The Great Plague in the late Ming dynasty (Chinese: 明末大鼠疫; pinyin: Míngmò Dàshǔyì), also known as the North China Plague in the late Ming dynasty (明末华北鼠疫; 明末華北鼠疫; Míngmò Huáběi Shǔyì), or the Great Plague of Jingshi (京师大鼠疫; Jīngshī Dàshǔyì), was a major epidemic between 1633 and 1644, the last phase of the Ming dynasty in China, during the Chongzhen Emperor's reign (1627–1644).
[1][2] The epidemic started in Shanxi in 1633 and reached Beijing in 1641, where the plague caused the deaths of more than 200,000 people in 1643, directly contributing to the collapse of the Ming dynasty in 1644.
[2] At the same time, historical records indicate that more than half of the population in northern Zhejiang fell ill in 1641, and 90% of the local people died in 1642.
[3] Soon, Li won the Battle of Beijing and the Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide, marking the end of the Ming dynasty,[1][2][3] although Li was subsequently defeated in the Battle of Shanhai Pass by the allied forces of the former Ming general Wu Sangui and the Manchu-led Qing dynasty.
[5] His book Wen Yi Lun (瘟疫论, "Treatise on Pestilence") can be regarded as the main etiological work that brought forward the concept.