State · 1644 (conquest completed 1683)
The Qing take Beijing
Forbidden City, Beijing
In April 1644 Beijing fell to the rebel army of Li Zicheng, and the last Ming emperor, the Chongzhen Emperor, hanged himself in the imperial garden outside the Forbidden City. Manchu forces, aided by the defecting Ming general Wu Sangui, defeated Li at Shanhai Pass and entered Beijing in June 1644, beginning the Qing dynasty's rule over China; Ming loyalists held out in the south and on Taiwan until 1683.
Why it mattered
The Qing, China's last imperial dynasty, ruled until 1912, controlled more territory than any earlier Chinese dynasty and assembled the territorial base of modern China.
Related
- The world in 1600: Gunpowder Empires chapter
- The Atlantic slave trade previous moment · 16th–19th centuries
- Thirty Years' War and the Peace of Westphalia next moment · 1618–1648