Wu Sangui

Categories: Chinese rebellions | Great Wall of China

Wu Sangui (Chinese: 吳三桂; pinyin: Wú Sānguì; WG: Wu San-kuei) (1612 - October 2, 1678) was a Ming Chinese general who opened the gates of the Great Wall of China at Shanhai Pass to let Manchu soldiers into China proper. It is commonly believed that he led to the ultimate destruction of the Ming Empire and the establishment of the Qing Empire, but the fact was that he did not surrender to Manchu until after Ming Empire was destroyed by the armies of Li Zicheng. His courtesy name was Changbai (長白) or Changbo (長伯).

Wu was born in Gaoyou (高郵), Jiangsu Province to Wu Xiang (襄). He was rewarded the position of Pingxi King (平西王) in Yunnan by the Manchu imperial court, after he conquered the region from the remnants of Ming loyaltists). It was previously extremely rare for someone outside of the royal family to be granted the title of Wang (King/Prince, 王), and those being awarded the title of Wang who were not members of the royal family were called Yi Xing Wang (异姓王，literally means kings whose surnames are different from that of the emperor). It was believed Yi Xing Wangs didn't usually have good ends, largely because they were not trusted by emperors as members of emperors' own family were.

Wu Sangui was not trusted by the Manchu Imperial Court, both he and the Manchus knew this, though he was still be able to rule his land with little or no interference from the Imperial Court largely due to the fact that the Manchus needed time to recover and settle down after prolonged campaign to conquer China. Wu Sangui had forseen the eventual clash with the Imperial court, so he spent the years of peace consolidating his power in the region and building up his armies. Later in the year of 1674, he revolted against the Qing Empire and started the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, declaring himself the "All-Suppress-Military Generalissimo" (天下都招討兵馬大元帥 Tianxia-dou-zhaotao-bingma Dayuanshuai). The following year, he declared himself the Emperor of Zhou (周帝), with the era name of Zhaowu (昭武), and capital in Dingtianfu, which was Hengzhou (衡州, now Hengyang, Hunan). He died a few years later of natural causes, the remnants of his armies were soon defeated thereafter.

His concubine was Chen Yuanyuan. He died of illness in Hengzhou, Hunan province, and was succeeded by his grandson Wu Shifan (吳世藩).

Wu Sangui is often being called a traitor/opportunist by the common Chinese folks, due to his betrayal to both Ming and Qing.

His early life and military career were portrayed in the CCTV TV Show "Jiangshan Fengyuqing" (江山风雨情, which could be loosely translated to "The turmoil and love stories of the late Ming Dynasty")de:Wu Sangui ko:오삼계 ja:呉三桂 zh:吴三桂