In Chinese history, there were three emperors who committed suicide for their fallen dynasties, including Zhu Youjian, the sixteenth emperor of the Ming Dynasty known as Emperor Sizong, while the other two were Wanyan Shouxu, Emperor Aizong of the Jin Dynasty, and Zhao Bing, the emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Emperor Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian, was the fifth son of Emperor Guangzong Zhu Changluo and the younger brother of Emperor Xizong Zhu Youjiao. He ascended the throne in 1627 following Xizong's deathbed decree and changed the reign name to "Chongzhen" the following year. Far from being an incompetent ruler, Emperor Chongzhen was a diligent and compassionate monarch who lived frugally and was deeply committed to governing the country well. Upon taking the throne, he decisively purged the eunuch faction led by Wei Zhongxian, briefly offering the Ming Dynasty a chance at revival. However, because several late Ming emperors had indulged in pleasure, neglected state affairs for years, and allowed eunuchs to wield life-and-death power, the dynasty's foundations were already crumbling. The treasury was empty, eunuchs ran rampant, the people were displaced, and rebellions erupted across the land, with rebel forces advancing swiftly toward the capital. Additionally, Zhu Youjian was powerless to control the factional strife among court officials, leaving his policies manipulated by the scholar-official clique. Facing this crisis-ridden political landscape, he earnestly sought governance strategies and personally attended to every matter. He overturned unjust verdicts, conducted comprehensive evaluations of officials, appointed virtuous ministers, strictly forbade courtiers from colluding with eunuchs, reformed border policies, and ordered Yuan Chonghuan to fully recover lost territories in Liaodong, significantly improving the political situation compared to the previous two reigns. Yet, due to his dissatisfaction with outer court officials and his deep-seated suspicion, after eliminating the eunuch faction led by Wei Zhongxian, he relied heavily on another group of eunuchs, intensifying conflicts within the ruling class. By then, Emperor Chongzhen could no longer single-handedly turn the tide and could only repeatedly reflect and issue four self-critical edicts, acknowledging that the court's policy failures and the perilous state of the realm had caused the people's suffering, hoping to regain their support. However, because he believed slanderous rumors and wrongly executed patriotic generals like Yuan Chonghuan, he became isolated and helpless, ultimately unable to save the Ming Dynasty from its impending collapse.
On the first day of the first lunar month in the seventeenth year of the Chongzhen reign (1644), the rebel king Li Zicheng declared himself emperor in Xi'an, establishing the state of "Great Shun." Subsequently, Li Zicheng divided his forces into two routes to march toward Beijing. The Chongzhen Emperor immediately appointedUniversityScholar Li Jiantai was appointed as the commander to lead troops out of the capital to resist the Dashun army, but he was powerless to stop the advance of Li Zicheng's forces. The first half of March in the seventeenth year of the Chongzhen reign was a period of extreme hardship for the Chongzhen Emperor, marking his final days of struggle. He urgently summoned loyalist forces from all regions to defend the throne while also scrambling to raise military funds. However, when he demanded that imperial relatives, high-ranking officials, and others contribute funds according to their official rank, none were willing to respond. Even the immensely wealthy Grand Preceptor Zhou Kui, the emperor's father-in-law, offered only a few taels of silver. In desperation, the Chongzhen Emperor issued five self-critical edicts and declared a general amnesty. Although he was genuinely sincere in his efforts to revive the dynasty, it was too late, and all his efforts proved futile.
On March 12, the peasant army approached the outskirts of Beijing, causing shock throughout the court and society, with both the emperor and his ministers utterly helpless, resigned to waiting for their doom. On March 15, the peasant army reached Juyong Pass. The eunuch supervisor Du Zhizhi and the regional commander Tang Tong surrendered without a fight, easily giving up the last fortress defending Beijing. Governor He Qian and General Ma Dai fled the battlefield, allowing the peasant army to capture the suburban area of Changping by dawn the next day, and that night they advanced along the Shahe River straight to the Pingze Gate of Beijing's outer city, with flames lighting up the sky along the way. At this time, Zhu Youjian was still methodically examining thirty-three candidate county magistrates in the palace; when he saw the urgent dispatch delivered by a eunuch, his face instantly turned pale, but he was at a loss. On March 17, the eastern wing of the peasant army advanced to Gaobeidian, and the western wing reached outside the Xizhi Gate, beginning to bombard the city walls with cannons. Li Zicheng personally commanded the siege of all nine gates. Emperor Chongzhen and his ministers gathered in the Forbidden City as usual, weeping to each other, utterly clueless about what to do. By noon, the peasant army attacked the Pingze Gate, Zhangyi Gate, and Xizhi Gate, but the defending troops were mostly elderly, weak soldiers and eunuchs with no combat capability, relying only on obstacles like fire carts, giant cannons, caltrops, and deer antlers on the outer positions for cover. On March 18, Li Zicheng directed the peasant army to attack Zhangyi Gate in the rain, shouting to the city towers that they wished to negotiate peace with the Ming army, and upon receiving a reply, he immediately sent the surrendered eunuch Du Xun into the city to discuss terms with the emperor.
