Literal meaning Ten Days of Yangzhou Start date May 20, 1645 Simplified Chinese 扬州十日 | Hanyu Pinyin Traditional Chinese 揚州十日 | |
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The Yangzhou massacre took place in 1645 in Yangzhou, China, during the Qing dynasty. Mass killings of residents in Yangzhou were conducted by Qing troops under the command of Prince Dodo after they conquered the city from forces loyal to the Southern Ming regime of the Hongguang Emperor.
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The massacre lasted ten days after the city fell on May 20, 1645. Traditionally, the number of victims was reported as close to 800,000, although some modern scholars consider it an exaggeration. The defending commander, Shi Kefa, was also executed by Qing forces after he refused to submit to their authority.
The alleged reasons for the massacre were:
The book An Account of Ten days at Yangzhou by Wang Xiuchu, (English translation and annotation by Lynn A. Struve) was a first-person eyewitness account of the massacre. Following are excerpts from Wang Xiuchu's report (in Struve's translation):
Books written about the massacres in Yangzhou, Jiading and Jiangyin were later republished by anti-Qing authors to win support in the leadup to the 1911 Xinhai Revolution.