. Heshen's relation to Qianlong Emperor was further strengthened when his son was married to the emperor's tenth and favourite daughter in 1790 .

On securing Qianlong Emperor's favour, Heshen enjoyed almost complete freedom of his actions. He became openly corrupt and practiced extortion on a grand scale. His supporters within the imperial court followed his lead, and his military associates prolonged military campaigns just to receive additional state funds. He regularly stole public funds, taxes and even tributes meant for the emperor.  It was not until Qianlong's death on 7 February 1799 that his successor, the Jiaqing Emperor, was able to hatch a plot to arrest and prosecute Heshen. On February 12 (5 days after the death of Emperor Qianlong), Heshen was arrested along with military officer Fuchang'an (福長安) while conducting funeral rituals for Qianlong Emperor. Declared guilty by an imperial edict, he was condemned to death by slow slicing (a punishment by slowly slicing off fresh from the body of the condemned prisoner in public until he died). As he was connected to the imperial family through marriage, Jiaqing Emperor eventually spared Heshen this horrible death, and instead ordered him to commit suicide (by hanging himself with a rope of golden silk) in his home on 22 February, sparing his family members.

The building that Heshen kept his treassures

The scale of Heshen's corruption came to light when Qianlong Emperor abdicated in February 1796 with the full damage of the corruption finally realised. However, Qianlong continued to rule China behind the scenes under the grand title of Taishang Huang (Retired Emperor) and Jiaqing Emperor was unable to bring Heshen to justice. From the 24 years that Heshen caught the Qianlong Emperor's attention and favour, he had amassed an incredible fortune.

When Jiaqing Emperor confiscated Heshen's property after his execution, his assets included: 3,000 rooms in his estates and mansions, 8,000 acres (32 km²) of land, 42 bank branches, 75 pawnbroker branches, 60,000 taels of copper alloyed gold, 100 large ingots of pure gold, (1,000 taels each), 56,600 medium silver ingots, (100 taels each), 9,000,000 small silver ingots, (10 taels each), 58,000 pounds of foreign currency, 1,500,000 copper coins, 600 lb of top-quality Jilin ginseng, 1,200 jade charms, 230 pearl bracelets (each pearl comparable in size to large cherries or longans), 10 large pearls (each the size of apricots), 10 large ruby crystals, 40 large sapphire crystals, 40 tablefuls of solid-silver eating utensils, (serves 10 per table), 40 tablefuls of solid-gold eating utensils, (serves 10 per table), 11 coral rocks (each over a metre in height), 14,300 bolts of fine silk, 20,000 sheets of fine sheep-fur wool, 550 fox hides, 850 raccoon dog hides, 56,000 sheep and cattle hides of varying thickness, 7,000 sets of fine clothing (for all four seasons), 361,000 bronze and tin vases and vessels, 100,000 porcelain vessels made by famous masters, 24 highly decorative solid-gold beds (each with eight different types of inlaid gemstones), 460 top-quality European clocks, 606 servants, 600 women in his harem. There was a saying among the locals: the downfall of Heshen indeed brought good fortune to Jiaqing.To date there are 2 drama series produced by CCTV of China on the life of Heshen and also many books published on his life story.

The assets he amassed were incredible, no wonder he was considered the world's most corrupt official. What a pity, he was not able to enjoy any of the wealth he accumulated, besides bringing shame to his family and death to himself.


Artificial lake in the compound of the residence

Entrance to the residence