The Last Light of Southern Ming

The final years of the Ming dynasty are in turmoil, with war breaking out everywhere. Zhu Xunyu, Prince of Qian in the Great Ming, commands from Guiyang, wielding sole control over Yunnan and Guizhou’s military and civil affairs, and holding sway over the southwest. Dragon boats race across the Nanming River as officials pay homage before Jiaxiu Tower. With the mountains and rivers as his shield, he regards the Qian borderlands as an impregnable realm, determined to become an uncrowned king ruling his own domain. But then the capital falls, the Chongzhen Emperor dies for his country, and the Great Ming collapses in an instant. The powerful prince who once commanded a vast fief becomes rootless overnight. At home, his generals turn against him and native chieftains defect; abroad, Qing forces close in, their blades pointed straight at Guiyang. The fine food, fine clothes, and throngs ready to answer his every call vanish in the blink of an eye. He holds out in the isolated city, using the Nanming River as a defensive line and Jiaxiu Tower as his stronghold, vowing to live or die with the Qian borderlands. But supplies run dry, morale crumbles, and those closest to him abandon him. No matter how formidable the mountains and natural defenses, they cannot stem the tide of a dynasty’s collapse. From wielding power over all to reaching the end of the road, from having countless people bow before him to standing utterly alone. On the day the city falls, he hides in a ruined tower and watches as the realm changes hands. In his darkest hour, he would rather die than surrender and disgrace the honor of a Ming prince. At last, on a rainy night at Jiaxiu Tower, he sinks his princely seal and military registers to the riverbed, then leaps into the surging Nanming River. And so the story of a mighty prince comes to an end. One bend in the river buries the last fading light of the Great Ming in the southwest. The Nanming River has flowed for a thousand years, while Jiaxiu Tower stands through wind and rain. The mountains and rivers remain, dynasties rise and fall, and only a song of sorrow remains, bearing witness to the rise and fall of empires through the ages. Written by Yan Xiao Yan Yan 176 A meditation on the land and its history, a final song for the last prince of a dynasty.