Up in the wooded hills above Zitong in Sichuan, Qiqushan Temple (四川梓潼七曲山大廟) is dedicated to Wenchang, a former snake spirit who somehow became incarnated as China’s patron deity of education. Dotted amongst pine trees behind the main red timber building are a host of small shrines to other worthies, including the infamous “Yellow Tiger” Zhang Xianzhong (張獻忠; 1606–1647). According to official histories Zhang practically exterminated Sichuan’s entire population during the chaotic years of the Ming-Qing transition – so why would anyone build a memorial to him here?

*Ancestral shrine to Zhang Xianzhong at Qiqushan Temple*

Zhang was born at Yansui town, Shaanxi, in the closing decades of the Ming dynasty, a time when the government, thanks to a rash of natural disasters, ingrained corruption and widespread incompetence, was rapidly losing its grip on the country. As a young man he left home to join the military, but was dismissed for insubordination and turned bandit; he became known as the “Yellow Tiger” after his complexion, beard and fierce temper.

For the next few decades Zhang and his fellow freebooters raided widely through central and eastern China. He suffered several defeats, afterwards hiding out on mountains or surrendering to the government in return for a pardon. At one point he fought alongside the far more successful rebel Li Zicheng; although the two men fell out, Li presented Zhang with a gold seal – suggesting that he saw Zhang as an official under his own regime.

In March 1644 the last Ming emperor committed suicide and Li Zicheng captured the Chinese capital, Beijing. But within weeks the Manchus had invaded through the Great Wall, deposing Li and founding the Qing dynasty. Initially they only controlled the northeast of the country; a remnant Ming court still governed the south of China.

Meanwhile Zhang Xianzhong had decided to carve out his own kingdom, gathering a sizeable army and leading it west up the Yangzi into Sichuan, where he laid siege to Chongqing. On July 25 Chongqing’s walls were undermined, the city fell and – legend has it – Zhang slaughtered the citizens and cut the hands off all surviving enemy soldiers. He then declared an amnesty to any other city which surrendered, and death for those who resisted.

Zhang’s army continued northwest almost unopposed, capturing the Sichuanese capital, Chengdu, in early September. Here the Yellow Tiger appointed himself King of Daxi (大西国王) with the ominous reign title of “Great Submission” (大顺), renaming Chengdu as his Western Capital (西京).

From this point on there are first-hand accounts of Zhang’s rule in Sichuan from two Jesuit missionaries, the Portuguese Gabriel de Magalhaes (安文思; 1610–1677) and Sicilian Ludovico Buglio (利類思; 1606–1682). Buglio arrived in China in 1637, and after helping the Ming Court with calendar revisions was invited to preach at Mianzhu in Sichuan by the aristocrat Christian convert Liu Yuliang; Magalhaes was later sent as his assistant. When Zhang Xianzhong entered Sichuan the two priests hid out at Mianzhu before being captured and brought to Chengdu.

According to the Jesuits, Zhang began his rule “with such liberality, justice and magnificence by which he captivated all hearts”, reorganising the army, minting his own currency and granting titles. It was perhaps around this time that he also declared a family relationship to Wenchang and had the shrine built at the deity’s home temple on Qiqushan. Although now revered across China, Wenchang was originally from Sichuan and Zhang’s claims of a personal connection to this native god were perhaps an attempt to curry favour with the local population and legitimise his rule.

Zhang also appointed capable civil officials, including the former magistrate Wu Jishan (吳繼善). Wu was a friend of Buglio and Magalhaes and recommended them to Zhang. He treated the Jesuits with respect, quizzed them about foreign affairs and was impressed by their scientific knowledge. He appointed them “Masters of Heavenly Learning”, gave them an official salary and court robes and promised to build a lavish church. In the meantime they were commissioned to make two large bronze globes, one of the heavens and one of the earth, which they completed in eight months. Zhang was so impressed he increased their salary and had the spheres mounted in his palace.

For their parts the Jesuits thought Zhang intelligent, capable and resourceful, but also that at heart his personality was arbitrary and cruel. Chinese commentators were more forthright: “Xianzhong was often seen to be furious, with fumes coming out of his seven orifices... [no matter a person’s rank], if they did not obey him, he would become furious and order them to be hanged, beheaded, or be cut into pieces."

Given his rebel status Qing records of Zhang’s rule are necessarily biased – one source claims he killed hundreds of millions of people, more than the entire population of China at the time. But the Jesuit account confirms that within months of capturing Chengdu Zhang’s violent temper became uncontrollable. He executed the entire family of former governor Zhu Qishu; Wu Jishan died under torture over some trivial affair; and many of Zhang’s own officers and court eunuchs were summarily dispatched. The Jesuits believed that of the thousand ministers alive on his arrival at Chengdu, only twenty-five survived his three-year reign.

Another story had Zhang announcing an official examination and then murdering all the candidates who turned up to participate. He is also said to have massacred Chengdu’s entire Buddhist priesthood, some two thousand monks, causing a popular uprising. Zhang countered by ordering the wholesale slaughter of the city’s population:

“At that time, Priest Li (Buglio) was at the South Gate and Priest An (Magalhaes) was at the East Gate. They saw innocent men and women being killed, their cries of pain, and blood flowing like a river. It was heartbreaking, and they wanted to save them but could not... the two priests fell to the ground and begged earnestly with tears in their voices, asking for an amnesty for the people, but their request was not granted.”

To replace Chengdu’s murdered citizens the inhabitants of nearby towns were resettled at the capital. Popular legend holds that Zhang ordered a stone tablet to be set up, engraved with the words: "Heaven provides uncountable gifts for mankind, but mankind provides nothing fit for heaven. Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill.”

