Fall of Beijing (1644)
Li Zicheng takes Beijing as the Chongzhen emperor dies by suicide
View full image ↗ How was this image made?
The creative brief sent to the image model. These are instructions, not a record of what actually happened.
Original prompt & settings (JSON) ↗Li's soldiers kept order in the conquered capital at first; the notorious torture and looting came days later.
25 April 1644
Li Zicheng's Shun forces had surrounded Beijing on 23 April 1644 and failed to secure the Chongzhen emperor's surrender. On 25 April they entered the capital with little or no resistance.
In the first hours of that day the emperor went to Jingshan, immediately north of the Forbidden City, and died by hanging. The Jesuit Johann Adam Schall von Bell saw him ride past the Jesuit residence on the way toward Coal Hill; Li entered the city later the same day.
Not a sack, at first
Li's troops initially behaved with restraint. Confiscations and torture of former Ming officials began afterwards, followed by broader looting — so describing the entry itself as a sack collapses the sequence.
Several details stay unsettled. Accounts differ on whether Chongzhen used a rope or a sash and on the precise tree or spot at Jingshan, and some chronologies place the opening of the gates late on 24 April.
Forty-two days
By the end of 25 April the Shun regime held the Ming capital and the Beijing-based imperial government had ceased to function. Li's control of the city lasted roughly 42 days.
Chongzhen was the last Ming emperor to rule from Beijing, not the last person to claim the Ming throne. Ming claimants and loyalist governments continued in southern China until 1662.
Sources
Researched 24 Aug 2026 5 sources not yet audited
How this was checked
Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →
What the sources leave uncertain
- Some chronologies place Li's entry or the opening of the gates late on 24 April, while others place the unopposed entry later on 25 April. Chongzhen's death in the first hours of 25 April is much more consistently dated.
- Accounts differ on whether Chongzhen used a rope or sash and on the precise tree or spot at Jingshan.
- Li Zicheng's own death in 1645 is poorly documented; accounts include death in combat, killing by villagers and suicide.