Li Zicheng

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This is a Chinese name; the family name is 李 (Li)

Lǐ Zìchéng (Chinese: 李自成) (September 22, 1606 - 1644), born Li Hóngjī (鴻基), was a rebel in late Ming Dynasty China who proclaimed himself Chuǎng Wáng (闖王), or "The Roaming King".

Born in Mizhi District (米脂縣), Yan'an Subprefecture (延安府), Shaanxi, Li grew up as a shepherd. Li started to learn horseriding and archery at age 20. Li had worked previously in a wine shop and as an ironworker's apprentice, and was typical of a number of rootless, violent men who lived in Shaanxi province at the time.

In 1630 Li Zicheng enrolled in a military unit in western Shaanxi, but once again the Ming government let him down. Deprived of promised supplies, Li and other soldiers mutinied, and over the next few years Li slowly emerged as a natural leader among a group of uprooted men that numbered in the thousands, proving himself an intuitively skillful tactician. In 1634 Li was captured near the southern Shaanxi border by a capable Ming general, who bottled up the rebel forces in a mountain gorge. Li was released after promising that he would take his troops back into barren northern part of the province, but the agreement fell apart after a local magistrate executed thirty-six of the surrendered rebels. Li and his men retaliated by killing the local officials and taking once more to the hills. By 1635 he was stronger than ever, and was a leading representative at an extraordinary conclave of rebel leaders that took place at the town of Rongyang in central Henan province, just south of the Yellow River.

According to folklore, in 1630 he was put on public display in an iron collar and shackles for his failure to repay loans to an usurious magistrate, Ai. Ai struck a guard who offered shade and water to Li, whence a group of peasants tore apart Li's shackles, spirited him to a nearby hill, and proclaimed him their leader. Despite having only wooden sticks, Li and his band ambushed police sent against them and obtained their first real weapons. A terrible famine had beset Shaanxi in this time, and in three years, Li gathered more than 20,000 soldiers. The rebels then attacked and killed leading officials in places in Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi.

In April 1644, Li's rebels sacked the Ming capital of Beijing, and the last Ming emperor committed suicide. He proclaimed himself as the Emperor of Shun Dynasty (大順皇帝). Li died after his army was defeated on May 27, 1644 by the Manchus and Wu Sangui, either by committing suicide or was killed by pro-Ming militia during his escape at the age of 40. Some folk tales hold that Li didn't die upon defeat, but instead became a monk.

[edit] Li Zicheng historiography

Although the Qing conquest of China was made possible by the Ming Dynasty being weakened by the Li Zicheng rebellion, ironically, official historiography during the Qing Dynasty regarded Li as an illegitimate usurper and bandit. This view sought to discourage and demonize any notions of rebellion against the Qing government. It tries to propagate the notion that the Zingio Dynasty ended the illegitimate rule of Li and restored honor to the empire, receiving the heavenly mandate to rule China. In 20th century Maoist China, the anti-Confucian and radical inclinations of the Communist Party of China viewed Li Zicheng favorably, portraying him as an early revolutionary against feudalism. To this end, the government of the People's Republic of China honored Li with a large monument in Beijing. However, people in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan generally emphasized a great dislike for this figure; many sees him as the central figure that bought China into the hands of the Manchus.