Muyin


Muyin, courtesy name Qingxuan, was a Qing dynasty official from the Manchu Tohoro clan and the Manchu Plain White Banner.
Muyin had studied in central government school. He was appointed the Secretary of the Cabinet, the General of Military Secrets, then the Reader-in-waiting Secretary of the Cabinet. He was appointed the Grand Councillor by Xianfeng Emperor in 1851.
In 1853, Northern Expeditionary Force of the Taiping rebels harassed Henan and Zhili. The capital was under martial law, Muyin, Sengge Rinchen, Huashana and Dahūngga were ordered to handle patrol matters for the various battalions in the capital. Later, he had served as the Senior Deputy Minister of Rites, Junior Deputy Minister of Personnel, Minister of Lifan Yuan, and Minister of War and other positions. In 1860, during the Second Opium War, he and Zaiyuan made the Imperial Commissioners in charge of peace negotiations with Anglo-French army. They met British and French officials in Tongzhou. When the negotiations failed, the members of the British delegation, including Sir Harry Parkes, were arrested by Qing soldiers and escorted to Beijing for trial, where they were incarcerated and tortured. In the meantime, Anglo-French expeditionary forces closed in on Beijing, Muyin and Zaiyuan were replaced by Prince Gong as negotiator for peace. However, the Allies continued to advance on Beijing. Muyin fled with the Xianfeng Emperor to the Chengde Mountain Resort in Hebei.
Before the Xianfeng Emperor died in 1861, the emperor appointed eight men to assist his son, whom later enthroned as the Tongzhi Emperor. The eight regents were: Zaiyuan, Prince Yi of the First Rank; Duanhua, Prince Zheng of the First Rank; Sushun, the Minister of Revenue; Jingshou, a prince consort; Muyin, the Minister of War; Kuang Yuan, the Senior Deputy Minister of Personnel; Du Han, the Junior Deputy Minister of Rites; and Jiao Youying, the Vice Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud. Later that year, the eight regents were ousted from power in the Xinyou Coup orchestrated by Prince Gong and Empress Dowager Cixi. Muyin was stripped of official positions and sent to serve at frontier military outposts in Xinjiang. In 1864, he completed the installment payment for the fine, and was allowed to return to Beijing. He died at home in 1872.