Chongzhen Emperor

The Chongzhen Emperor (simplified Chinese: 崇祯; traditional Chinese: 崇禎; pinyin: Chóngzhēn; Wade-Giles: Ch'ung-chen/old spelling: Ch'ung-cheng) (February 6, 1611 - April 25, 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".

Early years

Born Zhu Youjian (朱由檢), Chongzhen was the fifth son of Zhu Changluo, the Taichang Emperor. His mother Lady Liu was a humble concubine of the Taichang Emperor. When he was four years old, she was killed by Zhu Changluo in his anger and anxiety, reason kept unknown. She was buried secretly, and Zhu Youjian was adopted by Consort Kang, some years later transferred to Consort Zhuang, as Consort Kang gave birth to another princess and adopted Zhu Youxiao as well.

As such, he grew up in a relatively lonely but quiet environment, since most of the younger sons were left out of the power struggle that their elder brother the Tianqi Emperor had to endure. Chongzhen succeeded his brother to the throne at age 17 and immediately eliminated the eunuch Wei Zhongxian and Madame Ke, who had become de facto rulers of the empire.

Chongzhen tried to rule by himself and did his best to salvage the dynasty. However, years of internal corruption and an empty treasury made it almost impossible to find capable ministers to fill important government posts. Chongzhen also tended to be suspicious of the few skilled subordinates he did have, executing the famous general Yuan Chonghuan, who had almost single-handedly maintained the northern frontier against the Manchus, in 1630.

Fall of the Ming Dynasty

The collapse of the Ming intensified during Chongzhen's reign. Popular uprisings broke out throughout China, including those of Zhang Xianzhong and the more important Li Zicheng. These could not be put down by the already hard-pressed Ming armies, who had to contend with the Manchu threat to the north.

In April 1644, Li prepared to take the Ming capital of Beijing . Rather than face capture and certain execution at the hands of the newly-proclaimed Shun Dynasty, Chongzhen sent his three sons away into hiding under the protection of their maternal grandfathers' (both deceased) families. He then ordered Empress Zhuang, Empress Xiaoaizhe (sister in law) and Grand Consort Li to commit suicide and tried to slaughtered Noble Consort Yuan, 16 year old Princess Chang Ping and 6 year old Princess Zhaoren, with his sword. Both Noble Consort Yuan and Princess Changping survived the mariticide and uxoricide with injuries and lived the rest of their lives in the Qing count. Chongzhen then, still wearing his imperial attire, fled to Jingshan Hill and committed suicide when he hanged himself from a tree. Li Zicheng ordered to bury him and his wife together into his concubine Consort Tian's tomb, which later was called Siling of the ming dynasty Tombs.

The Shun Dynasty lasted less than a year until 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 remnants of the Ming, and Nanjing surrendered on June 8, 1645. Zhu was captured on June 15 and brought to Beijing , where he died the following year. The dwindling 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 Qing general Wu Sangui.

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. Despite a reputation for hard work, Chongzhen's paranoia, impatience, stubborness 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 unprecendented 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 personsality prevented any of them from enacting any real plan to salvage a perilous situation.

In particular, Chongzhen's execution of Yuan Chonghuan on extremely flimsy grounds was regarded as the decisively fatal blow. At the time of his death, Yuan was supreme commander of all Ming forces in the northeast, and had just rushed from the borders to defend the capital against a surprise Manchurian invasion. For much of the preceding decade, Yuan had served as the Ming Empire's bulwark in the north, where he was responsible for securing Ming borders at a time when the Empire was suffering humiliating defeat after defeat. His unjust death destroyed Ming military morale and removed one of the greatest obstacles to the eventual Manchurian conquest of China.

Personal information

Father

Taichang Emperor

Mother

Liu Shunu (淑女劉氏) (d. 1615),

Consorts

Sons

Daughters

Last update 06-06-2012

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