Li Zicheng (Chinese: 李自成; pinyin: Lĭ Zìchéng; Wade–Giles: Li Tzu-ch'eng); 1606–1645), born Li Hongji (李鴻基), was a Chinese rebel leader who overthrew the Ming Dynasty and ruled over China briefly as emperor of the short-lived Shun Dynasty.

Biography[link]

Early Years[link]

Li was born in Mizhi District (米脂縣), Yan'an, during the late Ming Dynasty period. Initially a shepherd, Li started to learn horseriding and archery at the age of 20, and had also worked in a wine shop and as an ironworker's apprentice.

According to folklore, in 1630, Li was put on public display in an iron collar and shackles for his failure to repay loans to a usurious magistrate, Ai. Ai struck a guard who offered shade and water to Li, whence a group of peasants tore apart Li's shackles, spirited him to a nearby hill, and proclaimed him their leader. Although they were only armed with wooden sticks, Li and his band managed to ambush a group of government soldiers sent to arrest them, and obtained their first real weapons.

As a general of Gao YingXiang[link]

At the same time, the Shanxi region was hit by a famine, and the common people resented the Ming government. Li joined Gao YingXiang's (the "Dashing King" (闖王)) rebel army. After Gao's death, Li inherited the title "Dashing King" and became the commander of Gao's army.

Within three years, Li succeeded in rallying more than 20,000 men to form a rebel army. They attacked and killed prominent government officials, such as Sun Chuanting, in Henan, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces.

Some battles Li fought in this period

• Battle of Chexiang Pass
• Battle of Fengyang

From Gao's death to Battle of Tongguan Nanyuan[link]

Battles of Luoyang, Nanyang, Taifeng[link]

Li advocated the slogan of "dividing land equally and abolishing the grain taxes payment system" which won great support of peasants. The song of "killing cattle and sheep, preparing tasty wine and opening the city gate to welcome the Dashing King" was widely spread at that time.

The 1642 Kaifeng flood (during the 3rd Battle of Taifeng), caused by breaches of the Yellow River dykes by both sides,^[1] ended the siege of Kaifeng and killed over 300,000 of its 378,000 residents.^[2] After the battles of Luoyang and Kaifeng, the Ming government was unable to stop Li's rebellion, as most of its military force was involved in the battle against the Manchurians in the north. Li declared himself King of Shun Dynasty in Xi'an, Shaanxi.^{[citation needed]}

From Battle of Xiangyang to the Creation of Shun Dynasty[link]

Battle of Beijing and Battle of Shanhai Pass[link]

In April 1644, Li's rebels sacked the Ming capital of Beijing, and the Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide. Li proclaimed himself as the Emperor of Shun Dynasty.

After Li's army was defeated on May 27, 1644 at the Battle of Shanhai Pass by the combined forces of Ming turncoat general Wu Sangui and the Manchurians, Li fled from Beijing towards his base in Shaanxi.

The Decline and Death of Li[link]

After a number of defeats Li Zicheng disappeared. In the long term, it led to the development of myths and legends concerning Li. The principal one being that he was a great hope. Some folk tales hold that Li survived after his defeats and became a monk for the rest of his life. Li mysteriously disappeared and there were different theories about his death too, at the age of 40. Some suggested that he committed suicide by hanging himself on a lotus tree, while others thought that he was killed by pro-Ming militia during his escape in 1645. It is thought that in 1645, Li Zicheng was killed in battle at Mount Jiugong. He fled into the south, in present-day Hubei Province.

Historiography[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Although the success of the Manchurian conquest of China was attributed to the weakening of the Ming Dynasty (exacerbated by Li Zicheng's rebellion), ironically, official historiography during the Qing Dynasty period regarded Li as an illegitimate usurper and outlaw. This view sought to discourage and demonize notions of rebellion against the Qing government, by propagating that the Manchus put an end to Li's illegitimate rule and restore peace to the empire, thus receiving the Mandate of Heaven to rule China. In 20th century China, the anti-Confucian and radical inclinations of the Communist Party of China viewed Li favourably, portraying him as an early revolutionary against feudalism.

