In 1644, following Manchu Tartars conquest of northern China, Yangzhou Governor Shi Kefa, a scholar with limited military experience, organized and led a force to defend the city against the Manchu troops.
After 25 days of fierce battles, his forces were eventually defeated, and the city was captured by the Manchus. Shi Kefa refused to surrender upon the city’s fall.
To punish the people of Yangzhou, the Manchus did what the Mongols had done centuries earlier in many towns, and what the Japanese would do centuries later in Nanjing – they carried out a systematic massacre of the city’s inhabitants. The killings continued over a span of ten days and came to be known as the “Ten Days of Yangzhou (扬州十日)”.
At the time, Italian missionary Martino Martini (1614-1661) was in China and documented what he knew: the Tartars stacked the bodies on the rooftops and set fire to the houses and the entire city.
Various historical records put the number of the dead between 300,000 to 800,000. Wang Xiuchu (王秀楚), who had previously served under Governor Shi Kefa and was one of the few to survive the killings, later wrote a book titled “Memory of Ten Days of Yangzhou (扬州十日记). He reported that following the massacre, Buddhist monks had buried as many as eight hundred thousand bodies (扬州十日，僧人敛尸八十余万).
Shi Kefa was presumably among the dead, though his body was never identified. Rumours spread that he was still alive, which had inspired the Chinese people to launch resistance movements against the aliens. Several resistance groups claimed that their commander was none other but Shi Kefa himself.
Yet this event was merely one of numerous massacres perpetrated by the Manchus during the mid-17th century, as they advanced in their campaign to conquer China.
COMMENTS FROM GOOGLE PLUS
April 2017
ѕнιємι мσяιуαмα
Isn’t the robe Japanese though?
All Things Chinese
This is traditional Chinese clothing that was invented in China probably more than 5,000 years ago. Later on, it was introduced to Japan along with building technology, architectural styles, writing systems, bonsai art, tea ceremony, martial arts and Buddhism, during the Tang Dynasty about 1,000 years ago.
ѕнιємι мσяιуαмα
Omg, thank you so much. I’ve been wondering for such a long time now.
Xuelin Xu
Tang Dynasty -> Japan, Ming Dynasty –> Korea
All Things Chinese
Chinese culture began to reach Japan during the Tang Dynasty and continued to make its way there during the Song Dynasty, which is why Japanese culture, as we see today, reflects more Song influence than that of Tang, like a newly saved file overwritten the old one.
The Tang style is more luxurious and illustrious, while the Song style pursues refinement and simplicity.
After the Song, the Mongols conquered China, Korea, and much of the world, but not Japan. The Japanese held their ground like legends, and the Mongols just didn’t have the naval tech to cross the ocean on a large scale.
When the Ming dynasty booted the Mongols out, Japan once again became a tributary state to China. However, the good relationship between the two nations didn’t last long this time. Since Japanese pirates started causing chaos along China’s eastern coastal areas, the Chinese government locked down maritime borders and banned travel between the two countries.
Therefore, China’s influence on Japanese culture didn’t extend much beyond the Song Dynasty.
As for Korea, although it remained a tributary state to China until the late 19th century, it refused to recognise the Manchu Qing as a legitimate Chinese dynasty. So their Chinese cultural influence, including their fashion styles, didn’t go past the Ming Dynasty stuff – you can see that in Korean history dramas.
Siang Hooi Lim
In China, there were 4 classes, foreigners, especially the white, are first class, the government officials are 2nd class, minority nations are third and we Han nationality are last. So we often call ourselves 4th HAN.
All Things Chinese
Sadly what you said are all true. Some scoundrels in governments are incubating a new Xinhai Revolution.
Mile HsiangYang Lee
XINHAI REVOLUTION? What is That?
All Things Chinese
The revolution occurred in 1911, the Chinese year of Yin Pig, i.e. Xin Hai, which overthrew Manchu rule and chopped off pigtails Chinese fellas were once forced to have.
