Yuan Chonghuan

Yuan Chonghuan was a prominent Ming Dynasty general who led Chinese forces against the Manchus.

Yuan began his official career as a member of the palace scholar-bureaucracy, having passed through the Chinese imperial examinations. He was sent on an inspection tour of southern Manchuria in 1622, and after surveying some of the key mountain passes, provided suggestions as to how to defend them. By this time a member of the staff of the Ministry of War, drawing both upon knowledge of European firearms and tactics, and other natively Chinese understandings, he was able to lead the Ming armies to a successful defense of the Liao River against the forces of Nurhachi. He was named grand marshal of all the northeastern forces in 1628, but by 1630 came to have numerous political enemies among both the military and the scholar-bureaucracy; when Manchu forces threatened Beijing in that year, he was accused of colluding with them, and was condemned to death.

In the aftermath of his death, many generals, rather than step up to replace him, surrendered to the Manchus and switched sides, contributing to the eventual Manchu victory over the Ming.

References

• Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China, Second Edition, W.W. Norton & Co. (1999), 24-25.