Zhu Youlang

Yongli Emperor
永曆帝
Emperor of the Southern Ming dynasty
Reign24 December 1646 – 1 June 1662[a]
PredecessorShaowu Emperor
Prince of Gui
Tenure1646
PredecessorZhu You'ai, Prince Gong
SuccessorZhu Ciying
Prince of Yongming
Tenure1636–1646
Born(1623-11-01)1 November 1623
Tianqi 3, 9th day of the 10th month
(天啟三年十月初九日)
Died1 June 1662(1662-06-01) (aged 38)
Yongli 16, 15th day of the 4th month
(永曆十六年四月十五日)
Burial
Tomb of Yongli
EmpressEmpress Xiaogangkuang
Issue
  • Zhu Cijue, Crown Prince Huaimin
  • Zhu Ci?, Crown Prince Daomin
  • Zhu Cixuan, Crown Prince Aimin
  • Zhu Ci?, Prince Ai of Yuan
  • Zhu Ciwei, Prince Dao of Fu
  • Zhu Ciyi, Prince Shang of Mian
  • Zhu Cizhuo, Prince Chong of Li
Names
Zhu Youlang (朱由榔)
Era name and dates
Yongli (永曆): 5 February 1647 – 1 June 1662[b]
Posthumous name
Emperor Yingtian Tuidao Minyi Gongjian Jingwen Weiwu Liren Kexiao Kuang (應天推道敏毅恭檢經文緯武禮仁克孝匡皇帝) (conferred by Zheng Jing)[1]
Temple name
Zhaozong (昭宗) (conferred by Zheng Jing)[1]
HouseZhu
DynastySouthern Ming
FatherZhu Changying, Prince Duan of Gui
MotherEmpress Dowager Zhaosheng

The Yongli Emperor (simplified Chinese: 永历帝; traditional Chinese: 永曆帝; pinyin: Yǒnglì Dì; 1623–1662; reigned 24 December 1646 – 1 June 1662), personal name Zhu Youlang, was the fourth and last emperor of the Southern Ming dynasty, reigning in turbulent times when the former Ming dynasty was overthrown and the Manchu-led Qing dynasty progressively conquered the entire China proper. He led the remnants of the Ming loyalists with the assistance of peasant armies to resist the Qing forces in southwestern China, but he was then forced to exile to Toungoo Burma and eventually captured and executed by Wu Sangui in 1662. His era title "Yongli" means "perpetual calendar".

Zhu Youlang was the son of Zhu Changying (朱常瀛), the seventh son of the Wanli Emperor, and Empress Dowager Ma. He inherited the title Prince of Gui (桂王) from his brother and lived an obscure life as a minor member of the Ming imperial family until the rebellions of peasant armies, which resulted to the fall of the imperial capital, Beijing, and the suicide of the last Ming emperor, Chongzhen, after the peasant rebel leader Li Zicheng captured Beijing in 1644. The true beneficiaries of the collapse of the Ming were the Qing dynasty, ruled by the emerging nation Manchus from Manchuria. After mass defection from Ming remnants, including a former Ming general, Wu Sangui, who allowed the Qing forces to pass the Ming Great Wall against Li Zicheng. The Qing forces defeated the peasant armies and rapidly expanded to northern China, the Lower Yangtze valley, and Central China. The Ming loyalists continued to resist in southern China, with several former Ming royal members regrouping in the south in attempt to re-establish the Ming governance, but all failed before the rapid Manchu military advance. Youlang ascended the throne in Zhaoqing as the fourth Southern Ming emperor in November 1646.

By 1661, pressed back into Yunnan province, he fled to Burma. A Qing Han Banner army led by Wu Sangui pursued and captured him from the king of Burma, and he was executed in June 1662.


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  1. ^ a b 《南明史》本紀第四:永曆十七年癸卯,春正月庚午朔,正朔在東都。上凶聞至,延平王鄭經為發喪,上諡曰匡皇帝,廟號昭宗。