Chongzhen Emperor

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Chongzhen Emperor bigraphy, stories - Dynasty

Chongzhen Emperor : biography

6 February 1611 – 25 April 1644

The Chongzhen Emperor (Wade-Giles: Chung-chen Emperor; ; old spelling: Ch’ung-cheng) (6 February 1611 – 25 April 1644) was the 16th and last emperor of the Ming Dynasty in China. He reigned from 1627 to 1644, under an era name that means "honorable and auspicious".

Notes

Fall of the Ming Dynasty

In April 1644, Li prepared to take the Ming capital of Beijing. Rather than face capture, humiliation and probable execution at the hands of the newly-proclaimed Shun Dynasty, Chongzhen arranged a feast and gathered all members of the imperial household aside from his sons. Crying "Why must you be born into my family?" (汝何故生我家!), he killed them with his sword. All died except his second daughter, 16-year-old Princess Chang Ping, whose attempt to block the sword blow resulted in her left arm being severed by her father.(Original from the University of Michigan) Then, still wearing his imperial attire, Chongzhen fled to Jingshan Hill behind the palace and committed suicide when he hanged himself from a tree, leaving behind a death note on his robe:

Contrary to the popular belief that Chongzhen spent his final hours with only an eunuch Wang Cheng’en (王承恩) remaining loyal by his side, dozens of high-level government officials and over 700 households of imperial scholars committed suicide after the capital’s fall as a statement of their loyalty to Chongzhen. Over a thousand palace eunuchs died in combat in a desperate attempt to defend the Palace against the rebel forces, and over 300 imperial maids committed suicide upon learning of the Emperor’s death.明思宗死后,自杀官员有户部尚书倪元璐、工部尚书范景文、左都御史李邦华、左副都御史施邦曜、大理寺卿凌义渠、太常寺卿吴麟征、左中允刘理顺、刑部右侍郎孟兆祥等,驸马都尉巩永固全家自杀,太监自杀者以百计,战死在千人以上。宫女自杀者三百余人。绅生生员等七百多家举家自杀。明亡后殉难人数可见诸《明史纪事》第八十卷;《甲申传信录》;《闽中纪略》国变难臣钞

Li Zicheng’s comment on Chongzhen is that "This Emperor was not a bad one, but he was alienated by the many hideous subordinates. The ministers were busy with self-interests and factionalism, and there were few loyal ones remaining" (君非甚闇,孤立而煬灶恆多;臣盡行私,比黨而公忠絕少). He ordered the dead emperor and his wife to be buried together into his concubine Consort Tian’s tomb. The tomb was later called Siling of the Ming Dynasty Tombs.

The Manchus were quick to exploit the death of Chongzhen, claiming to "avenge the Emperor" to rally support from loyalist Ming forces and civilians. The Shun Dynasty lasted less than a year with Li’s defeat at the Battle of Shanhai Pass, with the victorious Manchus establishing the Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty as ruler of all China.

After Chongzhen’s death, loyalist forces had proclaimed a Southern Ming Dynasty in Nanjing, naming Zhu Yousong, Prince of Fu as the Hongguang Emperor. However, in 1645 Qing armies started to move against the Ming remnants. The Southern Ming, again bogged down by factional infighting, was unable to hold back the Manchu onslaught, and Nanjing surrendered on 8 June 1645. Zhu was captured on 15 June and brought to Beijing, where he died the following year. The dwindling Southern Ming were continually pushed farther south, and the last Emperor of the Southern Ming, Zhu Youlang, Prince of Gui, was finally executed in Burma in 1662 by Wu Sangui, who was now a high-profile defector and served as general of Qing army’s vanguard.

Legacy and personality

While Chongzhen was not especially incompetent by the standards of the later Ming, he nevertheless sealed the fate of the Ming dynasty. He did his best to save the dynasty. Despite a reputation for hard work, Chongzhen’s paranoia, impatience, stubbornness and lack of regard for the plight of his people doomed his crumbling empire. Chongzhen’s attempts at reform did not take into account the considerable decline of Ming power, which was already far advanced at the time of his accession. Over the course of his 17 year reign, Chongzhen executed 7 military governors, 11 regional commanders, replaced his minister of defense 14 times, and appointed an unprecedented 50 ministers to the Grand Secretariat (equivalent to the cabinet and prime minister). Even though the Ming Dynasty still possessed capable commanders and skilled politicians in its dying years, Chongzhen’s impatience and paranoid personality prevented any of them from enacting any real plan to salvage a perilous situation.