A Peasant Rebellion Reaches Its Zenith

In the spring of 1644, the Ming Dynasty’s three-century rule over China teetered on collapse. From March 19 to April 30, an extraordinary historical episode unfolded in Beijing as Li Zicheng’s peasant army established the short-lived Shun Dynasty. These forty-two days represented both the climax of a decades-long peasant uprising and a pivotal moment that would reshape China’s imperial trajectory.

The Shun regime’s control extended across vast territories – the entire northwest and north China, the provinces of Shandong and Henan, plus portions of Hubei and Jiangsu. This unprecedented peasant government briefly governed thousands of miles of Ming territory, implementing radical policies that challenged centuries of Confucian social order. Yet historical accounts often uncritically repeat Ming loyalist propaganda portraying Li’s forces as degenerating into corruption within weeks.

Military Discipline and Social Order

Contrary to later accusations of rapid moral decay, contemporary witnesses describe remarkable discipline during the Shun occupation’s initial phase. Official Zhao Shijin recorded that upon entering Beijing, Li’s troops immediately ceased killing, with soldiers in distinctive white caps and blue uniforms marching orderly through streets. While posting guards at city gates, they generally left civilians undisturbed beyond restricting movement.

The regime dealt harshly with infractions – two soldiers caught looting silk from shops near the Qianmen gate were publicly executed, their bodies displayed as warning. Even hostile observers like Xu Yingfen admitted that widespread rape and murder allegations were unfounded during these early weeks. Yang Shicong, a Ming official who lost family members to suicide during the transition, specifically refuted claims of mass sexual violence in Beijing’s Anfu Lane as fabricated rumors.

Restructuring the Ming Bureaucracy

Facing thousands of stranded Ming officials, the Shun government implemented a pragmatic screening process. On March 21, surviving bureaucrats appeared in plain clothing before the Meridian Gate for evaluation. The regime generally excluded senior Ming officials (third-rank and above) from service, instead targeting them for asset confiscation to fund military operations. Lower-ranking officials faced case-by-case assessments, with many retained in administrative roles.

This approach revealed both revolutionary rigor and strategic limitations. While correctly identifying senior Ming officials as primary beneficiaries of the old regime, the Shun leadership failed to fully utilize available administrative talent. Unlike the later Qing Dynasty’s systematic co-option of Ming bureaucrats, Li’s government maintained strict military oversight over civilian officials, missing opportunities to stabilize control through broader elite incorporation.

Provincial Administration and Popular Support

Across their territories, Shun officials implemented signature policies: three-year tax moratoriums, fair trade regulations, and the controversial “confiscation of illicit wealth” campaign targeting Ming elites. Contemporary accounts like Chen Jisheng’s travel diary describe surprisingly orderly conditions in Shun-controlled areas, with markets thriving and banditry suppressed – a stark contrast to late Ming chaos.

Local Shun administrators earned reputations for integrity. The magistrate of Dingxing County reportedly maintained such effective governance that “within twenty days, the county became very peaceful.” In Xuzhou, the Shun-appointed defense commissioner Wu Shuo famously rejected gifts from local gentry. These vignettes suggest the brief Shun interlude brought tangible relief to populations long oppressed by Ming excesses.

Economic Policies: Radical Experiments

The Shun regime’s financial approach broke sharply with imperial tradition. Rather than lightening taxes while preserving property rights, Li’s government suspended taxation entirely, funding operations through confiscations from Ming institutions and elites. Records indicate staggering hauls from imperial treasuries – 37 million taels of silver and 1.5 million taels of gold – making immediate revenue needs less pressing than often assumed.

The controversial “confiscation of illicit wealth” campaign, while ideologically consistent with peasant revolt against corrupt officials, proved strategically questionable. Beginning March 27, Ming bureaucrats faced graduated financial demands based on rank, with non-payers subjected to imprisonment and torture. Though Li halted Beijing collections on April 8 after recognizing the policy’s destabilizing effects, provincial implementations continued, unnecessarily alienating potential supporters.

Land Reform: Glimpses of Social Revolution

Fragmentary evidence suggests the Shun regime initiated limited land redistribution, particularly targeting Ming nobility and absentee landlords. In Shandong’s Zhucheng County, new authorities encouraged peasants to reclaim ancestral lands, leading to widespread property disputes. Local gentry like Ding Yaokang described chaotic scenes where “century-old estates vanished overnight” as peasants seized fields under Shun protection.

The case of Liaozhou’s wealthy landlord Li Ning, who fled his 4,000-acre holdings only to have them divided by villagers, illustrates this agrarian revolution’s spontaneous character. While no systematic land reform program emerged, these localized actions represented China’s most significant challenge to landholding patterns since the Tang Dynasty’s equal-field system.

Cultural Reforms and Symbolic Acts

The Shun regime moved decisively against hated Ming institutions. On April 1, Li expelled all eunuchs from Beijing – a dramatic rebuke to the corrupt palace system. Witnesses described weeping eunuchs fleeing the city as crowds cheered. The notorious Eastern Depot and Embroidered Uniform Guard secret police were abolished, their leaders executed.

Preparations began for Li’s formal enthronement, with new rituals and symbols emphasizing rupture. The regime adopted blue as its color (water overcoming Ming fire in cosmological terms) and crafted a imperial seal reading “Succeeding Heaven to Establish the Ultimate.” These measures blended revolutionary change with traditional legitimizing practices.

The Final Days and Historical Legacy

The Shun Dynasty’s collapse following the Battle of Shanhaiguan (April 27) and subsequent Qing invasion obscures its transformative potential. Had Li’s forces defeated Wu Sangui’s rebellion and repelled the Manchus, China might have transitioned to a nativist regime blending peasant pragmatism with selective Ming administrative continuities. Instead, the Qing conquest imposed decades of economic stagnation and cultural retrenchment.

These forty-two days reveal both the possibilities and limitations of peasant revolution in late imperial China. The Shun regime’s genuine popular support, administrative experiments, and challenge to elite privilege contrast sharply with later Qing propaganda depicting mere banditry. Yet strategic errors in elite incorporation and overreach in asset confiscation undermined stability. This complex legacy – at once revolutionary and constrained – continues to inform understandings of popular rebellion in Chinese history.