You can find this bell at the exhibition hall "A Brief History of
Ancient Bells." It is 1.70 meters in height and 452 kilograms in
weight. An inscription on the bell says that the bell was cast
devoutly by Wei Zhongxian, a eunuch who was in charge of not only
the Eastern Chamber (imperial secret service headquarters) but all
the incoming petitions and memorials as well. He was given a free
hand to place his diehard followers in the Six Boards and the
offices of the governors and governors-general. Altogether they
formed a eunuch clique. They ruthlessly persecuted persons whose
names they had on a list. The bell also bears a line: "Long live
the present Emperor! A long, long life to him!"
???
The bell was cast "on an auspicious day of the 4th lunar month
of the 7th year of the reign of Tianqi." By a historical
coincidence, according to A History of the Ming Dynasty,
"a student of the Imperial College by the name of Lu Wanling
appealed for building Wei Zhongxian's Memorial Temple beside the
Imperial College and offering annual sacrifices to him like
Confucius" and the emperor "approved the appeal." So the building
of Wei Zhongxian's Memorial Temple could come true. The bell was
cast in the 4th lunar month and the memorial temple was built in
the 5th lunar month of the year. It seemed that this was not
accidental, but might have been premeditated. Wei Zhongxian was a
eunuch when Zhu Youxiao (Emperor Xizong) was on the throne.
According to historical records, he "usurped the state power,
sacked the state treasury, framed cases against loyal and upright
officials, treated human life as if it were not worth a straw, and
behaved viciously like the tiger and wolf." He acted in collusion
with Nee Ke, the wet nurse of Zhu Youxiao, and carried out wanton
massacre and persecution. He was killed by Zhu Youjian who
succeeded Zhu Youxiao as the emperor.
???
Apparently the scoundrel had the bell cast in order to
build up his public image and sing the praises of himself. He
didn't expect that in half a year, he would be removed from office
and banished to a distant place. He hanged himself, going down in
history as a byword for infamy.
