World-changing1618 – 1683 · 65 years
Qing Conquest of Ming China
China · Beijing · Manchuria
Jurchen cavalry overthrew the Ming Dynasty, establishing the Qing and China's final imperial regime.
Estimated casualties
5.0M – 10Mestimated dead
HEADLINE5.0M — the single figure used on the map
Ming-Qing transition 1618-1683. Population loss 5-10M across warfare and transition chaos.
SOURCEWikipedia: Qing conquest of Ming
What happened
The Jurchen, a forest people organized by Nurhaci and Hong Taiji, invaded Ming-held territory from the 1610s onward. The Ming, distracted by Manchu invasions and internal rebellions (Li Zicheng's peasant revolt, 1644), crumbled. When Li Zicheng took Beijing, the Ming called on Jurchen general Dorgon for aid. Dorgon's Qing armies defeated Li and then consolidated control southward over two decades. The Kangxi Emperor's long reign (1661-1722) stabilized Qing rule and suppressed the Three Feudatories Rebellion (1673-1681). Zheng Chenggong and his heirs held Taiwan until 1662.
Why it mattered
The conquest established the Qing Dynasty as China's final imperial power, lasting to 1912. Qing territorial expansion encompassed Xinjiang, Tibet, and Mongolia. The conquest created a multi-ethnic empire ruled by a Jurchen minority that gradually assimilated Han institutions. The Qing's 'China' became the template for modern Chinese national borders.
Belligerents3
- Qing Dynasty
- Ming Dynasty
- Manchu
ON THE MAPQing DynastyMing Dynasty
Sources
- Wikipedia — text reused under CC BY-SA 4.0
Open in the atlas →Seeks the timeline to 1618 and opens this record.
Cite as: Qing Conquest of Ming China (1618 – 1683). War Atlas. https://waratlas.org/c/qing-conquest-ming · Sources & methodology