WU SAN-KUEI

born 1612, Liaotung Province, China died Oct. 2, 1678, Hen-chou, Hunan Pinyin Wu Sangui Chinese general who invited the Manchus of Manchuria into China and helped them establish the Ch'ing dynasty in 1644. Later, in southwest China, he led a revolt against the Ch'ing in an attempt to set up his own dynasty. Wu had been the Ming general in charge of defending the northeast frontier against the Manchus. When the Imperial capital at Peking was attacked by the rebel bandit leader Li Tzu-ch'eng, Wu's forces were summoned to aid in raising the siege, but the city fell (April 1644) before his arrival. Li then advanced against Wu, who appealed to the Manchus for aid. A combined force of Ming and Manchu troops drove Li from Peking, where the Manchus then set up the Ch'ing dynasty. Although loyal Ming officials beseeched Wu for aid in restoring the Ming dynasty, he accepted high rank from the Manchus and for nearly 30 years fought for the Manchu cause. In 1659 Wu was put in charge of eliminating the remnants of Ming resistance in the southwest, and to this end he was given civil and military control of the southwestern province of Yunnan. With these powers he created an independent satrapy in Yunnan and neighbouring Kweichow Province, collecting taxes and developing trade monopolies in the area. At the same time two other commanders set up similar satrapies in the neighbouring southern provinces of Kwangtung and Fukien, and South China became an independent power that rivalled the Ch'ing government in the north. In 1673, when the Ch'ing dynasty tried to check these southern kingdoms, Wu led them in a rebellion. Wu chose the name of Chou for the new dynasty he set up and proclaimed himself emperor. In 1674 he advanced into central China but then hesitated, possibly because the Manchus were holding his son as hostage. The Manchus then seized the initiative, and, soon thereafter, with the battle turning against him, Wu died of dysentery. His grandson continued the rebellion until 1681, when it was finally crushed. The incident is known in Chinese history as the Revolt of the Three Feudatories.