Battle of Ningyuan

Xingcheng , former name Ningyuan , is a county-level city of Northeast China with a population of approximately 140,000 urban inhabitants, and is... located in southwest Liaoning on the Liaodong Bay, i.e. the northern coast of the Bohai Sea. Currently under the administration of Huludao City, the area is steeped in history, and contains one of the best preserved Ming Dynasty towns in China, as well as functioning as a laidback summer resort. Xingcheng has a long and distinguished history, and was established as a county as far back as the Liao Dynasty in CE 990. After being dissolved by the Yuan, it was resurrected during the Ming Dynasty under the name Ningyuan, and gained strategic importance as the first defensive outpost outside the Great Wall. Xingcheng's city walls have stood since they were first constructed in 1428 and were instrumental in helping the Ming defeat the great Manchu commander Nurhaci at the pivotal Battle of Ningyuan in 1626. In modern times Xingcheng has become a mecca for those seeking relief from the bustling heat of summer in the overcrowded cities of Northern China.
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The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming... Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China. The dynasty was founded by the Jurchen Aisin Gioro clan in contemporary Northeastern China. The Aisin Gioro leader, Nurhachi, who was originally a vassal of the Ming emperors, began unifying the Jurchen clans in the late sixteenth century. By 1635, Nurhachi's son Hong Taiji could claim they constituted a single and united Manchu people and began forcing the Ming out of Liaoning in southern Manchuria. In 1644, the Ming capital Beijing was sacked by a peasant revolt led by Li Zicheng, a former minor Ming official who became the leader of the peasant revolt, who then proclaimed the Shun dynasty. The last Ming ruler, the Chongzhen Emperor, committed suicide when the city fell. When Li Zicheng moved against Ming general Wu Sangui, the latter made an alliance with the Manchus and opened the Shanhai Pass to the Manchurian army. Under Prince Dorgon, they seized control of Beijing and overthrew Li Zicheng's short-lived Shun Dynasty.
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