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Collapse of the Ming Dynasty
Hit: 2006-7-19 17:46:13

Since middle of the Ming Dynasty, most of its emperors were fatuous and muddle-headed living incontinent and faineant lives. They believed in their eunuchs and the treacherous officials who persecuted the loyal officials and snatched fields. And the common people had no means to survive. The Ming Dynasty in its later years was stricken unluckily by natural disasters and the whole country was teemed with the hungry people. It happened that the Manchu outside of the Pass Shanhaiguan grew up quickly and was eying covetously the land within the pass. The peasantry uprisings broke out unceasingly. At last they drove straight to Beijing and the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty killed himself on the hill of Mei (present-day Jingshan Hill). The Ming reign came to an end. In the second year of Emperor Tianqi��s reign (1627 AD) peasantry uprising originated from the province of Shanxi. The peasant troops led by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong initiated the slogan of equal fields and free taxes which attracted the masses effectively. The eighteen years�� war finally ended with the entry of the peasantry risers into Beijing. They demolished the Ming regime and established the regime of their own titled Dashun.
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