Assassination of Ma Xinyi
On 22 August 1870, Ma Xinyi—Viceroy of Liangjiang of the Qing dynasty who contributed much to the crushing defeat of the Taiping Rebellion—was assassinated in Nanjing by Zhang Wenxiang with a blade. He died the next day. After several months of fruitless interrogations, Zhang was publicly executed by slow slicing on 15 May 1871, with the government calling him a former pirate angry at Ma's suppression of his fellow robbers.
Zhang, who confessed nothing of his motives, merely said, "Ma Xinyi was neither ren (compassionate) nor yi (righteous)". Some believe the quote indicated a personal relationship, with "not yi" hinting that Ma was a betrayer. One of the most sensational assassinations in Chinese history, the event has since spawn several largely fictitious novels, operas, films and TV series.
Hypothesis
Some historians believe the assassination was politically-motivated, possibly backed by none other than Empress Dowager Cixi, the most powerful person in Qing at that time, to limit the power of the Xiang Army.
Legends
Fictional stories typically characterize Ma and Zhang as 2 of 3 sworn brothers, with Ma, the eldest, gradually corrupted by greed for power and lust for his second sworn brother's wife.
Films and TV series
- Blood Brothers (刺馬), a 1973 Hong Kong film starring Ti Lung as Ma Xinyi and David Chiang as Zhang Wenxiang.
- Ma's Assassination (刺馬), a 1992 Taiwanese TV series starring David Chiang as Ma Xinyi and Timothy Zao as Zhang Wenxiang.
- The Hitman Chronicles: Ma's Assassination (大刺客之刺馬), a 1997 Hong Kong TV series starring Cheung Kwok-keung as Ma Xinyi and Chin Siu-ho as Zhang Wenxiang.
- A Chinese Torture Chamber Story II (滿清十大酷刑之赤裸凌遲), a 1998 Hong Kong film starring Mark Cheng as Ma Xinyi and Oscar Lam as Zhang Wenxiang.
- Ma's Assassination by Zhang Wenxiang (張文祥刺馬), a 2000 Chinese TV series starring Zhang Zhizhong as Ma Xinyi and Han Zhenhua as Zhang Wenxiang.
- The Warlords (投名狀), a 2007 Chinese/Hong Kong film starring Jet Li as Pang Qingyun (based on Ma) and Takeshi Kaneshiro as Jiang Wuyang (based on Zhang). It was set in the same period as Ma's assassination.