Before ascending to the throne he followed his father as the Prince of Tang and elder brother, the future Longwu Emperor, their fief being situated in Nanyang prefecture, in Henan province.
When Qing forces captured Fuzhou in early October 1646 and killed the Longwu Emperor, he fled to Guangzhou.
That December, at the behest of several high officials, he ascended to the Ming throne in Guangzhou, taking the reign title "Shaowu" (紹武; pinyin: Shàowǔ), just a few days before the Prince of Gui became the Yongli Emperor.
Both regimes claimed to be the legitimate successor of the Ming dynasty, and war broke out shortly afterwards.
Just 40 days after the establishment of the Shaowu regime, Qing forces successfully invaded Guangzhou.