The Dawn of Qing Dominance in 1645

The summer of 1645 marked a pivotal moment in the Qing dynasty’s consolidation of power. By May, the once-formidable Shun peasant army, led by the rebel emperor Li Zicheng, had collapsed. Li himself was killed by local militias in Hubei’s Tongshan County, leaving his forces leaderless and scattered. Simultaneously, the Southern Ming’s Hongguang regime in Nanjing crumbled almost without resistance as the Qing army, commanded by Prince Dodo, advanced. The swift surrender of key Ming military factions—such as the “Four Garrisons of Jiangbei” and Zuo Menggeng’s troops—shocked contemporaries. For the Qing regent Dorgon, these victories seemed too effortless, fostering a dangerous overconfidence. Believing the Shun and Southern Ming were permanently vanquished, he shifted focus to administering conquered territories.

Dorgon’s Strategic Gamble: Diplomacy Over Force

On the 7th day of the intercalary June, Dorgon issued a proclamation through the Ministry of War, calling for envoys to “pacify” unsubdued regions like Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Sichuan. The decree promised rewards for those who could persuade local elites to submit. Opportunists flocked to the task, revealing the moral decay within some Ming holdovers. Among them was Sun Zhixie, a former associate of the notorious eunuch Wei Zhongxian, who shamelessly cited a divination result to justify his loyalty: “The Emperor’s dragon ascends; I am destined to be his envoy.” Others, like Ding Zhilong, leveraged regional ties, claiming insider knowledge of Guizhou’s defenses. By late June, Dorgon appointed a cadre of envoys—including the disgraced Sun Zhixie—to oversee “pacification” efforts across southern China.

The Turning Point: From Conciliation to Oppression

Dorgon’s initial strategy relied on persuasion, but his arrogance soon hardened into repression. Convinced of Qing invincibility, he enacted policies that exposed the regime’s ethnocentric tyranny:
– The Haircutting Order (剃发令): Han Chinese were forced to adopt the Manchu queue hairstyle, a humiliating symbol of submission.
– Land Seizures: Manchu bannermen confiscated property, displacing Han landowners.
– Legal Discrimination: Han subjects faced harsher penalties under Qing law.

These measures, intended to solidify control, instead unified resistance. As one contemporary lamented, “The people would rather shave their heads than their hearts.”

The Firestorm of Resistance

The backlash was swift and widespread. In Jiangnan, literati-led militias revolted, while former Ming loyalists like Shi Kefa galvanized defenses in Yangzhou. Peasant uprisings erupted in Huguang and Fujian, often blending anti-Qing sentiment with local grievances. The brutality of the Qing response—epitomized by the Yangzhou Massacre—only fueled defiance. By 1646, what Dorgon had dismissed as “mopping-up operations” had become a protracted war of attrition.

Cultural Trauma and Collective Memory

The Qing’s policies left deep scars on Han identity. The queue order, in particular, became a lasting symbol of cultural erasure. Yet resistance also birthed new narratives. Folk heroes like Li Dingguo, a former Shun general who defected to the Ming, were mythologized. Secret societies like the Tiandihui (Heaven and Earth Society) emerged, weaving anti-Qing sentiment into their rituals. These movements preserved a counter-history of Han resilience.

Legacy: The Cost of Overreach

Dorgon’s miscalculation offers timeless lessons. His shift from pragmatism to oppression alienated potential allies, turning manageable dissent into existential revolt. Modern parallels abound—from colonial hubris to failed “hearts and minds” campaigns. The 1645–1649 uprisings also reshaped Qing governance; later emperors like Kangxi adopted softer policies, integrating Han elites to prevent rebellion.

Today, the era is remembered not just as a conquest, but as a cautionary tale: even the mightiest regimes can unravel when they mistake fear for loyalty. As historians note, “The Qing won the war, but the cost of victory seeded the tensions that would, centuries later, contribute to their fall.”

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### Key Takeaways:
1. Dorgon’s early successes blinded him to the risks of cultural imposition.
2. Coercive policies united disparate groups against Qing rule.
3. The rebellions of 1645–1649 forced the Qing to adapt their governance.
4. The era’s legacy underscores the limits of conquest through brute force.