Campaigners › Frontier Generals
Sun Chengzong
Ming grand secretary who built the Ningyuan-Jinzhou defence line against the Manchus and hanged himself when Qing troops took his home town of Gaoyang
On a desert ridge, a rammed-earth watchtower and a long wall run across sand and rock toward the distance; a sentry stands on the tower with his back turned, smoke rises from a far beacon tower, and a small camel caravan crosses the sand at the right.
Also known as Zi Zhisheng · Hao Kaiyang
Sun Chengzong, courtesy name Zhisheng, literary name Kaiyang, came from Gaoyang in the capital province and placed second in the palace examination of 1604; early in the Tianqi reign he lectured to the young emperor. After Guangning fell in 1622 he volunteered to take charge of the northeastern front as minister of war and grand secretary, walled Ningyuan and other towns, promoted Yuan Chonghuan, Man Gui and Zu Dashou, and pushed the defence line out towards Jinzhou. Hostility from Wei Zhongxian's faction drove him from office in 1625. When the Later Jin reached the walls of Beijing in 1629 he was recalled, and the next year recovered Luanzhou, Yongping and two other towns, but the loss of Dalinghe brought fresh attacks and a second dismissal. In 1638 Qing troops besieged Gaoyang; he defended it with his sons and grandsons and, captured when it fell, bowed towards the capital and hanged himself at seventy-six. The Southern Ming named him Wenzhong, and the Qianlong court Zhongding.
Life and times
Dates 1563 CE–1638 CE