112-512: Wu Sangui ( Chinese : 吳三桂 ; pinyin : Wú Sānguì ; Wade–Giles : Wu San-kuei ; 8 June 1612 – 2 October 1678), courtesy name Changbai ( 長白 ) or Changbo ( 長伯 ), was a Chinese military leader who played a key role in the fall of the Ming dynasty and the founding of the Qing dynasty . In Chinese folklore, Wu Sangui is regarded as a disreputable Han Chinese traitor for his defection over to
224-465: A 1623 revolt, Nurhaci came to mistrust his Nikan ( Manchu : ᠨᡳᡴᠠᠨ , "Han people") followers so Hong Taiji began their assimilation into the country and government. A mass marriage of Han Chinese officers and officials to Manchu women numbering 1,000 couples was arranged by Prince Yoto and Hong Taiji in 1632 to promote harmony between the two ethnic groups. It is the predecessor of Mongol Yamen ( ᠮᠣᠩᡤᠣ ᠵᡠᡵᡤᠠᠨ 蒙古衙門, monggo jurgan ) which
336-707: A Qing army of more than 10,000 men, commanded by Duoduo and Haoge, invaded Ningyuan. Jin Guofeng, full general of Ningyuan, immediately led troops to confront the Qing army but was surrounded and killed. Wu took Jin's place as full general of Ningyuan, and became a guardian general of Liaodong. After Wu served as the full general in Ningyuan, he made the local army the strongest in Liaodong, having 20,000 troops at Ningyuan town. To enhance their combat power, Wu selected 1,000 elite soldiers to form
448-466: A bloody battle with the Qing army, but could not break through the siege until Liu Zhaoji came to his rescue. The Ming army casualties were more than 1000, with deputy general Yanglun and Zhou Yanzhou dead, but Wu Sangui's bravery was still praised. On 25 April 1641, the battle of Songjin began with an attack by the Ming army, Wu Sangui leading and personally killing ten enemies, defeating the Qing cavalry. After
560-503: A certain extent in South Korea , remain virtually identical to traditional characters, with variations between the two forms largely stylistic. There has historically been a debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters . Because the simplifications are fairly systematic, it is possible to convert computer-encoded characters between the two sets, with the main issue being ambiguities in simplified representations resulting from
672-499: A deal with the Ming dynasty. If the Ming was willing to give support and money that would be beneficial to the Qing's economy, the Qing in exchange would not only be willing to not attack the borders, but also admit itself as a country one level lower than the Ming dynasty; however, since Ming court officials were reminded of the deal that preceded the Song dynasty 's wars with the Jin Empire ,
784-438: A dukedom, and most crucially by capturing Wu's father, Wu Xiang , and concubine, Chen Yuanyuan , ordering the former to write a letter to persuade Wu to pledge allegiance to Li. Wu, however, was enraged by Li's capture of his family and the looting of Beijing. He killed Li's envoy, wrote back to his father, scolding him for his disloyalty, and sent several generals to pretend to pledge allegiance to Li. Aware that his force alone
896-446: A fearless battalion. The battalion was trained and commanded by Wu himself, making these men his bodyguard who would come at Wu's call at any time. They were the core of his army and laid the foundation for Wu's military achievements. In March 1640, Hong Taiji appointed Jirgalang and Duoduo as left and right commander, respectively, marching towards the north of Jinzhou . Aiming to besiege Jinzhou, they reestablished Yizhou, garrisoned
1008-486: A large number of Manchu and Han people migrating into central China, it had become sparsely populated and desolate. Hence, Wu felt perplexed and upset. On 19 August 1645, before Wu returned to Liaodong from Beijing, he submitted his request to the Qing court to renounce his title as Qin Wang . After giving up his title, he began to make efforts to consolidate his strength by demanding troops, territory, compensation, and reward for
1120-435: A matter of a few days, more than 53,000 people and 7,400 horses of the Ming army were killed. They had no way to flee and no will to fight. Only 30,000 survived after fleeing back to Ningyuan. Wu Sangui survived not only by following Wang Pu, but by having a good retreat plan. When Hong Chengchou ordered the breakthrough, Wu Sangui went back to his camp and immediately discussed tactics with his generals. They decided to give up
1232-560: A piece of red fruit near Fekulen, who ate it. She then became pregnant with Bukūri Yongšon. However, another older version of the story by the Hurha (Hurka) tribe member Muksike recorded in 1635 contradicts Hongtaiji's version on location, claiming that it was in Heilongjiang province close to the Amur river where Bulhuri lake was located where the "heavenly maidens" took their bath. This was recorded in
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#17328488314941344-596: A time, his grandson Wu Shifan succeeded him. The revolt was quelled in 1681. Wu was born in Suizhong , Liaoxi province, in Northeastern China, to Wu Xiang and Lady Zu. His ancestral home was Gaoyou , Jiangsu . Wu Sangui's father and uncle had fought in many battles. Under their influence, Wu took great interest in war and politics at an early age. He was also a student of artist Dong Qichang . Late Ming dynasty historians left behind records describing Wu Sangui as
1456-472: A valiant and handsome general of medium height, with pale skin, a straight nose, and big ears, with a scar on his nose. He possessed excellent skills in horse-riding and archery. In 1627, the Chongzhen Emperor decided to reinstate the imperial examination system on his accession to the throne, and Wu became a first-degree military scholar ( juren ) at the age of fifteen. He and his two brothers joined
1568-514: A year, Wu suppressed the rebellion in most regions of Shaanxi and reversed the situation in the northwest. After four years of struggle, Wu brought peace to Shaanxi and his political star rose in the Qing court. In 1652, the rebel Daxi army became the main force rebelling against the Qing. The situation was made difficult by the deaths of the Qing generals Kong Youde and Ni Kan, when the rebels Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu's troops marched into Sichuan province. The Qing court then summoned Wu to suppress
