May 20, 1645 · Jiangsu (Yangtze Delta) Theater
May 20, 1645
The wealthy city of Yangzhou, defended by the Southern Ming loyalist Shi Kefa, resisted the Qing advance across the Yangtze. After a brief siege, the Qing army under Prince Dodo stormed the city. What followed was ten days of unrestrained killing, rape, and looting — one of the worst urban massacres in Chinese history. Shi Kefa was captured and executed after refusing to switch allegiance. The eyewitness account 'A Record of Ten Days at Yangzhou' by Wang Xiuchu documented the horror in detail, though the text was suppressed under the Qing for two centuries.
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