Li Zicheng

or Li Tzu-ch'eng

born Oct. 3, 1605?, Mizhi, Shaanxi province, China

died 1645, Hubei province

Rebel leader who brought about the fall of China's Ming dynasty (1368–1644).

A former postal worker, he joined the rebel cause in 1631 following a great famine in the northern part of the country. In 1644 he proclaimed himself the first emperor of a new dynasty and marched on Beijing, which he took easily. His victory was short-lived; Wu Sangui, a general loyal to the Ming, called on the Manchu tribes to drive him out, and he fled north, where he was probably killed by local villagers. See also Dorgon.

* * *

▪ Chinese rebel

Wade-Giles romanization  Li Tzu-ch'eng 

born Sept, 1606, Mizhi, Shaanxi province, China

died 1645, Hubei province

      Chinese rebel leader who dethroned Chongzhen, the last emperor of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).

      A local village leader, Li joined the rebel cause in 1630 following a great famine that had caused much unrest in the northern part of the country. He made his headquarters in the northwestern province of Shaanxi and called himself the Chuang Wang (“Dashing King”). A superb military leader, he gradually increased his following and began to organize raids into neighbouring provinces.

      After 1639 several scholars rallied to Li's cause. Relying on their advice, he prevented his troops from pillaging and began to distribute the food and land he had confiscated to the poor. Stories and legends of his heroic qualities were purposefully spread throughout the land, and he also began to set up an independent government over the territory he controlled, conferring titles and issuing his own coinage. Finally, in 1644 he proclaimed himself first emperor of the Da Shun, or Great Shun, dynasty and advanced on the capital at Beijing.

      Li took the city easily because the last Ming emperor was betrayed by a group of his eunuch generals, but his stay in the capital was short-lived. Wu Sangui (1612–78), a general loyal to the emperor, induced the Manchu tribes on the northeastern frontier to enter China. A combined force of former Ming and Manchu troops drove Li from the capital. He fled into Hubei province in the south, where he is thought to have been killed by local villagers.

* * *