Mile HsiangYang Lee
I See. I Know About That. But I Studied Those in ENGLISH 😩UNIVERSITY of CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH 😑 So, It was NOT XINHAI but A BOXING DAY REVOLUTION.
All Things Chinese
Boxer Rebellion was a different story from the Xinhai Revolution. The Boxers were fighting against Western religion pushed by missionaries and the Western diplomats living in China, initially a movement backed by the Manchu rulers. Xinhai Revolution, on the other hand, was against the Manchus and kicked off in 1911, about 11 years later. It finally put an end to China’s royal system once and for all.
British historians and scholars tend to focus on whatever affected them, not so much on what mattered to the Chinese people. That’s probably why Cambridge talks about the Boxer Rebellion but doesn’t bother mentioning the Xinhai Revolution.
Siang Hooi Lim
It’s an old tradition, the authority just want peace, they don’t care about justice, there is barely any such a thing in China.
All Things Chinese
It’s not really an old Chinese tradition – it’s Manchu’s culture. I’ve seen a few of those Manchu tv dramas about their so-called emperors and the royal concubines – they are downright anti- civilisation and anti-humanity. In their world, there are only two kinds of people: slave owners (主子) and slaves (奴才).
What baffles me is that Chinese authority would allow those shows and movies that paint native Chinese as somehow inferior, while glorifying the invading savages as noble types with “blue blood”. It’s really beyond me.
Apparently, a law has just been passed in China making it a criminal offence to whitewash Japanese war crimes against the country, which, fair enough, makes total sense. But shouldn’t the same apply to people who whitewash Manchu crimes through TV and film? Bearing in mind, Manchus killed even more Chinese than the Japanese did, and their destruction of Chinese culture – like the mass burning of books – caused damage to Chinese and human civilisation, in many way, is irreversible.
Some say the Manchus are now Chinese citizens, so the invasion and massacres 400 years ago should just be seen as part of a civil war. Try say that to Native Americans, and try say that to Aboriginal Australians.
Can you imagine today Australia airing shows that gloss over the killings of First Nations people or the church’s treatment of kids from the Stolen Generations? Not a chance.
Four hundred years ago before the Manchu invasion, the Chinese caried themselves with real dignity. After briefly regaining self-respect in the mid-20th century, it’s sad to see that pride slipping again, letting the descendants of the savage invaders convince them they are somehow lesser people (奴才) on big and small screens.
Mile HsiangYang Lee
Manchus Killed More HANS Than JAPANESE?
All Things Chinese
Yes, they butchered almost everyone in city Yangzhou – a big metropolitan back in the 17th century – in just ten days. That horror became known as the “Yangzhou Ten Days (扬州十日)”. They did the same in city Jiading three separate times, remembered as the “Three Jiading Massacres (嘉定三屠)”. They laid siege to city Jiangyin for 81 days, and when it finally fell, they slaughtered everyone they came across, referred as the “Jiangyin Eighty-One Days (江阴八十一日)”. Similar carnages happened all over China, and it’s estimated that at least half the population was wiped out. On top of that, they killed millions of Chinese men who refused to shave their heads and adapt Manchu’s pathetic pigtail hairdo (留发不留头，留头不留发).
Yesterday a state-sponsored memorial was held for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre by the Japanese army eighty years ago. It’s absolutely necessary – especially when Japanese school textbooks still deny their country’s wartime crimes.
Japanese kids must be taught that looting, killing, and enslaving locals are serious crimes against humanity – ones that can’t just be swept aside.
But here’s the thing – Chinese school textbooks are doing the exact same trick. They gloss over the looting, killing, and enslavement of native Chinese by the Mongols and the Manchus. It’s a nasty bit of revisionism pushed by some power-hungry Tartar descendants and quietly tolerated by the authorities for short-term political convenience. That could backfire in a big way.
Mile HsiangYang Lee
Yes. Those MANCHU HAIRDO was UGLY 🙅 Sad. This MASSACRE I Did Not Get to STUDY in CAMBRIDGE. I Wonder WHY?