He Shen

Heshen (1750-1799), of the Manchu Niohuru clan, was an official during the Qing Dynasty who was favored by the Qianlong Emperor. He was born as the son of a Manchu military officer, but lost his mother and then his father when he was young, so he and his younger brother had a hard life under his stepmother. He was smart and diligent, a master of several languages. He was free of corruption early in his career, but later became the most corrupt official in Chinese history. He was also a businessman who owned 75 pawnshops and more than 300 banks, and had business contacts with the British East India Company. He was arrested and committed suicide by imperial order. The value of all his wealth, including gold, silver, antiques and treasure, exceeded 15 years’ worth of financial income of the imperial government.

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