Blood-Red Sunset: The Last of the Great Ming

The tragedy of the Southern Ming is not that it “lost,” but that it “could have won.” Too much infighting, too much suspicion, too much selfishness allowed the Qing to defeat its forces one by one.

This book

is not an “epic of heroes,” but a “tragic elegy.”

It is not about “the belief that victory is certain,” but about “doing what must be done, even when you know it cannot be done.”

It is not “patriotic education,” but “remembrance of the departed.”

The Southern Ming Emperors

├── Hongguang Emperor Zhu Yousong (1644–1645): Captured and died in Beijing

├── Longwu Emperor Zhu Yujian (1645–1646): Killed in Tingzhou, died for his country

├── Shaowu Emperor Zhu Yuyue (1646): Took his own life in Guangzhou, died for his country

├── Yongli Emperor Zhu Youlang (1646–1662): Strangled to death, died for his country

└── Prince Ningjing Zhu Shugui (1683): Took his own life in Taiwan, the last prince to die for his country

The Anti-Qing Forces

├── Civil Officials

│ ├── Shi Kefa (died for his country in Yangzhou)

│ ├── Qu Shisi (died for his country in Guilin)

│ └── Zhang Huangyan (executed in Hangzhou)

├── Generals

│ ├── Li Dingguo (twice defeated famous Qing princes)

│ ├── Zheng Chenggong (reclaimed Taiwan)

│ └── Qin Liangyu (female general)

└── Patriots

├── Yan Yingyuan (Jiangyin county clerk)

├── Hou Tongzeng (patriot of Jiading)

└── Xia Wanchun (young hero)

In 1662, the Yongli Emperor was strangled to death by Wu Sangui, and the Southern Ming fell.