roads or waterways were lacking it became in reality a state-owned system of transport of all forms of freight by human labor, and was dependent on conscription. In 1629 Chu Yu-chien decided to abolish this service which cost the treasury several hundred thousand taels annually. The ensuing disorganization was especially serious in Shensi, and ironically enough the bandit, Li Tzŭ-ch'êng [q. v.], who dethroned Chu Yu-chien in 1644 was a former post courier. From 1630 onward China was ravaged, from Hunan to Shantung, by desperate hordes, and though individual uprisings were often successfully checked by the government, the country was never given the breathing spell necessary to effective recovery (see under Li Tzŭ-ch'êng and Chang Hsien-chung).
By 1642 the Manchus were only a few miles from Shanhaikuan. The armies of Li Tzŭ-ch'êng had taken Honan-fu, and after killing Chu Yu-chien's uncle, Chu Ch'ang-hsün (see under Chu Yu-sung), were moving toward Peking. These bandit troops were the first of the rival forces to reach the capital, surrounding it on April 23, 1644. After rejecting the proposals sent to him by the rebel chief, Chu Yu-chien mounted Coal Hill to mourn the approaching doom of the city, and then returned to the palace to make disposition of his three young sons. Most of his consorts committed suicide as the city fell. Writers differ as to whether or not he attempted to flee to the south. At any rate he was unsuccessful, and on April 25 he rang the bells to assemble his ministers. When none of them appeared he once more climbed to the top of Coal Hill and hanged himself, leaving a last message, written for the most part in the usual self-deprecatory style, attributing his misfortunes chiefly to the bad advice of his officials.
It is questionable whether a mediocre emperor like Chu Yu-chien could have done much, even with the best advice, to stem the approaching disaster. From April 25 until June 4, 1644, Peking was in the hands of Li Tz'ŭ-ch'êng. The bodies of Chu Yu-chien and his chief consort, Empress Chou 周, were put in rough coffins, supported on clods of earth, and deposited outside the palace gates. On May 8 the coffins were sent by a small convoy to Ch'ang-p'ing, where Chu Yu-chien's favorite concubine, T'ien Kuei-fei 田貴妃, had been interred two years earlier. Here a petty official named Chao I-kuei 趙一桂 raised 340 'strings' of cash from philanthropic friends and hired laborers to open the tomb in which the remains of the former consort were interred. Her coffin was moved to the right of the central dais, that of Empress Chou was placed on the left, and on May 9 that of Chu Yu-chien was placed between them. Less than a month later Li Tz'ŭ-ch'êng evacuated Peking, and the Manchu armies entered the city. On June 8 the regent, Dorgon [q. v.], decreed a three day period of mourning for the deceased emperor, and ordered the erection of suitable memorials at the mausoleum. The Manchus conferred on him the posthumous title Chuang-lieh Min Huang-ti 莊烈愍皇帝 and named his tomb Ssŭ-ling 思陵. By adherents of the defunct dynasty he was variously canonized as Ssŭ-tsung 思宗, I-tsung 毅宗, and Huai-tsung 懷宗.
Chu Yu-chien had seven sons but only three lived to the close of the dynasty. The eldest was the crown prince, Chu Tz'ǔ-lang 朱慈烺 (1629–1645), who was executed early in 1645, by order of Dorgon, as a "pretender"—not to the throne but to the title of crown prince of the defunct dynasty. Another son, Chu Tz'ǔ-huan 朱慈煥 (the Prince of Ting 定王, 1633–1708), escaped with his life in 1644, and for many years lived under assumed names as a teacher of children or as a secretary in well-to-do families. Later certain opportunists made use of his name to foment rebellion in Chekiang, proclaiming him as "the third Crown Prince Chu" (Chu San T'ai-tzŭ 朱三太子). Although he was then residing in the home of a retired official of Wên-shang, Shantung, he was identified, captured and executed. His sons were likewise executed and the women of the family committed suicide.
In 1724 Emperor Shih-tsung selected a certain Chu Chih-lien 朱之璉 (d. 1730), to represent the Ming Imperial Family at Court and to take charge of the annual sacrifices at the tombs of the Ming Emperors. This Chu Chih-lien was given the hereditary rank of a marquis, to which was later added (1749) the designation, Yen-ên 延恩. But his ancestry, and therefore his right to these privileges, are open to question.
[M.1/23, 24; M.2/23–26; M.3/18, 19; 明季北略 Ming-chi pei-lüeh, 3, 4, 20; M.59/4; H attori, Unokichi, 明の莊烈帝 Min no Sōretsutei in 燕塵 Enjin, vol. IV, nos. 9, 10 (1908); W.M.S.C.K., 4; China Review, IV, 1875-76, pp. 294–96; Mêng Sen 孟森, 明烈皇殉國後記 Ming Lieh-huang hsün-kuo hou-chi in 國學季刊 Kuo-hsüeh chi-k'an, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 1–56.]
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