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==The Fall of the Ming==

==The Fall of the Ming==

By the beginning of the 17th century, the Ming was beginning to severely weaken, due to a number of factors. Declining tax revenues made it difficult to pay officials and the military, leading to many disgruntled army officers and soldiers; meanwhile, inflows of [[silver]] from Western powers, from Japan, and elsewhere, threatened to destabilize the economy, and famines and pestilence struck various parts of the empire, exacerbated by poor granary emergency preparation policies.<ref>Spence, 3.</ref>

By the beginning of the 17th century, the Ming was beginning to severely weaken, due to a number of factors. Declining tax revenues made it difficult to pay officials and the military, leading to many disgruntled army officers and soldiers; meanwhile, British and Dutch attacks on Iberian shipping severely impacted the amount of [[silver]] flowing into China, causing silver to become more precious - peasants who made their income in [[copper]] coin but paid their taxes in silver now had to pay two or three times as much copper for the same amount of silver. Further, the Little Ice Age contributed to famines and pestilence in various parts of the empire, exacerbated by poor granary emergency preparation policies.<ref>Spence, 3, 20-21.</ref>

A weakened Ming Dynasty saw the rise of numerous rebel and bandit groups, in part in response to these famines and onerous tax burdens. One rebel leader, [[Li Zicheng]], known by some as a "dashing prince," captured Beijing in [[1644]], finding only a few companies of soldiers and a few thousand eunuchs defending the city's twenty-one miles of city walls. The [[Chongzhen Emperor]] hanged himself two days later.<ref name=tignor500>Tignor, Elman, et al., 501.</ref>

A weakened Ming Dynasty saw the rise of numerous rebel and bandit groups, in part in response to these famines and onerous tax burdens. One rebel leader, [[Li Zicheng]], known by some as a "dashing prince," captured Beijing in [[1644]], finding only a few companies of soldiers and a few thousand eunuchs defending the city's twenty-one miles of city walls. The [[Chongzhen Emperor]] hanged himself two days later.<ref name=tignor500>Tignor, Elman, et al., 501.</ref>