1680-850: Is 産 (also the accepted form in Japan and Korea), while in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan the accepted form is 產 (also the accepted form in Vietnamese chữ Nôm ). The PRC tends to print material intended for people in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese in traditional characters. For example, versions of the People's Daily are printed in traditional characters, and both People's Daily and Xinhua have traditional character versions of their website available, using Big5 encoding. Mainland companies selling products in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use traditional characters in order to communicate with consumers;
1792-483: The Chinese Commercial News , World News , and United Daily News all use traditional characters, as do some Hong Kong–based magazines such as Yazhou Zhoukan . The Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified characters. DVDs are usually subtitled using traditional characters, influenced by media from Taiwan as well as by the two countries sharing the same DVD region , 3. With most having immigrated to
1904-686: The Jiu Manzhou Dang and his much shorter and simpler in addition to being older. This is believed to be the original version and Hongtaiji changed it to Changbai mountain. It shows that the Aisin Gioro clan originated in the Amur area and the Heje ( Hezhen ) and other Amur valley Jurchen tribes had an oral version of the same tale. It also fits with Jurchen history since some ancestors of the Manchus originated north before
2016-633: The Hongwu Emperor , and the Yongle Emperor . His political abilities were paralleled only by Genghis Khan , Emperor Taizong of Tang , and Emperor Guangwu of Han . In this sense, Hong Taiji is considered by some historians as the true first emperor for the Qing dynasty. Some historians suspect Hong Taiji was overall underrated and overlooked as a great emperor because he was a Manchu. Empress Primary Consort Secondary Consort Concubine Enthroned in 1626 as Khan , Hong Taiji changed
2128-656: The Kensiu language . Hong Taiji Hong Taiji (28 November 1592 – 21 September 1643), also rendered as Huang Taiji and sometimes referred to as Abahai in Western literature, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizong of Qing , was the second khan of the Later Jin dynasty and the founding emperor of the Qing dynasty . He was responsible for consolidating the empire that his father Nurhaci had founded and laid
2240-655: The Manchu invaders, suppression of the Southern Ming resistance and execution of the Yongli Emperor . Wu eventually double-crossed both of his masters, the Ming and the Qing dynasties. In 1644, Wu was a Ming general in charge of garrisoning Shanhai Pass , the strategic choke point between Manchuria and Beijing . After learning that Li Zicheng 's rebel army had conquered Beijing and captured his family, including his father Wu Xiang and concubine Chen Yuanyuan , Wu allowed
2352-447: The Qing dynasty . Also during this period, Hong Taiji took over Inner Mongolia in three major wars, each of them victorious. From 1636 until 1644, he sent 4 major expeditions into the Amur region. In 1640 he completed the conquest of the Evenks , when he defeated and captured their leader Bombogor . By 1644, the entire region was under his control. Huang Taji's plan at first was to make
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#17328488314942464-622: The Shanghainese -language character U+20C8E 𠲎 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-20C8E —a composition of 伐 with the ⼝ 'MOUTH' radical—used instead of the Standard Chinese 嗎 ; 吗 . Typefaces often use the initialism TC to signify the use of traditional Chinese characters, as well as SC for simplified Chinese characters . In addition, the Noto, Italy family of typefaces, for example, also provides separate fonts for
2576-470: The 14th-15th centuries in the Amur and only later moved south. Before Hong Taiji was emperor, he controlled the two White banners. Upon Nurhaci's death, Hong Taiji immediately switched his two White Banners with Nurhaci's two Yellow Banners, which should have been passed on to Dorgon and his brothers. As emperor, he was the holder of three banners out of eight. He controlled the Upper Three Banners or
2688-682: The Bodhisattva Manjusri , the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, of whom Nurhaci claimed to be an incarnation. The dynastic name Later Jin was a direct reference to the Jin dynasty founded by the Jurchen people, who ruled northern China from 1115 to 1234. As such, the name was likely to be viewed as closely tied to the Jurchens and would perhaps evoke hostility from ethnic Han who viewed the Song dynasty , rival state to
2800-500: The Daxi army in Sichuan. However, Wu was being closely watched by general Li Guohan, a trusted advisor to the imperial court. Wu wasn't able to free himself from surveillance until a few years later, when Li died. Hence, Wu enhanced his military strength rapidly by gaining a large number of enemy surrenders. In 1660, the Qing army split into three parts to march into Yunnan province and eliminated
2912-711: The Elite banners which at the time were the Plain/Bordered Yellow Banners and Plain Blue Banner. Later the Plain Blue Banner was switched by Dorgon to the Plain White Banner as the third Elite Banner. At the end of his reign, Hong Taiji gave the two Yellow Banners to his eldest son Hooge. Daisan, who was the second son of Nurhaci, and his son controlled the two Red Banners. Dorgon and his two brothers controlled
3024-756: The Han people, then it was not too much to change it. At the same time, Hong Taiji conquered the territory north of Shanhai pass by Ming Dynasty and Ligdan Khan in Inner Mongolia. He won one of the Yuan dynasty's imperial jade seal (Chinese: 制 誥 之 寶 ) and a golden Buddha called "Mahakala". In April 1636, Mongol nobility of Inner Mongolia, Manchu nobility and the Han mandarin held the Kurultai in Shenyang, recommended khan of Later Jin to be
3136-504: The Jehol Pass, then in 1632 and 1634 he sent raids into Shanxi . In 1636, Hong Taiji invaded Joseon Korea, as the latter did not accept that Hong Taiji had become emperor and refused to assist in operations against the Ming. With the Joseon dynasty surrendered in 1637, Hong Taiji succeeded in making them cut off relations with the Ming dynasty and force them to submit as tributary state of
3248-476: The Jin, as the legitimate rulers of China at that time. Hong Taiji's ambition was to conquer China proper and overthrow the Ming dynasty , and to do that required not only a powerful military force but also an effective bureaucratic administration. For this, he used the obvious model, that of the Ming government, and recruited Ming officials to his cause. If the name of Later Jin would prove an impediment to his goal among
