Emperor Xizong of Tang
Liu Yin was born in 874, during the reign of Emperor Xizong of Tang. His father, whose name was variously referred to as Liu Qian or Liu Zhiqian, was a low-level officer at Guang Prefecture (廣州), the capital of Qinghai (then known as Lingnan East Circuit (嶺南東道)). His mother Lady Wei was a niece to Lingnan East's then-military governor Wei Zhou (韋宙). Liu Qian eventually came to control Feng Prefecture (封州, in modern Zhaoqing, Guangdong) as its prefect. Liu Yin was his oldest son, and he had two younger ones, Liu Tai (劉台), also born of Lady Wei, and Liu Yan, born of his concubine Lady Duan. (Lady Wei had killed Lady Duan out of a jealous rage after finding out about Lady Duan, whom Liu Qian had kept in a house away from their mansion. When Liu Qian subsequently buried Lady Duan, at her burial location was a stone tablet that bore the characters of "Yin", "Tai", and "Yan", and he used those characters to name his three sons.)