**Four Times Death Knocked: The Assassination Attempts on the Jiaqing Emperor**

If I told you there was an emperor who almost got assassinated **four times within ten years**, you’d probably picture some absolute monster.

A tyrant.

A sadist.

One of those “yeah… he had it coming” kind of rulers.

But here’s the twist.

The Jiaqing Emperor (嘉慶帝) wasn’t exactly that guy.

Born in 1760 and ruling from 1796 to 1820, he actually spent a good chunk of his reign *trying* to clean up the mess left behind by his father—corruption, bloated bureaucracy, officials lining their pockets like it was a competitive sport.

And yet…

Despite not being the worst emperor in the room, people kept trying to kill him.

Not once.

Not twice.

But four separate times.

So what the hell was going on?

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**Attempt #1 (1803): When Life Corners You**

Image: In a misty lotus garden, a man in ornate gold robes screams and runs, chased by a wild-eyed man with a straw hat and knife, while others laugh.

[

]

First up—February 1803.

A man named Chen De, 47 years old, storms the Forbidden City with a knife.

No grand army. No master plan. Just one man and a breaking point.

He had lost his job. His wife had died. He was left raising kids and caring for a sick mother-in-law. No money, no safety net, no way out.

So he chose violence—not because it made sense, but because nothing else did anymore.

He snuck into the royal garden, waited for the emperor to come by, and jumped out waving a knife. This was so unexpected that the guards did not react immediately- Chen actually chased the terror-stricken emperor through the garden for a few seconds before the guards took him down, and that was that.

Except… it wasn’t just him who paid for it.

Chen De was executed. His sons were executed too.

And suddenly this isn’t just a story about a failed assassination—it’s about how brutally the system responded to desperation.

And yeah… I don’t care how tough you are, reading that hits a nerve.

Because when life squeezes hard enough, people don’t always break quietly.

As the Joker said to the Batman, "All it takes, is one real bad day to make you just like me."

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**Attempt #2 (1805): The Worst Stealth Mission Ever**

Image: Two men sprint along a stone path beside a lotus pond at dusk. one in ornate yellow robes, the other a bald monk with beads and staff, shouting.

[

]

Now this one? Feels like history accidentally wrote a dark comedy.

November 1805.

A monk named Liu Yao gets caught wandering around inside imperial grounds. He’s carrying a blade—but it’s basically a utility tool, not some assassin’s weapon.

Still, big problem: he’s not supposed to be there.

So they grab him and ask the obvious question:

“What are you doing here?”

And this man—dead serious—goes:

“Buddha came to me in a dream and told me to come talk to the emperor.”

…Alright.

Apparently, he snuck in with the morning servants, fully committed to this divine appointment.

And then?

He got lost.

Couldn’t even find the emperor.

Now here’s where it gets interesting.

In a lot of dynasties, this ends with an execution. Immediate. No debate.

But they couldn’t prove he actually intended to assassinate anyone.

So instead:

* He gets stripped of his monk status

* Beaten (caning)

* Exiled for a while, then sent home

Which, all things considered, is a slap on the wrist compared to what it *could* have been.

That little moment tells you something important:

Jiaqing wasn’t running a mercy-free slaughterhouse. There was still some judgment in play.

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**Attempt #3 (1806): Main Character Syndrome—Deadly Edition**

Image: A muscular, bare-chested warrior with a topknot lunges forward, shouting, wielding two blades. Armored soldiers surround him amid dust and sparks, before a palace gate.

[

]

February 1806. Exactly two years after the first attempt.

And this time? Things get wild.

A man—later confirmed as Liu Shixing—rolls up to the palace with a spear.

Guards approach him.

He doesn’t back down.

He attacks.

And not just a quick swing-and-done kind of thing—this guy **fights through multiple guards**.

* Spear first, injuring several

* Then switches to a machete and a butcher knife

* Keeps going, injuring and killing before finally being overwhelmed

This wasn’t a fluke.

This guy trained for this.

Sold his donkey to buy weapons. Traveled to the capital with one goal in mind.

And when they asked him why?

His answer was almost painfully honest:

He wanted to do something “heroic and legendary.”

Yeah.

That hits different, doesn’t it?

Because it sounds crazy… until you realize how many people out there are desperate to matter. To be seen. To not just disappear into nothing.

He died from his injuries.

His family was punished—but not executed. Associates were caned, not killed.

Again, by historical standards, that’s restraint.

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**Attempt #4 (1813): When the Crowd Comes for You**

Image: A vast palace gate is under siege. a dense crowd waves axes, spears, and poles amid smoke, sparks, and flames. Guardian lions flank a burning breach beneath sunset.

[

]

By 1813, things weren’t just personal anymore.

They were political. Religious. Explosive.

Enter the Eight Trigrams Uprising—a secret society-fueled rebellion rooted in spiritual beliefs, social unrest, and a whole lot of anger toward the Qing government.

About 200 rebels storm the Forbidden City.

And somehow… they actually get inside.

That alone is insane.

Their goal? Kill the emperor.

But fate throws a curveball—Jiaqing isn’t even there. He’s off on a hunting trip.

Instead, his son—Prince Mianning (the future Daoguang Emperor)—is on site.

And this guy doesn’t hesitate.

He grabs a musket, fires, kills one rebel, wounds another, and basically holds the line until guards swarm in and shut the whole thing down.

After that, it’s a bloodbath:

* Around 30 rebels killed inside the palace

* Over 40 captured

* More than 100 people killed overall

This wasn’t one desperate man anymore.

This was a movement saying, “We’re done.”

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## **So… Why Him?**

Here’s the part that sticks with you.

Jiaqing wasn’t the worst emperor China ever had.

But he ruled at a time when things were unraveling.

And when systems start to crack, it doesn’t matter if you’re decent, cruel, or somewhere in between.

You become the face of everything that’s going wrong.

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**Final Thoughts: The Breaking Point**

Four attempts.

Four completely different reasons:

* Desperation

* Delusion

* The hunger for meaning

* Full-blown rebellion

And somehow, he survived all of them.

Not because everything was under control.

But because history is messy, chaotic… and sometimes just weirdly lucky.

And maybe that’s the real takeaway here.

Not that people wanted to kill an emperor.

But that so many people reached a point where they felt they had nothing left to lose.

That’s always the dangerous moment.

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#JiaqingEmperor #QingDynasty #ChineseHistory #ForbiddenCity #AssassinationAttempt #EightTrigramsUprising #DarkHistory #Rebellion #AncientChina #HistoricalStories

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