The Fall of the Ming Dynasty in China

By the beginning of 1644, all of China was in chaos. The severely weakened Ming Dynasty was desperately trying to hold on to power, while a rebel leader called Li Zicheng declared his own new dynasty after capturing the capital city of Beijing. In these dire circumstances, a Ming general decided to issue an invitation for the ethnic Manchus of north-eastern China to come to the countrys aid, and retake the capital city.  This would prove to be a fatal mistake for the Ming. The Ming general Wu Sangui probably should have known better than to ask the Manchus for help. They had been fighting one another for the previous 20 years; at the Battle of Ningyuan in 1626, the Manchu leader Nurhaci had received his fatal injury fighting against the Ming. In the years that followed, the Manchus repeated raided Ming China, capturing key northern cities, and defeating the crucial Ming ally Joseon Korea in 1627 and again in 1636. In both 1642 and 1643, Manchu bannermen drove deep into China, seizing territory and loot. Chaos Meanwhile, in other parts of China, a cycle of catastrophic floods on the Yellow River, followed by wide-spread famine, convinced ordinary Chinese people that their rulers had lost the Mandate of Heaven. China needed a new dynasty. Beginning in the 1630s in the northern Shaanxi province, a minor Ming official called Li Zicheng gathered followers from the disenchanted peasantry. In February of 1644, Li captured the old capital of Xian and declared himself the first emperor of the Shun Dynasty.  His armies marched east, capturing Taiyuan and heading toward Beijing. Meanwhile, further south, another rebellion led by the army deserter Zhang Xianzhong unleashed a reign of terror that included capturing and killing several Ming imperial princes and thousands of civilians. He set himself up as the first emperor of the Xi Dynasty based in Sichuan Province in southwest China later in 1644. Beijing Falls With growing alarm, the Chongzhen Emperor of Ming watched the rebel troops under Li Zicheng advance toward Beijing. His most effective general, Wu Sangui, was far away, north of the Great Wall. The emperor sent for Wu, and also issued a general summons on April 5 for any available military commander in the Ming Empire to come to Beijings rescue. It was no use—on April 24, Lis army broke through the city walls and captured Beijing.  The Chongzhen Emperor hanged himself from a tree behind the Forbidden City. Wu Sangui and his Ming army were on their way to Beijing, marching through the Shanhai Pass at the eastern end of the Great Wall of China.  Wu received word that he was too late, and the capital had already fallen. He retreated to Shanghai.  Li Zicheng sent his armies to confront Wu, who handily defeated them in two battles. Frustrated, Li marched out in person at the head of a 60,000-strong force to take on Wu. It was at this point that Wu appealed to the closest large army nearby—the Qing leader Dorgon and his Manchus. Curtains for the Ming Dorgon had no interest in restoring the Ming Dynasty, his old rivals. He agreed to attack Lis army, but only if Wu and the Ming army would serve under him instead. On May 27, Wu agreed. Dorgon sent him and his troops to attack Lis rebel army repeatedly; once both sides in this Han Chinese civil battle were worn out, Dorgon sent his riders around the flank of Wus army. The Manchu set upon the rebels, quickly overcoming them and sending them flying back toward Beijing. Li Zicheng himself returned to the Forbidden City and grabbed all the valuables he could carry. His troops looted the capital for a couple of days and then scampered west on June 4, 1644, ahead of the advancing Manchus. Li would only survive until September of the following year, when he was killed after a series of battles with Qing imperial troops. Ming pretenders to the throne continued to try to rally Chinese support for restoration for several decades after the fall of Beijing, but none gained much support. The Manchu leaders quickly reorganized the Chinese government, adopting some aspects of Han Chinese rule such as the civil service exam system, while also imposing Manchu customs such as the queue hairstyle on their Han Chinese subjects. In the end, the Manchus Qing Dynasty would rule China right up to the end of the imperial era, in 1911. Causes of Ming Collapse One major cause of the Ming collapse was a succession of relatively weak and disconnected emperors. Early in the Ming period, the emperors were active administrators and military leaders. By the end of the Ming era, however, the emperors had retreated into the Forbidden City, never venturing out at the head of their armies, and seldom even meeting in person with their ministers. A second reason for the collapse of the Ming was the huge expense in money and men of defending China from its northern and western neighbors. This has been a constant in Chinese history, but the Ming were particularly concerned because they had only just won China back from Mongol rule under the Yuan Dynasty.  As it turned out, they were right to worry about invasions from the north, although this time it was the Manchus who took power. A final, huge cause was the shifting climate and disruptions to the monsoon cycle of rains. Heavy rains brought devastating floods, particularly of the Yellow River, which swamped farmers land and drowned livestock and people alike. With crops and stock destroyed, the people went hungry, a sure-fire prescription for peasant uprisings. Indeed, the fall of the Ming Dynasty was the sixth time in Chinese history that a long-standing empire was brought down by peasant rebellion following famine.

