ORPHANED AT AN EARLY age, He Shen went from being a palace guard to the lover of the emperor, the chief chamberlain and the richest man in the empire, with a fortune worth much more than 10 years of national revenue. But, five days after the emperor died, his successor charged He with corruption and forced him to commit suicide at the age of 49. The elegant house the emperor built for He in central Beijing is still standing and attracts thousands of visitors, Chinese and foreign.
'If the Guinness Book of Records had a category for the most corrupt man in the world, He would win it,' said a middle-aged lady knitting a light blue cardigan and sipping tea out of a coffee jar.
She was sitting outside one of the 12 one-storey pavilions built in a spacious garden in 1777, where He lived until his untimely death in 1799. It is a man-made rock garden, with a pool, unfortunately without water for the moment while the pumping system is repaired. The prettiest pavilion, elaborately decorated, is where He, his concubines and boy-lovers used to listen to Beijing Opera.
Many of the pavilions have been turned into shops, selling jewellery and paintings, biscuits, instant noodles and photographs of the visitor on a throne like that in the Forbidden City. A state work-unit, it has too many employees, many of whom sleep at their posts in the mid-day sun.
'This is one of the best examples of a Qing dynasty private home in Beijing,' a guide told a group of tourists. 'Many famous people have come here, like Richard Nixon, [Egyptian President] Hosni Mubarak and many premiers of Japan. Several national leaders live in this neighbourhood.' The street is called 'the lane of the shadow of the willows', lined by willow trees overlooking courtyard homes in the grey brick characteristic of old Beijing. But it is tame compared with the life of Chief Chamberlain He. His father was a Manchurian soldier who died when He was young, forcing him to solicit money from relatives and work as a beggar. It made him tough and ambitious. He obtained a job in the Manchu court as a guard. It was one summer afternoon in 1780 in Beihai Park, a kilometre from his future home, that his life was transformed.
Emperor Qian Long, then 69, was walking in the garden and discussing state policy with his courtiers, one of whom made a gentle criticism. 'It was not your fault,' said He, speaking completely out of turn.