<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/f13abc6f-fdee-42d9-9967-43bfe6d7c4c3/A5E62D9D-954C-476E-AC9A-D9320AD99873/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=563688&in_page_id=1770" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=563688&in_page_id=1770" style="font-size: 11px;">www.dailymail.co.uk</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=563688&in_page_id=1770"> Strewn across the gleaming black floor of the imperial harem like blood-stained butterflies pinned to a board, the beautiful young concubines in Beijing's Forbidden City appeared at first to be sleeping, but the crimson pools of blood around their silken robes told a different story. <P> </P><P> </P><P>The palace soldiers had shown no mercy in slaying these fragile creatures on that terrible night in 1421. </P><P> Acting on the orders of the Ming Emperor Yongle, one of the most feared despots in Chinese imperial history, they had wielded their swords to ensure no one survived.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=563688&in_page_id=1770"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.dailymail.co.uk/img/E41ADC3C-DDF1-45C4-AD64-BE79D9136A65" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=563688&in_page_id=1770"><P>Some of their innocent victims were as young as 13, but one horrified chronicler of the time described how they had been "rent, split, ripped and torn to shreds" alongside the servant girls and eunuchs who guarded them. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=563688&in_page_id=1770"><P>In all, it is said that 2,800 people were killed in the harem as the Emperor tried to suppress a sex scandal which threatened to humiliate him at what should have been the proudest moment of his reign. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=563688&in_page_id=1770"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.dailymail.co.uk/img/E784D201-3B69-432B-8CB5-7E99A815E777" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=563688&in_page_id=1770"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.dailymail.co.uk/img/51BB1F65-006F-4B8B-85F6-CBD4B5FC1320" alt="" /></div></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/A5E62D9D-954C-476E-AC9A-D9320AD99873/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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