In popular culture[link]

Li is featured as a character in some of the works of Hong Kong Wuxia writer Jin Yong. Li's rebellion against the Ming Dynasty is featured in Sword Stained with Royal Blood and his personality is analyzed from the point of view of Yuan Chengzhi, the protagonist. In The Deer and the Cauldron, set in the Qing Dynasty during the early reign of the Kangxi Emperor, Li is revealed to have survived and fathered a daughter, A'ke, with Chen Yuanyuan. Li is also briefly mentioned by name in Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain and Other Tales of the Flying Fox.

Li is the main character of the historical epic novel Li Zicheng authored by Yao Xueyin.^[3]

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Maoist era propaganda posters glorifying Li Zicheng

Juan Manuel Santos
59th President of Colombia
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 August 2010
Vice President	Angelino Garzón
Preceded by	Álvaro Uribe
Minister of National Defense
In office 19 July 2006 – 18 May 2009
President	Álvaro Uribe
Preceded by	Camilo Ospina Bernal
Succeeded by	Freddy Padilla de León
Minister of Finance and Public Credit
In office 7 August 2000 – 7 August 2002
President	Andrés Pastrana Arango
Preceded by	Juan Camilo Restrepo
Succeeded by	Roberto Junguito Bonnet
Personal details
Born	(1951-08-10) 10 August 1951 (age 60) Bogotá, Colombia
Political party	Social Party of National Unity
Spouse(s)	María Clemencia Rodríguez Múnera
Alma mater	University of Kansas London School of Economics Harvard University Tufts University
Signature

Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (Spanish pronunciation: [xwan maˈnwel ˈsantos kaldeˈɾon]; born August 10, 1951) is a Colombian politician who has been the President of Colombia since 7 August 2010.^[1] He previously served as Minister of Foreign Trade, Minister of Finance, and Minister of National Defense.^[2]

Early Life[link]

Juan Manuel Santos attended the prestigious Colegio San Carlos, a private secondary school in Bogotá, where he spend most of his school years until 1967, when he transferred to the Naval School of Cartagena and graduated from it in 1969. He continued in the Colombian Navy until 1971, earning a B.A. and finishing as Naval Cadet NA-42 139.^[3]

After leaving the Navy, Santos decided to continue his education in the United States where he attended the University of Kansas and joined Delta Upsilon Fraternity. He graduated in 1973 with a B.A. in Economics and Business Administration. From there he moved to the United Kingdom to study at the London School of Economics and received a MSc in Economic Development, and in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.^[4]

Career[link]

Juan Manuel Santos has been Chief Executive of the Colombian Coffee Delegation to the International Coffee Organization^[5] in London and Sub-Director of his family owned newspaper El Tiempo. He was Minister of Foreign Trade during the administration of president César Gaviria in 1991^{[citation needed]}. In 1992 he was appointed President of the VII United Nations Conference on Trade and Development for a period of four years.^{[citation needed]}

In 1994 Juan Manuel Santos founded the Good Government Foundation, whose stated objective is helping and improving the governability and efficiency of the Colombian Government.^[6][7][8] This organization presented a proposal for a demilitarized zone and peace talks with the FARC guerrilla group.^[9]

Minister of Defense[link]

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (November 2010)

Santos also founded the Social National Unity Party (Party of the U) to support the presidency of Álvaro Uribe.^{[citation needed]} He was named Minister of Defense on 19 July 2006. During his tenure as Defense Minister the administration dealt a series of blows against the FARC guerrilla group, including the rescue of Fernando Araújo Perdomo, the death of FARC Secretariat member Raul Reyes in a 2 March 2008 air strike against a guerrilla camp located within Ecuador's borders, and the non-violent rescue of former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt held captive since 2002, along with fourteen other hostages, including three Americans.^[4]

During his time as Defense Minister, notable controversial events included a military raid inside Ecuador's territory killed FARC leader Raúl Reyes on 1 March 2008 .^[10] A misuse of an International Committee of the Red Cross symbol during Operation Jaque used to safely rescue hostages from FARC.^[11] And The "false positives" scandal, referring to revelations concerning extrajudicial executions carried out by members of the military in order to artificially increase the number of guerrillas killed by the Army and claim rewards from the government.^[12]

