李膺 / Li Ying (late Han)

Overview

Li Ying is a late-Han scholar-official and party-prohibition victim whose reputation places him at the center of the 169 CE second party-prohibition disaster.

Current Profile

The current evidence presents Li Ying as a public moral figure whose prestige becomes exposure. Hanji 892 supplies the pre-crackdown layer: even after dismissal, Li Ying remains respected by士人, and the episode places him in the honor-list environment that turns fame into a warning sign. Hanji 893 then supplies the arrest layer: 陈蕃 and 窦武 had briefly restored Li Ying and other士人 to office, but their deaths let the eunuch side remove him again.

When 曹节 frames party networks as a possible rebellion to the young 汉灵帝, Li Ying refuses flight, enters prison, and dies under torture. His profile therefore combines moral authority, reputation-network danger, and teacher-network liability. Li Ying’s students and former subordinates are prohibited from office after his death, and 景毅 treats his son’s connection to Li Ying as an honor serious enough to self-report rather than accept omission from the punishment list.

Key Characteristics

• Publicly respected late-Han士人 whose reputation places him inside the party-prohibition target field.
• Pre-crackdown honor-list figure whose name remains socially powerful even after dismissal.
• Reinstated under Chen Fan and Dou Wu before being removed again after their destruction.
• Death-facing official who refuses to flee and actively enters prison.
• Teacher and patron figure whose students and former subordinates are punished after his case.
• Reputation peer of 范滂 and Du Mi in the episode’s account of名节.

Evidence

• Pre-crackdown reputation: Hanji 892 says Li Ying is still widely respected after dismissal and uses his fame to set up the honor-list danger.
• Honor-list environment: Hanji 892 places Li Ying among the士人 reputation categories whose public praise will soon become dangerous.
• Reputation target: Hanji 893 places Li Ying among the famous士人 whose moral prestige makes the “贤达榜” dangerous under eunuch power.
• Reinstatement and removal: Hanji 893 says Chen Fan and Dou Wu once recommended and promoted Li Ying before their deaths led to his renewed removal.
• Prison choice: Hanji 893 says Li Ying rejects advice to flee, enters prison, and later dies under torture.
• Network punishment: Hanji 893 says Li Ying’s students and former subordinates are prohibited from office.
• Self-reporting echo: Hanji 893 says Jing Yi self-reports because his son had studied with Li Ying but had not been named.

Qualifications

This page does not yet attempt a full Li Ying biography. The current sources preserve the political meaning of his reputation, death, and student network, while details of earlier offices, the first party-prohibition disaster, and the full accusation list remain outside the bounded evidence. Transcript variants such as 李英 are normalized to 李膺.

What Changed

• Hanji 892 adds the pre-crackdown reputation layer before Hanji 893’s arrest and death-facing account.
• The current profile now treats Li Ying’s public honor as already target-legible before Cao Jie’s formal treason framing.

Relationships

• 范滂 - fellow party-prohibition figure whose honor-list visibility and death-facing choice mirror Li Ying’s名节.
• 景毅 - official whose son’s studentship under Li Ying motivates self-reporting.
• 陈蕃 - official whose earlier power briefly restores Li Ying.
• 窦武 - official paired with Chen Fan in Li Ying’s temporary restoration.
• 曹节 - eunuch interpreter who frames the party network as rebellion.
• 汉灵帝 - young ruler who approves the arrest framing.
• 名望榜单迫害目标化 - mechanism that makes Li Ying’s public fame dangerous.
• 党锢亲属牵连扩大 - broader liability field for students and former subordinates.