3360-569: The Kangxi emperor a chance to assemble his forces. Wang Fuchen, Geng Jingzhong, and Shang Zhixin surrendered one after another under the attack of Qing forces. In 1678, Wu Sangui went a step further and declared himself the emperor of the "Great Zhou", with the era name of Zhaowu ( 昭武 ). He established his capital at Hengzhou (present-day Hengyang , Hunan ). When he died in October 1678, his grandson, Wu Shifan, took over command of his forces and continued
3472-543: The Manchu to enter China proper through Shanhai Pass to drive Li from Beijing, where the Manchu then set up the Qing dynasty. For his aid, the Qing rulers awarded him a fiefdom consisting of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, along with the title "Prince Who Pacifies the West" (平西王). In 1674, Wu decided to rebel against the Qing . In 1678, Wu declared himself the new Emperor of China and the ruler of Zhou, only to die within months. For
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3584-415: The Manchus needed Han defectors in order to assist in the conquest of the Ming, and thus explained to other Manchus why he also needed to be lenient to recent defectors like Ming general Hong Chengchou, who surrendered to the Qing in 1642. When Hong Taiji came into power, the military was composed of entirely Mongol and Manchu companies. By 1636, Hong Taiji created the first of many Chinese companies. Before
3696-589: The Manchus, who had pursued the rebels and the Southern Ming pretenders—became a financial burden on the central government. Their virtually autonomous control of large areas threatened the stability of the Qing dynasty. The Kangxi Emperor decided to make Wu and two other princes who had been rewarded with large fiefs in southern and western China move from their lands to resettle in Manchuria. In 1673, Shang Kexi requested permission to retire and return to his homeland in
3808-611: The Manchus. Wu ordered his soldiers to wear white cloths attached to their armour, to distinguish them from Li's forces. Together, Wu's army and the Qing forces defeated Li's main army in the Battle of Shanhai Pass on 27 May, 1644. Li retreated to Beijing and took revenge on Wu by executing thirty-eight members of the Wu household, including Wu's father, whose head was displayed on the city wall. On 3 June, Li held his coronation ceremony in Beijing and fled
3920-460: The Ming army remained on the offensive, but it also paid a heavy price. On 20 August 1641, the Ming army attacked the Qing camp. The battle lasted the whole day, and the result was too close to call. However, Prince Ajige unexpectedly captured the Ming army's provisions in Bijia Mountain, significantly undermining their ability to fight. The battle continued on 21 August, and was unfavourable to
4032-405: The Ming army. After this defeat Datong full general Wang Pu lost the will to fight. Before Hong Chengchou issued orders, Wang fled with his troops, which completely disrupted the original breakthrough plan. More surprisingly, Wu Sangui also fled in the chaos, escaping on Wang's heel. At such a life-or-death moment, Wu revealed selfishness. The Ming army attempted to withdraw, pursued by the Qing. In
4144-457: The Ming elite army, which greatly wounded the Ming dynasty. Wu and Wang Pu could not escape the fate of being punished for fleeing and avoiding combat and were sentenced to death. A few days later, Wu, who had fled to Ningyuan, received the imperial decree of the Chongzhen emperor. Surprisingly, Wu was promoted above all the full generals. This implied that Wu would not be punished, which was beyond
4256-502: The Ming refused the exchange. Huang Taiji rejected the comparison, saying that, "Neither is your Ming ruler a descendant of the Song nor are we heir to the Jin. That was another time." Hong Taiji had not wanted to conquer the Ming. The Ming's refusal ultimately led him to take the offensive. The people who first encouraged him to invade the Ming dynasty were his ethnic Han advisors Fan Wencheng, Ma Guozhu, and Ning Wanwo. Hong Taiji recognized that
4368-547: The People's Republic of China, traditional Chinese characters are standardised according to the Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters . Dictionaries published in mainland China generally show both simplified and their traditional counterparts. There are differences between the accepted traditional forms in mainland China and elsewhere, for example the accepted traditional form of 产 in mainland China
4480-485: The Qing dynasty rulers. They came to realize the significant role of these generals to the control of central China, as well as the importance of the strategy of "using Han to rule Han" (以汉制汉). In this situation, Wu thrived again. At the beginning of 1648, the Qing court ordered Wu to move his family west and garrison Hanzhong with Chief General (Du Tong) of the Eight Banners Moergen and Li Weihan. In less than
4592-432: The Qing dynasty until after the defensive capability of the Ming dynasty had been greatly weakened with its political apparatus destroyed by the rebel armies of Li Zicheng 's Shun dynasty . In early 1644, Li Zicheng, the head of a peasant rebel army, launched his force from Xi'an for his final offensive northeast toward Beijing. The Chongzhen Emperor decided to abandon Ningyuan and called upon Wu to defend Beijing against
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4704-510: The Revolt of the Three Feudatories. By April 1676, the rebel force possessed 11 provinces (Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi). For a moment, the situation seemed to favor Wu. Unexpectedly, Wu halted his march and stayed south of Yangzi river for three months because of a shortage of troops and financial resources, which gave
4816-622: The Southern Ming regime in Hunan and Guangxi since 1646. In 1648, the rebellion against the Qing dynasty reached its climax. Jiang Xiang, the full general of Datong, waged an insurgency in Shanxi province, while, in the south, in Nanchang and Guangzhou, Jin Shenghuan and Li Chenghong also rebelled, which dramatically changed the military situation. The rebellion from the surrendered Han generals greatly shocked