On 4 November 2008, Santos admitted that the military had carried out extrajudicial executions to which he pledged to resolve the issue.^[13] Twenty-seven military officers, including three generals and eleven colonels, were sacked after an internal army investigation concluded that they were responsible for administrative failures and irregularities in reporting enemy casualties and operational results.^[14] The Commander of the Colombian National Army, General Mario Montoya, resigned.^[15] By May 2009, 67 soldiers had been found guilty and over 400 were arrested pending trial.^[16]

There are different estimates for the number of civilians who may have been killed in this manner. As of May 2009, prosecutors were investigating more than 900 cases involving over 1.500 victims and 1.177 members of the Colombian security forces.^[16][17] According to the Coordinación Colombia-Europa-Estados Unidos NGO coalition and the Fundación para la Educación y el Desarrollo, an estimated 3.756 extrajudicial executions occurred between 1994 and 2009, of which 3.084 cases would have taken place after 2002.^[18][19]

Families of the victims and non-governmental organizations have held the Uribe administration and Santos, as Defense Minister, responsible for the extrajudicial killings because they consider that the government's reward policies motivated the crimes.^[18][19] Directive 029 of 2005 issued under Defense Minister Camilo Ospina Bernal and presidential decree 1400 of May 2006 have been questioned for offering incentives and benefits in exchange for capturing or killing members of illegal armed groups.^[17][19]

In June 2009, United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston declared that extrajudicial executions had been carried out in a "more or less systematic manner" by numerous Colombian military personnel and found the number of trials for those implicated to be lacking, but stated that he had found no evidence of the executions being an official government policy and acknowledged a decrease in the number of reported cases.^[20]

In March 2010, Santos publicly stated these executions had stopped since October 2008 and that this had been confirmed by the CINEP, one of Colombia's foremost human rights defense institutions. Semana, a well-respected news weekly, reported that a few days later the CINEP responded to Santos's declarations by issuing a press release which stated that, while the number of reported cases had been significantly reduced after the Defense Ministry's measures were announced, the period between November 2008 and December 2009 still saw 7 such executions and 2 arbitrary detentions.^[21]

Juan Manuel Santos announced his resignation from the Defense Ministry on 18 May 2009. Santos said that his resignation did not necessarily imply tossing his hat into the 2010 presidential race and that his participation in the electoral race depended on whether Uribe would pursue a third term, which he was willing to support. His resignation took effect on 23 May 2009. When the Constitutional Court ruled out the possibility of Uribe's participation in the upcoming elections, Santos officially launched his campaign for the presidency of the Republic of Colombia.

President of Colombia[link]

Santos and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, 9 June 2010.

Juan Manuel Santos with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil.

On 20 June 2010, after two rounds of elections, Juan Manuel Santos Calderón was officially elected as President of Colombia and was inaugurated on 7 August 2010 in the midst of a diplomatic crisis with Venezuela, which was quickly resolved.^[22]

On 6 April 2011, Santos was the President of the United Nations Security Council; he led the Council in a discussion of the situation in Haiti.

On April 2012 Juan Manuel Santos was featured in the annual TIME Magazine 100 issue as one of "The 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Family[link]

Santos is a member of one of Colombia's foremost families. His great-uncle Eduardo Santos was President of Colombia from 1938 to 1942 and the owner and Director of El Tiempo, the country's leading newspaper. His father Enrique Santos Castillo spent over 50 years as editor of the newspaper. His brother Enrique Santos Calderón was director of the newspaper for ten years until it was sold to Grupo Planeta of Spain in 2007. His cousin Francisco Santos served as Vice President during Álvaro Uribe's two terms as President of the country.^[23] Juan Manuel Santos is married to Maria Clemencia "Tutina" Rodriguez. They have three children: Martín, María Antonia, and Esteban.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Juan Manuel Santos

• Presidencia de Colombia
  • Biography
• Biography at CIDOB Foundation
• Biography at Banco de la República
• Biography at Colombialink.com
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Juan Manuel Santos at the Internet Movie Database
• Juan Manuel Santos collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Juan Manuel Santos at the Notable Names Database
• Interview, Cambio, 2 November 2008
• Taking Colombia to the Next Level, Latin Business Chronicle, 9 August 2010

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