Zhang Xianzhong

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Zhang Xianzhong : biography

September 18, 1606 – January 2, 1647

Many however do not believe that Zhang was responsible for the greater part of the population collapse in Sichuan, and thought that the greatest loss of the life happened after his death due to the continuing turmoil, famine and diseases. Some argued that while a great many died, Sichuan did not become virtually depopulated as recorded. Some modern Chinese historians considered him a proto-revolutionary, maintaining that accounts of the massacres were exaggerated, or were committed by others including landowners who were suppressing peasant revolts, as well as by the invading Manchus, and that his heinous reputation was the result of "Qing slanders" and "reactionary propaganda".

Biography

Background

Zhang was born in Dingbian, Shaanxi province, China, into a poor family. He was described as tall in stature, had a yellow complexion and a heavy chin ("tiger chin" (虎颔) in Chinese figurative description), and hence was given the nickname "Yellow Tiger". Original text: 献忠黄面长身虎颔,人号黄虎。 He served in the Ming army, and while in the army he was sentenced to death for violations of military rules, but was reprieved after an intervention by a senior officer who was impressed by his appearance.

As rebel leader

Towards the end the Ming Dynasty, drought, famines and epidemics broke out in various part of China. In the late 1620s, peasants revolted in Shaanxi, resisting attempts by the Ming government to collect grains and taxes, and they coalesced into rebel armies called "roving bandit" (流寇) because of their highly mobile nature, and spread into other parts of China. Zhang escaped from the army, joined the rebel forces in Mizhi County in 1630, and established himself as a rebel leader, styling himself Bada Wang (八大王, Eighth Great King). His mobile forces would conduct raids along the western edge of Shaanxi, plundering swiftly and hiding out in the hills. Later he moved into other provinces, moving from place to place raiding towns and cities. He was defeated at various time by the Ming forces; Zhang would also surrender when it was expedient for him to do so, for example in 1631 and 1638, but would then later regrouped and rebelled.

In 1635 he joined a larger confederation of bandits that included another rebel leader Li Zicheng (Li would later capture Beijing and end the Ming Dynasty). They devastated Henan and pushed into Anhui. After they have burnt the Ming ancestral temple at Zhongdu (Fengyang) in Anhui and ravaged the area, the rebel armies broke up and Zhang headed to Hubei. In 1637, joined by other rebels and with an army now reaching a size of 300,000 men, he again pushed into Anhui, then to Jiangsu, and almost down to Nanjing. But he was defeated there and he retreated back to Hubei. In 1638, he surrendered to Ming supreme commander Xiong Wencan (熊文燦), and was allowed to serve as a regional Ming commander. However, he reneged on the agreement in 1939 and rebelled, and later defeated to the Ming forces led by the Ming general Zuo Liangyu (左良玉). In 1640, he suffered defeats at the hand of Zuo and had to flee with few followers into the mountains of Eastern Sichuan. In 1641 he emerged from Sichuan and attacked Xiangyang, capturing and executing the imperial prince there.

In 1643, he took Macheng in Hubei, and his army swelled to some 57,000 after incorporating the city’s rebels. He then captured the provincial capital of Wuchang, killed the imperial prince there, and proclaimed himself "Xi Wang" (King of the West). Wuchang however was soon recaptured by Ming forces, and for a while Zhang stayed at Changsha where he controlled much of Hunan and part of Jiangxi.

Conquest of Sichuan

In 1644, Zhang decided to abandon Hunan and led his 100,000 of his troops towards Sichuan. His army converged on Chongqing in two directions, and surrounded the city. After several days of fighting, his army managed to blast a hole through the city wall, and captured the city in July 25, 1644. He was said to have cut off the hands of the city’s defenders and massacred a large number of people.