The Gathering Storm: Ming Collapse and Peasant Uprising

By March 1644, the Ming Dynasty stood on the brink of catastrophe. Emperor Chongzhen, the dynasty’s last ruler, presided over a crumbling empire beset by internal rebellion and external threats from the Manchus. The Shun Army, led by the peasant rebel Li Zicheng, had been gaining momentum for years, capitalizing on widespread famine, corruption, and popular discontent.

As the Shun forces advanced toward Beijing, the Ming court descended into paralysis. Key defensive positions, including the strategic Juyong Pass—long considered Beijing’s “Northern Gate Lock”—fell without resistance when Ming generals Tang Tong and the eunuch Du Zhixi surrendered. The once-mighty Ming military, hollowed out by neglect and desertions, could no longer hold back the tide of rebellion.

The Siege of Beijing: A Capital in Chaos

On March 16, 1644, the Shun Army’s vanguard reached the outskirts of Beijing, encamping near the ruins of the old Yuan Dynasty walls. Panic gripped the city. Officials debated futilely, with no coherent strategy emerging. Emperor Chongzhen, though outwardly composed, betrayed his desperation—distracted during court meetings, he fidgeted with tea and ink, his usual regal demeanor shattered.

By March 17, the Shun Army launched its assault. The Ming defense, entrusted to eunuchs and demoralized soldiers, collapsed swiftly. Starving troops abandoned their posts, while the elite imperial guards surrendered en masse, handing over their artillery to the rebels. Inside the Forbidden City, Chongzhen alternated between rage and despair, famously crying, “My ministers have failed me!”

Negotiations and Last Stands

Hoping to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, Li Zicheng sent the defected eunuch Du勋 to negotiate Chongzhen’s surrender. The emperor, torn between survival and preserving his dignity, vacillated. Secret talks continued until March 18, with Chongzhen scribbling vague orders on scraps of paper. But time ran out—the Shun Army, impatient with delays, intensified its attack.

That night, rebels breached the outer city. Chongzhen, now cornered, made a final, frenzied attempt to escape. After failing to rally loyalists, he retreated to Coal Hill (modern-day Jingshan Park). There, as dawn approached, he hanged himself, but not before forcing Empress Zhou to suicide and attacking his own daughters—one of whom, Princess Changping, lost an arm to his blade. His last act was ordering his sons to flee and “avenge their family.”

The Shun Triumph: A New Order in Beijing

On March 19, the Shun Army marched victoriously into Beijing. Discipline was strict; soldiers were forbidden from looting, and the city’s residents, relieved at the Ming’s fall, welcomed them with incense and cries of “Long live the Shun Emperor!” Li Zicheng himself entered through the Desheng Gate, riding triumphantly to the Imperial City. At the Gate of Heavenly Peace (Chengtianmen), he famously shot an arrow into its plaque—a symbolic end to Ming rule.

The new regime treated captured Ming royals with surprising leniency. Crown Prince Zhu Cilong and his brothers were spared, even granted noble titles. Meanwhile, Chongzhen’s body, discovered days later on Coal Hill, was publicly displayed before a hastily arranged burial in a concubine’s tomb.

Legacy: Revolution and Transition

The fall of Beijing marked not just the Ming’s demise but also a fleeting moment of peasant rule. Li Zicheng’s Shun Dynasty, however, proved short-lived. Within weeks, the Manchus—exploiting the chaos—seized power, establishing the Qing Dynasty. Yet the rebellion’s impact endured: it exposed the Ming’s fatal weaknesses, reshaped China’s political landscape, and became a cautionary tale about governance and popular revolt.

Today, Chongzhen’s tragic end and Li Zicheng’s meteoric rise remain potent symbols of revolution and the cyclical nature of dynastic power—a reminder that even the mightiest empires can fall to the will of the people.