kingdom · China, Tibet and Mongolia

Great Xi

1644 CE – 1647 CE · capital Chengdu

The short reign of the rebel Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan, notorious in Chinese history for mass killings during the collapse of the Ming.

Origins

Zhang Xianzhong, a former soldier from Shaanxi, led one of the great peasant armies that roamed northern and central China from the 1630s. In 1644, as Li Zicheng took Beijing, Zhang invaded Sichuan, captured Chengdu and proclaimed himself king of Great Xi.

Rule and society

Zhang set up ministries, examinations and coinage, but his regime is remembered above all for terror against officials, scholars, gentry and ordinary people suspected of disloyalty. Sichuan's population collapsed during these years through massacre, war, famine and plague; how much Zhang himself was responsible is still debated, as later Qing accounts exaggerated.

Decline and legacy

In late 1646 Qing Empire forces under Hooge entered Sichuan, and Zhang Xianzhong was killed in battle near Xichong in early 1647. His adopted sons Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo led his army south and later served the Southern Ming.

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Great Xi. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/great-xi
MLA
“Great Xi.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/great-xi. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Great Xi.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/great-xi.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Great Xi’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/great-xi (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