I Am Signed Mass At Saint Michael s Church - 960 Words

On May 1, 2016, I went to the 10:00 AM Signed Mass at Saint Michael s Church. I went to this event with my aunt and grandmother. We arrived there 10 to 15 minutes before the mass actually started. Once we got there, I immediately tried to spot someone who was signing outside the church. I had no luck in doing this so I resorted in entering the building. Inside the church, I the first thing I realized was that the first 5 rows were reserved for the deaf community. Due to the fact that my grandmother is really weak and fragile, we sat in the 6th row. The next thing that I did was to try to have a conversation with one of the people in front of me. I attempted to have a conversation with a woman who looked like she was around the age of 50,†¦show more content†¦Katie was a senior who goes to Granada High School. She has long brown hair and is a pretty fast swimmer. I was kind of shocked to see her, because I didn’t know that she went to Saint Michael’s. We had a l ittle chat while we were changing, but had to stop chatting when it was time to serve. During the whole mass, I didn’t really pay attention to what the priest was saying at all. I was too busy trying to read what the translator was saying. There were only a handful amount of words that I could recognize, but the rest of the signs looked like gibberish. While she was signing, I learned a couple of words. Some of the words that I learned how to sign were; holy, lord, and pray. I was a little surprised about the last one, due to the fact that the sign was too basic. I thought the sign would be more complex, but it turns out that I was wrong. I also realized that the deaf people were really chatty during the mass. They would turn around and sign to each other every so often. One thing that I found that was really fascinating was when the choir was singing, they would sort of sing along. Not literally, but sign the lyrics. When they did this, I realized that the they way they sign ed also changed. Their signs were smoother and had a tendency to sway back and forth. Before I knew it, it was time for the candles to walk down the aisle to retrieve the gifts. While walking down, I spotted Amy there. I made eye contact with her, gave her a little smile, and then

Beowolf And Grendel Essay Example For Students

Beowolf And Grendel Essay Apart from Wealth, Honor, and Paganistic vs. Biblical themes and motifs, character is also shown through a certain Man vs. Wild motif. This motif shows the difference between mankinds ways good, and evils wild nature evil. Grendel for one, is totally wild and is therefore shown as evil. His wild home, Grendel, who haunted the moors, the wild marshes, and made his home in a hell not hell but earth. shows his wild, untamed, and therefor evil nature. Grendels wilderness is countered in mankinds ways, especially Beowulfs. Beowulf is tame and civilized, the epitomy of goodness and purity. Beowulf doesnt fight evil in a wild manner, rather, as shown in his first battle with Grendel. First off, Beowulf is pure and shows this before his battle when he removes his armor and vows not to use a weapon to defeat Grendel. Defeating Grendel, he shows that man, without armor and weapons, can defeat evil in any form including that of his foe Grendel. This deed serves throughout the epic serves as a symbol of Beowulfs Goodness.

Star Wars Essays (950 words) - Fiction, Action Heroes, Star Wars

Star Wars Star Wars By George Lucas Paperback, November 1998 Star Wars is a science fiction adventure novel. The symbolism and characterization was really excellent in the story. The story gives a great look into the future as it has many different types of things we have not yet invented; blaster rifles, space ships that go the speed of light, fat alien slugs, and beam swords. The plot of the story sucks you into the novel and makes you want to continue reading the novel. The plot of the story mainly reflects on a young boy, Luke Skywalker. Luke was raised on his Uncle's moisture farm on the planet Tatooine. He meets up with Obi-Wan Kenobi by following a droid, R2-D2, he had purchased through a small natives of Tatooine known as Jawas. R2-D2 believes he is the property of Obi-Wan and decides to search for its master. Luke is attacked by another group of natives, Tusken Raiders also known as sand people. Obi-Wan comes and saves Luke from the sand people and take him back to his home. Obi-Wan tells Luke a little about his father. He tells Luke that his father was his apprentice in learning the ways of the Force. Obi-Wan gives Luke his father's old light saber and Obi-Wan finds something inside R2-D2. It is a message from Princess Leia. She sent the two droids, R2-D2 and C3-PO, to send this message to Obi-Wan. Luke and Obi-Wan head back to Luke's house and find a Sandcrawler, a vehicle the Jawas travel in, destroyed. Luke thinks that some Tusken Raiders did this, but Obi-Wan points out that Imperial Storm Troopers have attacked the Jawas. Luke then finds out that his uncle and aunt are dead. He then decides to train to be a Jedi Knight. They head to a Mos Eisley, a spaceport to search for a pilot to get them to the planet Alderaan. Obi-Wan and Luke meet up with a smuggler named Han Solo and his co-pilot, Chewbacca the Wookie also known as Chewie. They make a deal for Han to take the two humans and the two droids to Alderaan. While preparing the ship Han runs into a crime lord, Jabba the Hutt. Jabba was mad at Han for dropping off his shipments and running with out paying him. Han promises Jabba he will have his money soon and a little more. As they start boarding the ship some Storm Troopers find them and started attacking. They take off in the Millennium Falcon and escape the Imperial forces. While heading for the planet Alderaan, Luke trains in the Millennium Falcon. Obi-Wan suddenly feels something evil through the force. They reach the area where Alderaan is and find that it had been blown up. They see an Imperial TIE Fighter. They follow it to a small moon, but discover it is not a small moon, but a space station, The Death Star that was built by the Empire. They got sucked into the station by a tracker beam and had to hide from the Storm Troopers, who were checking the ship for the crew. Han, Luke, Obi-Wan, Chewie, and the two droids hid in secret compartments Han used to smuggle goods. When some rookie Storm Troopers came aboard they mugged them and took their uniforms to sneak through the Death Star. Obi-Wan headed alone to deactivate the tracker beam from inside the Death Star. Luke, Han, and Chewie went to the prison block to free Princess Leia. They get attacked by Storm Troopers and escape into a garbage chute. There the crushing walls in the garbage chute almost flatten them, but C3-PO and R2-D2 barely save them by shutting down the garbage crushing units. After their escape from the garbage disposal unit they get chased by more Storm Troopers, but this time Luke and Leia get separated from Chewie and Han. They meet back at the Millennium Flacon. There they watch Obi-Wan battle with Darth Vader in a grueling light saber duel. Darth Vader one, but in the same time lost. Han, Luke, Leia, and Chewie escape the Death Star and head for the Rebellion Base on the planet Yavin. There, Han and Chewie get their reward money for saving Princess Leia and leave,