Wang Lianying was a Chinese courtesan who was killed by Yan Ruisheng and his accomplices on 9 June 1920 outside of Shanghai in the Republic of China. Twenty-year-old Lianying had worked in Shanghai, known as the "Brothel of Asia", since 1916, gaining recognition as the "Prime Minister of Flower Country" during the 1917 courtesan election. Yan, meanwhile, was a university-educated youth deeply in debt due to his expensive habits and frequent gambling.
Seeking to escape his debt, Yan decided to rob Lianying, who was known to adorn herself with expensive jewellery. After some days gaining her trust, Yan convinced her to join him on a drive through the Shanghai countryside. On the trip, the pair – accompanied by Wu Chunfang and Fang Rishan – stopped amidst a wheat field. The three men drugged Lianying with chloroform, after which she was strangled and her body dumped in an isolated location. Lianying's disappearance was noted later that night, and her body was discovered on 15 June. Investigators issued an arrest warrant for Yan four days later. In mid-1920, he was arrested at the Xuzhou railway station; based on his confession, Wu was detained soon after. Although Fang escaped, Yan and Wu were tried, convicted, and executed.
The killing of a famous courtesan by an educated man captured the imagination of Shanghai society. Newspaper coverage was extensive, lasting for months. By the end of July 1920, multiple books on Lianying and her killer had been published. Five theatre troupes staged performances based on the murder by the end of 1921, with a Pathé Orient pressing of arias from one Peking opera finding great commercial success. The case was adapted to film in 1921, with another retelling made in Hong Kong in 1938.