4928-512: The Southern Ming regime, thus achieving the preliminary unification of China. Nevertheless, the imperial court still faced a number of serious military and political threats. The Yongli Emperor of the Southern Ming and Li Dingguo of the Daxi army retreated to Burma , and they maintained influence in Yunnan. It was inconvenient for the Eight Banners soldiers to garrison Yunnan's border area, which
5040-438: The Three Feudatories . Before the rebellion, Wu sent a confidant to Beijing to retrieve Wu Yingxiong, his son and the young emperor's uncle-in-law; but his son disagreed. The confidant only brought back Wu Shipan, Wu Yingxiong's son by a concubine. On 28 December 1673, Wu killed Zhu Guozhi, the governor of Yunnan, and rebelled "against the alien and rebuilding Ming dynasty". On 7 January 1674, 62-year-old Wu led troops from Yunnan on
5152-553: The Tibetans' and Mongols' belief in the religion. Hong Taiji started his conquest by subduing the potent Ming ally in Korea. February 1627 his forces crossed the Yalu River which had frozen. In 1628, he attempted to invade the Ming dynasty, but was defeated by Yuan Chonghuan and his use of artillery. During the next five years, Hong Taiji spent resources in training his artillery to offset
5264-571: The United States during the second half of the 19th century, Chinese Americans have long used traditional characters. When not providing both, US public notices and signs in Chinese are generally written in traditional characters, more often than in simplified characters. In the past, traditional Chinese was most often encoded on computers using the Big5 standard, which favored traditional characters. However,
5376-475: The West") with a fief in Yunnan . It had been extremely rare for someone outside of the imperial clan, especially a non-Manchu, to be granted the title of Wang . Those who were not members of the imperial clan and awarded the title were called Yixing Wang ( literally meaning "kings with other family names") or known as "vassal kings". These vassal kings usually came to a bad end, mainly because they were not trusted by
5488-483: The Yongli Emperor of the Southern Ming dynasty and Li Dingguo's army was regarded as a great threat to Wu. Therefore, Wu was actively preparing for their elimination to consolidate his rule. He exaggerated the rebellion's threat, spread rumors and submitted his proposal to the court, urging the invasion of Burma, which, after a time, the imperial court approved. In June 1662, Wu sent army into Burma, captured and killed
5600-420: The Yongli Emperor, while Li Dingguo died of illness. In the next few years, Wu led his army from the northwest to the southwest border and enabled the Qing dynasty's dominance in that part of the country. After he defeated the remnant Ming forces in southwestern China, Wu was rewarded by the Qing imperial court with the title of Pingxi Wang (平西王; translated as "Prince Who Pacifies the West" or "King Who Pacifies
5712-475: The army, garrisoning the Daling River and Ningyuan in the army of general Zu Dashou . In 1630, while gathering information about the enemy, Wu's father, Wu Xiang, was encircled by the Qing troops. Wu Sangui was denied help from his maternal uncle, Zu Dashou, and so decided to rescue his father with a force of about 20 soldiers chosen from his personal retinue. Wu Sangui and his small cavalry force charged into
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#17328488314945824-460: The battle, Wu Sangui was regarded as its most outstanding general. In June 1641, Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui returned to Songshan and garrisoned the northwest area. Prince Zheng Jirgalang attacked several times towards Songshan and Xinshan but was defeated repeatedly, the Ming army succeeding in surrounding the Qing army four times. Though the Qing army finally broke through the encirclement, their casualties were very high. Due to Wu Sangui's bravery,
5936-463: The character huang ("imperial"), misleadingly implies that Hong Taiji once held the title of "imperial prince" or heir apparent, even though his father and predecessor Nurhaci never designated a successor. "Hong Taiji" was very rarely used in Manchu sources, because they observed a taboo on the personal names of emperors. In redacted documents, Hong Taiji was simply called the " Fourth Beile " or "fourth prince" ( duici beile ), indicating that he
6048-474: The comprehension of many government officials. Even more surprising was the fact that, months later, when someone in the court called for an investigation to determine responsibility for the Songshan defeat, only Wang Pu was arrested while Wu continued to serve as a governor general of Liaodong, garrisoned in Ningyuan. This caused an outcry in the Ming court. In May 1642, the result of the Ming court's re-examination
6160-442: The conquest of the Ming dynasty, the number of companies organized by him and his successor was 278 Manchus, 120 Mongols, and 165 Han. By the time of Hong Taiji's death there were more ethnic Han than Manchus and he had realized the need for there to be control exerted whilst getting approval from the Han majority. Not only did he incorporate the Han into the military, but also into the government. The Council of Deliberative Officials
6272-458: The early twentieth century. Giovanni Stary states that this name may have originated by confusing "Abkai" with Abkai sure , which was Hong Taiji's era name in the Manchu language . Though "Abahai" is indeed "unattested in Manchu sources", it might also have derived from the Mongol word Abaġai , an honorary name given to the younger sons of hereditary monarchs. According to another view, Hong Taiji
6384-413: The emperor of Great Qing empire. Russian archive contains translations of the 1636 year Hong Taiji decree with the provision that after the fall of the Qing dynasty Mongols will return to their previous laws, i.e. independence. Whatever the precise motivation, Hong Taiji proclaimed the establishment of the Qing dynasty and also changed his era name to Chóngdé in 1636. The reasons for the choice of Qing as
6496-513: The emperor's suicide. So they garrisoned Shanhai Pass , the eastern terminus of the main Great Wall instead. Wu and his men were then caught between the rebels within the Great Wall and the Manchus without. After the collapse of the Ming dynasty, Wu and his army became a vital military force in deciding the fate of China. Both Dorgon and Li Zicheng tried to gain Wu's support. Li took a number of measures to secure Wu's surrender, granting silver, gold,
