The Human Cost
25,000,000
estimated total dead
The Ming-Qing transition killed an estimated 25 million people over 65 years. The overwhelming majority of deaths were civilian — from famine, plague, massacre, and the depopulation of entire provinces. Military death estimates are rough modeling; reliable figures do not exist for most engagements.
Each dot below represents 1,000 human lives. Scroll to watch the scale unfold.
Working allocation: 4,000,000 soldiers killed in combat, from wounds, or from disease. Each = 1,000 lives.
21,000,000 civilians killed — from violence, famine, disease, and displacement. Wars are not fought only by soldiers.
incl. 1,200,000 civilians
incl. 780,000 civilians
incl. 140,000 civilians
incl. 40,000 civilians
incl. 10,000 civilians
incl. 5,000 civilians
incl. 10,000 civilians
incl. 25,000 civilians
How Ming–Qing Transition's dead compare to other conflicts and events.
4,000,000 dead
Military deaths are a rough partition of the overall estimate. No reliable figures exist for most engagements. The Ming army alone may have lost 1–2 million soldiers, but the distinction between 'soldiers' and 'armed peasants' was often meaningless.
21,000,000 dead
Civilian deaths dwarf military casualties. The greatest killers were famine, plague, and the deliberate depopulation of entire provinces — Sichuan alone may have lost 75% of its population. The Yangzhou, Jiading, and Jiangyin massacres were horrific but accounted for a small fraction of total civilian death.
25,000,000 dead
The figure of 25 million dead is a mid-range modern estimate. Some scholars put the toll higher, at 30–40 million, depending on how population loss is attributed. The true number will never be known — the chaos of the transition destroyed records along with people.