Li Zicheng’s Uprising was a peasants’ uprising in the late Ming dynasty. Li Zicheng (1606–1645), born Li Hongji, was from Mizhi County (Shaanxi Province). He worked as a shepherd for a local landlord when he was young, during which time he suffered all kinds of ill treatment. Later, he joined the rebel army of Gao Yingxiang who was known as the “Dashing King” for his bravery, and Li became one of Gao’s eight “dashing generals.” After Gao’s death in 1636, Li inherited the title of “Dashing King” and headed Gao’s army. Wherever he went, people would line up to greet him. In 1644, he established the Shun dynasty and declared himself the emperor. Then he led an army one million strong across the Yellow River and marched on Taiyuan. After seizing Taiyuan, he branched his troops into two columns to storm and finally seize the Ming capital, Beijing. Intoxicated by his great victories, however, Li and his generals grew conceited and hedonistic, and were thus crushed by the Manchurian troops and those led by Ming general Wu Sangui at Shanhaiguan Pass. In 1645, Li died a martyr’s death near the Jiugong Mountains in Hubei at the age of thirty-nine. His remnant forces continued his cause for some years, but ended in failure.