6608-459: The emperors. At the end of 1662, Guizhou province came under the jurisdiction of Wu. Meanwhile, Wu's son, Wu Yingxiong (Wu Shifan's father), married Princess Jianning, the 14th daughter of Hong Taiji and Kangxi's aunt. The Qing imperial court did not trust Wu, but he was still able to rule Yunnan with little or no interference. This was because the Manchus, an ethnic minority, needed time after their prolonged conquest to figure out how to impose
6720-527: The enemy encirclement, killing the Manchu general and saved Wu Xiang. Both Hong Taiji and Zu were impressed by Wu's valour, and Zu recommended Wu's promotion. Wu Sangui gained the position of guerrilla general when he was no older than 20. In 1632, the Ming court transferred the Liaodong army to Shandong , to defeat the rebel armies of Kong Youde . Wu, who was 22 years old, served as a guerrilla general and fought side by side with his father, Wu Xiang. Wu rose to
6832-404: The generals under his command, which were all granted by the imperial court. In July 1646, when Wu was summoned by the emperor, the Qing court granted him a total of 10 horses and 20,000 pieces of silver as an extra reward. Wu wasn't pleased, however, since he had been set aside since his return to Jinzhou, while the army of Kong Youde , Geng Jingzhong , and Shang Kexi had been fighting against
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#17328488314946944-554: The groundwork for the conquest of the Ming dynasty , although he died before this was accomplished. He was also responsible for changing the name of the Jurchens to " Manchu " in 1635, and changing the name of his dynasty from "Great Jin" to "Great Qing" in 1636. It is unclear whether " Hong Taiji " was a title or a personal name. Written Hong taiji in Manchu , it was borrowed from the Mongolian title Khong Tayiji . That Mongolian term
7056-478: The highest class banners — the Plain and Bordered Yellow Banners — and the most influence. From there, he slowly got rid of his competitors' powers. Later, he would also receive the Plain Blue Banner from his fifth brother Manggūltai , which was the third strongest banner. Those three banners would officially become the Upper Three Banners during the early years of the Qing dynasty. During his reign, Hong Taiji started recruitment of Han Chinese officials. After
7168-493: The inverse is equally true as well. In digital media, many cultural phenomena imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan into mainland China, such as music videos, karaoke videos, subtitled movies, and subtitled dramas, use traditional Chinese characters. In Hong Kong and Macau , traditional characters were retained during the colonial period, while the mainland adopted simplified characters. Simplified characters are contemporaneously used to accommodate immigrants and tourists, often from
7280-725: The mainland. The increasing use of simplified characters has led to concern among residents regarding protecting what they see as their local heritage. Taiwan has never adopted simplified characters. The use of simplified characters in government documents and educational settings is discouraged by the government of Taiwan. Nevertheless, with sufficient context simplified characters are likely to be successfully read by those used to traditional characters, especially given some previous exposure. Many simplified characters were previously variants that had long been in some use, with systematic stroke simplifications used in folk handwriting since antiquity. Traditional characters were recognized as
7392-682: The majority of Chinese text in mainland China are simplified characters , there is no legislation prohibiting the use of traditional Chinese characters, and often traditional Chinese characters remain in use for stylistic and commercial purposes, such as in shopfront displays and advertising. Traditional Chinese characters remain ubiquitous on buildings that predate the promulgation of the current simplification scheme, such as former government buildings, religious buildings, educational institutions, and historical monuments. Traditional Chinese characters continue to be used for ceremonial, cultural, scholarly/academic research, and artistic/decorative purposes. In
7504-916: The merging of previously distinct character forms. Many Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between these character sets. Traditional characters are known by different names throughout the Chinese-speaking world. The government of Taiwan officially refers to traditional Chinese characters as 正體字 ; 正体字 ; zhèngtǐzì ; 'orthodox characters'. This term is also used outside Taiwan to distinguish standard characters, including both simplified, and traditional, from other variants and idiomatic characters . Users of traditional characters elsewhere, as well as those using simplified characters, call traditional characters 繁體字 ; 繁体字 ; fántǐzì ; 'complex characters', 老字 ; lǎozì ; 'old characters', or 全體字 ; 全体字 ; quántǐzì ; 'full characters' to distinguish them from simplified characters. Some argue that since traditional characters are often
7616-401: The military-civil administration known as the Eight Banners or Banner system . This system was well-suited to accept the different peoples, primarily Han and Mongols , who joined the Later Jin state either following negotiated agreements or military defeat. Although Hong Taiji patronized Tibetan Buddhism in public, in private he disdained the Buddhist belief of the Mongols and thought it
7728-419: The name of his people from Jurchen ( Manchu : [REDACTED] jušen ) to Manchu, or [REDACTED] manju in the Manchu language . The original meaning of Manju is not known and so the reasons for its adoption remain opaque. There are many theories as to the reason for the choice of name but two of the most commonly cited are its sounding similar to the Manchu word for "brave" and a possible connection with
7840-534: The new name are likewise unclear, although it has been speculated that the sound – Jin and Qing are pronounced similarly in Manchu – or wuxing theory – traditional ideas held that fire, associated with the character for Ming, was overcome by water, associated with the character for Qing – may have influenced the choice. Another possible reason may be that Hong Taiji changed the name of the dynasty from (Later) Jin to Qing in 1636 because of internecine fraternal struggle and skirmish between brothers and half brothers for