Du Xun rushed into the Forbidden City and first conveyed to Emperor Chongzhen Li Zicheng's demand to open the gates and surrender, then advised the emperor, for his own benefit, not to resist Li Zicheng's formidable army, and subsequently relayed Li Zicheng's negotiation proposal.
The emperor agreed to cede the northwestern territories to Li Zicheng, allowing him to establish his own kingdom and proclaim himself king, and allocated one million taels of silver to reward the peasant army. Emperor Chongzhen sought advice from his chief grand secretary, Wei Zaode, but the cunning and experienced Wei, fearing responsibility, remained completely silent no matter how much the emperor pressed him, merely bowing repeatedly. Left with no choice, Emperor Chongzhen ordered Du Xun to deliver a message to Li Zicheng outside the city: "I have made my decision; further orders will follow." Though only six words, this message rejected the possibility of negotiation with an air of condescension, meaning the emperor was determined to resist to the end. He then issued his sixth edict of self-blame and ordered Gong Yonggu, the Commandant of Chariots, to escort the crown prince south out of the capital, but this plan fell through because Gong was unable to break through the siege.
After learning of Emperor Chongzhen's stance, Li Zicheng ordered a full-scale assault on the city. The peasant army used scaling ladders to climb the walls with great effort, and the eunuch Cao Huachun surrendered by opening the Zhangyi Gate. Meanwhile, the Desheng Gate and Pingze Gate, two outer city gates, fell without a fight. Subsequently, the defenders of inner city gates such as Xuanwu Gate, Zhengyang Gate, and Chaoyang Gate all opened their gates simultaneously, surrendering without resistance. At this time, Emperor Chongzhen was still deep inside the inner palace, completely unaware that both the outer and inner cities had been breached by the peasant army. On the night of March 18, the peasant army had already taken control of the entire inner city, standing just a stone's throw away from the Forbidden City.
At this time, the commander of the Beijing garrison had already fled for his own life, the soldiers had scattered and deserted, and the eunuchs reported to Emperor Chongzhen that the inner city had fallen, urging him to "flee quickly." The emperor initially refused to believe the inner city was lost, so he took his trusted eunuch Wang Cheng'en to Coal Hill (present-day Jingshan) to survey the surroundings. Only after spotting the blazing fires of war outside the city and around Zhangyi Gate did he confirm the inner city had been breached. He let out a sorrowful sigh, then returned in despair to the Qianqing Palace, ordering Duke Chengguo, Zhu Chunchen, to command the troops and assist the crown prince, Zhu Ciliang. After briefly instructing his three sons, he ordered eunuchs to change their clothes and escort them out. He then compelled Empress Zhou to commit suicide for the state, slashed the arm of his eldest daughter, Princess Changping, killed his youngest daughter, Princess Zhaoren, along with several concubines, and changed into plain clothes. Accompanied by Wang Cheng'en and dozens of others, he went through Donghua Gate to Chaoyang Gate, claiming the eunuch was on an imperial mission, but the guards insisted on verifying his identity at dawn. He then rushed to Anding Gate, but the heavy gate bar prevented it from opening, cutting off his escape route entirely, forcing him back to the palace. On the morning of the 19th, Li Zicheng's massive army marched into the Forbidden City. Emperor Chongzhen personally rang the bell to summon his officials, but no one responded. Seeing the situation was hopeless, he went with Wang Cheng'en to the inner garden, removed his dragon robe, and angrily wrote on its hem: "I, with scant virtue and a frail body, have incurred Heaven's wrath, allowing the rebel bandits to press directly on the capital—all due to my ministers misleading me. In death, I have no face to see my ancestors; I remove my crown and cover my face with my hair. Let the rebels tear me apart, but harm not a single commoner." Then, he and Wang Cheng'en hanged themselves under the Shouhuang Pavilion on Coal Hill, marking the fall of the Ming Dynasty.
When Emperor Chongzhen died, none of the palace attendants noticed, and it was only after Li Zicheng entered the palace and searched everywhere that he discovered the stiffened ruler on the twenty-second day. In early April, Li Zicheng hastily arranged for Emperor Chongzhen and Empress Zhou to be buried together in Siling, Changping. Shortly after the emperor's death, the Qing army entered the pass and became the new rulers of the Central Plains.
Emperor Chongzhen was born at the wrong time, unable to turn the tide, thus ending his tragically colored life.