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Wu Sangui (Chinese: 吳三桂; pinyin: Wú Sānguì; Wade-Giles: Wu San-kuei; styled Changbai 長白 or Changbo 長伯) (1612 – October 2, 1678) was a Ming Chinese general who was instrumental in the succession of rule to the Qing Dynasty in 1644. Considered by most people to be a traitor to both the Ming and the Qing dynasties, Wu declared himself Emperor of China as ruler of the Zhou Dynasty in 1678, but his revolt was quelled by the Qing Kangxi Emperor.
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Early life and service under Ming
Wu was born in Gaoyou, Jiangsu Province to Wu Xiang (吳襄). Under the patronage of his father Wu Xiang and maternal uncle Zu Dashou, He quickly rose to the rank of full General (Zong Bing) at the young age of 27.
He was one of the Generals in 1640 at the Battle of Songjin, in which Qing forces defeated the Ming. He escaped capture.
Defection to Qing
In 1644, Wu opened the gates of the Great Wall of China at Shanhai Pass to let Manchu soldiers, enemies of the Empire which he served, into China proper.
He did not surrender to the Manchus until after the defensive capability of the Ming Empire had been greatly weakened and political apparatus destroyed by the rebel armies of Li Zicheng. Wu was about to join the rebel forces of Li, who had already sacked Beijing, when he heard that his concubine Chen Yuanyuan had been taken by Li. Enraged, he contacted and negotiated with the Manchu and their leader Dorgon, resulting in the opening of the gates of the Great Wall.citation needed
It is commonly believed that this act led to the ultimate destruction of the Ming Empire and the establishment of the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty.
Loyalty and revolt
He was rewarded with the position of Pingxi Wang (平西王) in Yunnan by the Qing imperial court, after he conquered the region from the remnants of Ming loyalists. It had been extremely rare for someone outside of the royal family, especially a non-Manchu, to be granted the title of Wang (king). Those being awarded the title of Wang who were not members of the royal family were called Yixing Wang (异姓王, literally meaning "kings whose surnames are different from that of the emperor"). It was believed that Yixing Wangs didn't usually have good ends, largely because they were not trusted by emperors as members of the emperors' own family were.
Wu Sangui was not trusted by the Qing imperial court, but he was still able to rule his land with little or no interference from the imperial court, largely because the Manchus, an ethnic minority, needed time after their prolonged conquest to figure out how to impose the rule of a dynasty of minority people on the vast Han-Chinese society they held in their hands. In fact, as a semi-independent ruler in the distant southwest, he was seen as an asset to the Qing court, and for much of his rule he received massive annual subsidies from the central government. This money, as well as the long period of stability, was spent by Wu Sangui in bolstering his army in the southwest, in preparation for an eventual clash with the Qing.
In 1674, he revolted against the Qing and started the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, declaring himself the "All-Supreme-Military Generalissimo" (Tiānxià Dōuzhāotǎo Bīngmǎ Dàyuánshuài 天下都招討兵馬大元帥). In 1678, he went further and declared himself the emperor of a new Zhou Dynasty, with the era name of Zhaowu (昭武). He made his capital at Hengzhou (衡州), which is now Hengyang, Hunan. He died there in the same year of natural causes and was succeeded by his grandson Wu Shifan. The remnants of his armies were defeated soon thereafter.
Wu Sangui's son, Wu Yingxiong (吳應熊), married the fourteenth daughter (建寧公主) of Manchu emperor Huang Taiji.
In modern culture
Wu Sangui in contemporary China was regarded as a traitor and opportunist, due to his betrayal of both the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty.
His early life and military career were portrayed in the China Central Television show Jiangshan Fengyuqing (江山风雨情, which could be loosely translated as "Turmoil and love stories of the late Ming Dynasty").
The relationship between him and concubine Chen Yuanyuan forms a famous love story in Chinese history.
Zhou Dynasty (1678 – 1681)
| Convention: use personal name | |||
| Temple names | Family name and first name | Period of reign | Era name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tai Zu (太祖) | Wú Sānguì (吳三桂) | March 1678 – August 1678 | Zhāowǔ (昭武) |
| Wú Shìfán (吳世璠) | August 1678 – 1681 | Hónghuà (洪化) | |
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- This page was last modified on 2 December 2008, at 17:48.
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