7952-475: The next day. The Manchus marched into the Chinese capital unopposed shortly afterward and enthroned the young Shunzhi Emperor in the Forbidden City . Wu Sangui pledged allegiance to the Qing dynasty and received the title of Pingxi Wang ( Chinese : 平西王 ; pinyin : Píngxī wáng ; lit. 'Prince who pacifies the West'). However, he remained fearful that the Qing dynasty held him in suspicion. In October 1644, Wu received orders to suppress
8064-511: The north, and the Kangxi Emperor granted the request at once. Forced into an awkward situation, Wu and Geng Jingzhong requested the same shortly afterwards. The Kangxi Emperor granted their requests and decided to dissolve the three vassal states, overriding all objections. Driven by the threat to their interests, the three revolted and thus began the eight-year-long civil war known as the Revolt of
8176-494: The northern expedition and took the whole territory of Guizhou province without any loss. Wu Yingxiong and his sons with Princess Jianning was executed by the Kangxi Emperor soon after his father's rebellion. Shortly afterwards, Wu founded his own Zhou dynasty. By April 1674, Wu Sangui's army had quickly occupied Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, and Guangxi. In the next 2 years, Geng Jingzhong, Wang Fuchen , and Shang Zhixin successively rose in rebellion, and Wu's rebellion had expanded into
8288-665: The official script in Singapore until 1969, when the government officially adopted Simplified characters. Traditional characters still are widely used in contexts such as in baby and corporation names, advertisements, decorations, official documents and in newspapers. The Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative in Southeast Asia regarding simplification. Although major public universities teach in simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications such as
8400-700: The original standard forms, they should not be called 'complex'. Conversely, there is a common objection to the description of traditional characters as 'standard', due to them not being used by a large population of Chinese speakers. Additionally, as the process of Chinese character creation often made many characters more elaborate over time, there is sometimes a hesitation to characterize them as 'traditional'. Some people refer to traditional characters as 'proper characters' ( 正字 ; zhèngzì or 正寫 ; zhèngxiě ) and to simplified characters as 簡筆字 ; 简笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'simplified-stroke characters' or 減筆字 ; 减笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'reduced-stroke characters', as
8512-825: The predominant forms. Simplified characters as codified by the People's Republic of China are predominantly used in mainland China , Malaysia, and Singapore. "Traditional" as such is a retronym applied to non-simplified character sets in the wake of widespread use of simplified characters. Traditional characters are commonly used in Taiwan , Hong Kong , and Macau , as well as in most overseas Chinese communities outside of Southeast Asia. As for non-Chinese languages written using Chinese characters, Japanese kanji include many simplified characters known as shinjitai standardized after World War II, sometimes distinct from their simplified Chinese counterparts . Korean hanja , still used to
8624-488: The rank of deputy general and was promoted to full general in September of that year. In September 1638, Wu served as a deputy general again. At the beginning of 1639, as the situation in Liaodong became increasingly tense, the Ming court transferred general Hong Chengchou as the governor-general ( Chinese : 总督 ; pinyin : Zǒngdū ) of Jiliao; Hong appointed Wu as the general in charge of training. In October 1639,
8736-571: The rebel peasant army. At that time, Li Zicheng still held Shaanxi , Hubei , Henan , among others, and was gathering his troops to rise again. Wu, together with Shang Kexi , led his soldiers to Shaanxi under Ajige , the General of Jingyuan appointed by Dorgon . From October to the following August, when he returned to Beijing, Wu fought the peasant army and achieved great success. In June 1645, Wu Sangui captured Yulin and Yan'an in Shaanxi province. At
8848-547: The rebels. Wu Sangui received the title Pingxi Bo ( Chinese : 平西伯 ; pinyin : Píng xībó ; lit. 'Count who pacifies the West';) as he moved to face the peasant army. At the time of Beijing's fall to Li Zicheng, on 25 April 1644, Wu and his 40,000-man army—the most significant Ming fighting force in northern China—were on the way to Beijing to come to the Chongzhen Emperor's aid but then received word of
8960-635: The rule of a dynasty of a tiny minority on the vast Han-Chinese society. As a semi-independent ruler in the distant southwest, Wu was seen as an asset to the Qing court. 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 in building his army, in preparation for an eventual clash with the Qing dynasty. Wu in Yunnan, along with Shang Kexi in Guangdong and Geng Jingzhong in Fujian—the three great Han military allies of
9072-582: The same time Li Zicheng was killed by a village head in Tongshan county, Hubei province. In 1645, the Qing court rewarded Wu Sangui with the title of Qin Wang ( Chinese : 亲王 ; pinyin : Qīnwáng ; lit. 'Prince of the Blood';) and ordered him to garrison Jinzhou . The high-sounding title was belied by transferring Wu to Jinzhou, which had lost its position as a militarily important town and become an insignificant rear area. Moreover, along with
9184-510: The second ruler of the Later Jin dynasty in 1626. He might have had Mongolian ancestry as the son of Yehe-Nara Monggo Jerjer , and he might have been genetically related to the Mongolic Daur people as a member of the Aisin-Gioro clan . Although it has always been regarded as gossip, he was said to have been involved in the suicide of Dorgon 's mother, Lady Abahai , in order to block
9296-509: The set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in the Standard Form of National Characters . These forms were predominant in written Chinese until the middle of the 20th century, when various countries that use Chinese characters began standardizing simplified sets of characters, often with characters that existed before as well-known variants of
9408-423: The small path and flee on the main road. As expected, the Qing army had only cut off the small path, while no more than 400 soldiers held the main road under Hong Taiji. Seeing Wu Sangui's fierce charge, Hong Taiji restrained his army from pursuing. Hong thought highly of Wu, and considered gaining his favor as the key to conquering the dynasty. The breakthrough at Songshan resulted in the deaths of 52,000 members of
