The Yongli Emperor, 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.
12 Facts About Zhu Youlang
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Zhu Youlang 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.
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Zhu Youlang was the son of Zhu Changying, the seventh son of the Wanli Emperor, and Empress Dowager Ma.
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Zhu Youlang inherited the title Prince of Gui 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.
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When Longwu's brother then declared himself emperor with the reign-title Shaowu, Zhu Youlang himself ascended the throne as Yongli emperor.
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The continuing military pressure of the Qing forced Zhu Youlang to withdraw further into the south and west, first to Guilin in Guangxi, then to Jiangxi and Hunan, then south again to Nanning in Guangxi.
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Zhu Youlang had a number of experienced and devoted followers, but became increasingly reliant on the military support of local warlords and bandit chieftains.
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In 1658 Zhu Youlang retreated to Kunming in Yunnan, from where he sought refuge under the protection of Pindale Min, ninth king of the Taungoo dynasty of Burma.
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Pye broke the siege and demanded that all the Chinese, with the exception of Zhu Youlang himself, swear allegiance to the king of Ava, after which they would be dispersed through the kingdom.
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Pye now ordered all the Chinese, again with the exception of Zhu Youlang, to be put to death.
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The last Ming dynasty princes who held out against the Qing after Zhu Youlang were Zhu Shugui, Prince of Ningjing and Zhu Honghuan, Prince of Lu who accompanied Koxinga to Taiwan.
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Zhu Youlang Shugui acted as his representative in the Kingdom of Tungning and performed rites in his name until 1683.