Daoist and Confucian ministers had long resented the presence of Buglio and Magalhaes at court, so when Zhang’s own father-in-law and his entire family – thirty-two people – converted to Christianity, the Minister of Rites accused the Jesuits of being spies and hiding rebels in their church. In fact the people were servants, but Zhang believed his minister and ordered all but two of them killed. He confiscated their books and the priests became increasingly frightened: “They were summoned many times, and on each occasion prepared as if they were going to be executed."

In late 1646 the Southern Ming launched an attack on Zhang’s Daxi Kingdom, hoping to reclaim Sichuan for themselves. Zhang appears to have organised a retreat, loading a flotilla of barges with gold and silver spoils amassed on his campaigns and heading off down the Min river. But the fleet was defeated by the Ming general Yang Zhan at Jiangkou, about 50km southwest of Chengdu, and the transports burnt and sunk. Some of the gold is said to have been recovered by Yang Zhan, who used it to pay his troops.

Gold seal presented to Zhang Xianzhong by fellow rebel Li Zicheng and recovered from the Min river in 2017; appropriate that it has a yellow tiger as a handle. Photo from Chinese Museums Association Exhibition Exchange Platform

Zhang now decided to abandon Chengdu, ordering the entire city, including the former palace of the Sichuan kings, burned to the ground: “Chengdu was completely emptied and turned to ashes”. Killing and plundering, his army headed east towards Xichong (西充), where he planned to gather supplies before moving north into Shaanxi. The two priests, closely guarded in case they tried to escape, asked to be released so they could sit out the war in Macau, after which they promised to return to Sichuan. Zhang refused, killed their remaining servants and threated Buglio and Magalhaes with execution too.

On 2 January 1647, just southeast of Xichong at Fenghuang Shan, Zhang’s scouts reported the sudden appearance of Qing cavalry on a nearby hillside. According to the Jesuits’ account, Zhang Xianzhong

“rode out of the camp without asking any details whether it was indeed the Manchu army. He was not wearing armor, nor carrying a lance, and had nothing but a short spear. He ran out of the camp with seven or eight soldiers and a eunuch to find out the strength of the Manchu soldiers. When he reached a small hill and was looking around, suddenly an arrow flew in and hit Xianzhong just under the shoulder, entering from the left side and piercing his heart. He immediately fell to the ground bleeding profusely. Xianzhong rolled around in the blood and died in extreme pain."

The official Draft History of the Qing gives a less circumstantial version, crediting Zhang’s death to the Manchu commander Oboi (鰲拜):

“Zhang Xianzhong set up base at Xichong. Oboi and his men attacked at full speed and defeated them. They killed Xianzhong in battle and divided their troops to attack the remaining rebels, destroying more than 130 camps. Sichuan was pacified.”

In the ensuing rout Buglio and Magalhaes were captured by Manchu soldiers who fortunately realised they were Europeans and handed them over to their commander, Haoge (豪格). He sent them back to Beijing where, because of their association with rebels, other Jesuits at court – wanting to preserve their own reputation with the new Manchu regime – refused to help them. The final official verdict was that Buglio and Magalhaes had aided Zhang Xianzhong, and although not permanently imprisoned were never fully trusted by the Qing administration.

Magalhaes later wrote a narrative of their experiences, Relação das tyranias obradas por Cang-hien chungo famoso ladrão da China (An Account of the Tyrannies Inflicted by Zhang Xianzhong, the Famous Chinese Rebel) and sent it to Italy, where it became buried in the Jesuit archives. His account was only rediscovered in the 1950s.

Zhang Xianzhong’s shrine and statue at Qiqushan were demolished in 1742. In the late twentieth century his career was re-evaluated by communist historians, who – ignoring the body count – cast Zhang as a peasant farmer leading an uprising against an oppressive imperial regime. The shrine was restored in 1987.

After scavanged pieces started appearing at local antiques markets, Zhang’s sunken treasure was located on the bed of the Min river and excavated in 2017.

Sources

Brief Account of the Sichuan Disaster (蜀難敘略)

Chen Xuelin Missionaries' Records of Zhang Xianzhong's Conquest of Sichuan and His Declaration of His Kingdom (陈学霖: 傳教士對張獻忠據蜀稱王的記載; Journal of Chinese Studies No.52, CUHK 2011)

Draft History of the Qing (清史稿; 1928; https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=en&res=98755)

Exhibits at Chengdu Museum, Tianfu Square (成都博物馆新馆; 2025)

Hummel, Arthur Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period (Washington 1943)

Kleeman, Terry A God’s Own Tale: The Book of Transformations of Wenchang, the Divine Lord of Zitong (State University of New York Press 1994)

Parsons, James B. The Culmination of a Chinese Peasant Rebellion: Chang Hsien-chung in Szechwan, 1644–46 (Journal of Asian Studies, Vol.16, No.3; 1957)

Swen, Litian Privileges for Being Slaves: Christian Missionaries in the Early Qing Court (City University of New York Doctoral Thesis 2019)

Swope, Kenneth On the Trail of the Yellow Tiger: War, Trauma and Social Dislocation in Southwest China (University of Nebraska Press 2018)

Tian Qiu et al The Battleground Site of Jiangkou in Sichuan Province, China: The Mid-Seventeenth-Century Gold and Silver Objects of Zhang Xianzhong (Historical Archaeology 2023)

Yellow Tiger Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan

Bai Woodblocks from Yunnan