9520-591: The strength of the Ming artillery. Hong Taiji upgraded the weapons of the Empire. He realized the advantage of the Red Cannons and later also bought the Red Cannons into the army. Though the Ming dynasty still had more cannons, Hong Taiji now possessed the cannons of equal might and Asia's strongest cavalry. Also during this time, he sent several probing raids into northern China which were defeated. First attack went through
9632-476: The struggle. The remnants of Wu's armies were defeated soon after, in December 1681, and Wu Shifan committed suicide. Wu's son-in-law was sent to Beijing with Wu Shifan's head. The Kangxi Emperor sent parts of Wu's corpse to various provinces of China. Traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters are a standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages . In Taiwan ,
9744-435: The succession of his younger brother. This is speculated because at the time of Nurhaci's death, there were four Lords/Beile with Hong Taiji holding the lowest rank, but also being the most fit one. Originally, at the end of Nurhaci's reign, Hong Taiji controlled the two White Banners , but after Lady Abahai's death, he switched his two banners with Dorgon and Dodo 's two Yellow banners. In the end, Hong Taiji had control over
9856-433: The throne to Hong Taiji's half-brother Dorgon – a proven military leader – or to Hong Taiji's eldest son Hooge . As a compromise, Hong Taiji's five-year-old ninth son Fulin was chosen, while Dorgon – alongside Nurhaci's nephew Jirgalang – was given the title of "prince regent". Fulin was officially crowned emperor of the Qing dynasty on 8 October 1643 and it
9968-488: The throne. According to Taoist philosophy, the name Jin has the meaning of metal and fire in its constituent, thereby igniting the tempers of the brothers of the Manchu Royal household into open conflicts and wars. Hong Taiji therefore adopted the new name of Great Qing (大清), the Chinese character of which has the water symbol [3 strokes] on its left hand side. The name, which means clear and transparent, with its water symbol
10080-627: The traditional character set used in Taiwan ( TC ) and the set used in Hong Kong ( HK ). Most Chinese-language webpages now use Unicode for their text. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends the use of the language tag zh-Hant to specify webpage content written with traditional characters. In the Japanese writing system , kyujitai are traditional forms, which were simplified to create shinjitai for standardized Japanese use following World War II. Kyūjitai are mostly congruent with
10192-970: The traditional characters in Chinese, save for minor stylistic variation. Characters that are not included in the jōyō kanji list are generally recommended to be printed in their traditional forms, with a few exceptions. Additionally, there are kokuji , which are kanji wholly created in Japan, rather than originally being borrowed from China. In the Korean writing system , hanja —replaced almost entirely by hangul in South Korea and totally replaced in North Korea —are mostly identical with their traditional counterparts, save minor stylistic variations. As with Japanese, there are autochthonous hanja, known as gukja . Traditional Chinese characters are also used by non-Chinese ethnic groups. The Maniq people living in Thailand and Malaysia use Chinese characters to write
10304-467: The troops, opened up wasteland, grew food grain, and forbade any cultivation in the Ningjin area outside Shanhai Pass . On 18 May 1640, Wu Sangui met the Qing army in battle at Xingshan. Jirgalang led 1,500 soldiers to accept the surrender of the Mongolian people, but they were spotted by general Liu Zhaoji when passing the Ming army. Liu Zhaoji led 3,000 soldiers against the Qing army. At that time, Wu Sangui
10416-440: The two White Banners and Šurhaci's son Jirgalang controlled the remaining Bordered Blue Banner. Hong Taiji died on 21 September 1643 just as the Qing was preparing to attack Shanhai Pass , the last Ming fortification guarding access to the north China plains. Because he died without having named an heir, the Qing state now faced a succession crisis. The Deliberative Council of Princes and Ministers debated on whether to grant
10528-509: The ubiquitous Unicode standard gives equal weight to simplified and traditional Chinese characters, and has become by far the most popular encoding for Chinese-language text. There are various input method editors (IMEs) available for the input of Chinese characters . Many characters, often dialectical variants, are encoded in Unicode but cannot be inputted using certain IMEs, with one example being
10640-526: The words for simplified and reduced are homophonous in Standard Chinese , both pronounced as jiǎn . The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han dynasty c. 200 BCE , with the sets of forms and norms more or less stable since the Southern and Northern dynasties period c. the 5th century . Although
10752-639: Was buried in Zhaoling , located in northern Shenyang . As the emperor, he is commonly recognized as having abilities similar to the best emperors such as Yongle , Emperor Taizong of Tang due to his effective rule, use of talent, and warring skills. According to historian Jin Yong , Hong Taiji had the broad and wise views of Qin Shi Huang , Emperor Gaozu of Han , Emperor Guangwu of Han , Emperor Wen of Sui , Emperor Taizong of Tang , Emperor Taizu of Song , Kublai Khan ,
10864-410: Was decided that he would reign under the era name " Shunzhi ." A few months later, Qing armies led by Dorgon seized Beijing , and the young Shunzhi Emperor became the first Qing emperor to rule from that new capital. That the Qing state succeeded not only in conquering China but also in establishing a capable administration was due in large measure to the foresight and policies of Hong Taiji. His body
10976-487: Was destructive of Mongol identity. He is quoted to have said that, "The Mongolian princes are abandoning the Mongolian language; their names are all in imitation of the lamas ." The Manchus themselves such as Hong Taiji did not personally believe in Tibetan Buddhism and few wanted to convert. Hong Taiji described some Tibetan Buddhist lamas as "incorrigibles" and "liars", but still patronized Buddhism in order to harness
