In spring 948, Liu was deathly ill. He entrusted his son Liu Chengyou, who was to succeed him, to a group of high level officials and generals — Su Fengji, Yang Bin, Shi Hongzhao, and Guo. As part of his instructions, he stated, "Be careful of Du Chongwei!" After he died shortly after, this group of regents did not immediately announce his death. Rather, they issued an edict in his name, ordering that Du and his sons Du Hongzhang (), Du Honglian, and Du Hongcan () be put to death. The former princess and other relatives were spared. Du Chongwei's corpse was displayed in the open and cut into pieces. The people rushed to cannibalize him to show their disgust at him, and soon, the flesh was all gone.