11088-479: Was determined to destroy Wu's army. On 18, May, he personally led 60,000 troops out of Beijing to attack Wu. and defeated Wu on 21 May. The next day, Wu wrote to Dorgon for help. Dorgon took the opportunity to force Wu to surrender, and Wu had little choice but to accept. On 22 May, 1644, Wu opened the gates of the Great Wall of China at Shanhai Pass to let the Qing forces into China proper , forming an alliance with
11200-758: Was established for indirect government of Inner Mongolia after the Mongols were conquered by Hong Taiji. In 1638 it was renamed to Lifanyuan . Initially, the ministerial affairs were settled, while vice-ministers were set up as vice-ministers. He continued the expansion of the Later Jin dynasty in Manchuria , pushing deeper into the Mongolian Plateau and raiding the Joseon dynasty and the Ming dynasty . His personal military abilities were widely praised and he effectively developed
11312-427: Was far away from the capital. As a result, the imperial court approved the proposal by Hong Chengchou to withdraw those soldiers, and give Wu command of the border area. Thus, Wu not only commanded a large army but also controlled vast territory. In 1661, the green-flag army under Wu numbered 60,000, while Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao had only 7,500 ad 7,000 soldiers in their armies. Wu planned to permanently garrison and
11424-566: Was formed as the highest level of policy-making and was composed entirely of Manchu. However, Hong Taiji adopted from the Ming such institutions as the Six Ministries , the Censorate and others. Each of these lower ministries was headed by a Manchu prince, but had four presidents: two were Manchu, one was Mongol, and one was Han. This basic framework remained, even though the details fluctuated over time, for some time. In 1635, Hong Taiji changed
11536-497: Was his real name, "not being at all connected with the Chinese title huang taizi ". Historian Mark Elliott views this as persuasive evidence that Hong Taiji was not a title, but a personal name. Western scholars used to refer to Hong Taiji as " Abahai ", but this appellation is now considered mistaken. Hong Taiji was never mentioned under this name in Manchu and Chinese sources; it was a mistake first made by Russian clergyman G.V. Gorsky and later repeated by sinologists starting in
11648-513: Was hoped to put out the feud among the brothers of the Manchu Royal household. Hongtaiji claimed that the progenitor of his Aisin Gioro clan, Bukūri Yongšon (布庫里雍順), was conceived from a virgin birth. According to the legend, three heavenly maidens, namely Enggulen (恩古倫), Jenggulen (正古倫) and Fekulen (佛庫倫), were bathing at a lake called Bulhūri Omo near the Changbai Mountains . A magpie dropped
11760-491: Was insufficient to fight Li's main army, Wu wrote to the Manchu prince-regent Dorgon for military support, under the condition of restricting the dominance of the Manchus to northern China and the Ming to south. Dorgon replied that the Manchus would help Wu, but Wu would have to submit to the Qing. Wu did not accept at first. Li Zicheng sent two armies to attack the pass, but Wu's battle-hardened troops defeated them easily on 5 and 10 May, 1644. In order to secure his position, Li
11872-525: Was itself derived from the Chinese huang taizi 皇太子 ("crown prince", "imperial prince"), but in Mongolian it meant, among other things, something like "respected son". Alternatively, historian Pamela Crossley argues that "Hung Taiji" was a title "of Mongolian inspiration" derived from hung , a word that appeared in other Mongolian titles at the time. Early seventeenth-century Chinese and Korean sources rendered his name as "Hong Taiji" ( 洪台極 ). The modern Chinese rendering " Huang Taiji " ( 皇太極 ), which uses
11984-781: Was mistakenly referred to as Abahai as a result of a confusion with the name of Nurhaci's main consort Lady Abahai . Hong Taiji was the second Khan of the Later Jin and then Emperor of the Qing dynasty , after he changed its name. His title as Great Khan was Bogd Sécén Khaan (Manchu: Gosin Onco Hūwaliyasun Enduringge Han), and he was referred to as Bogda Khan by his Mongol subjects. His reign names , which were used in his lifetime to record dates, were Tiancong 天聰 ("heavenly wisdom"; Manchu: Abka-i sure ) from 1627 to 1636, and Chongde 崇德 ("lofty virtue"; Manchu: Wesihun erdemungge , Mongolian: Degedü Erdemtü ) from 1636 to 1643. Hong Taiji's temple name , by which he
12096-414: Was preparing to make the border area his own. However, Yunnan was not stable at that time, for newly surrendered soldiers had not been fully assimilated into the Qing force. Moreover, the Daxi army had been building in Yunnan over decades and shared a close relationship with various minority nationalities. Many Tusi leaders refused to accept the rule of Wu, which led to a series of rebellions. The existence of
12208-404: Was stationed in Songshan and brought a 3,000-strong force the moment he heard the news. From Jinzhou, Zu Dashou sent more than 700 soldiers as a reserve. At first, the Ming army seemed more powerful with superior numbers; but, after the pursuit of Jiamashan, the Qing army was able to surround Wu Sangui. Wu Sangui was unable to withstand the repeated attacks from both Jirgalang and Duoduo. He fought
12320-486: Was the death penalty for Wang Pu, and demotion of three levels in rank for Wu. Wu continued to serve as full general in Ningyuan and was in charge of the training of the Liaodong army. By February 1642, the Ming dynasty had lost four of the eight vital cities beyond Shanhai Pass to the Manchu army. Ningyuan, where Wu was stationed, became Beijing's last defence against the Manchu army. Hong Taiji repeatedly attempted to persuade Wu to surrender, to no avail. Wu did not side with
12432-455: Was the fourth ranked among the eight beile Nurhaci had designated from among his sons. However, an archival document rediscovered in 1996 and recounting events from 1621 calls him "Hong Taiji" in a discussion concerning the possible naming of Nurhaci's heir apparent, a title that the document refers to as taise . Tatiana Pang and Giovanni Stary, two specialists of early Manchu history, consider this document as "further evidence" that Hong Taiji
12544-468: Was worshipped at the Imperial Ancestral Temple , was Taizong 太宗, the name that was conventionally given to the second emperor of a dynasty. His posthumous name , which was chosen to reflect his style of rule, was " Wen Huangdi " 文皇帝 (Manchu: šu hūwangdi ), which means "the culturing emperor" or "the emperor of letters". Hong Taiji was the eighth son of Nurhaci , whom he succeeded as
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