Zhang Xianzhong

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Zhang Xianzhong or Chang Hsien-chung (Chinese: 張獻忠) (1606–2 January 1647), nicknamed Yellow Tiger, was a Chinese rebel leader who conquered Sichuan Province in the middle of the 17th century. Upon capturing it, he declared himself emperor of the Daxi Dynasty^[1].

According to Chinese chronicles, many scholars rejected that claim, so he had them massacred. After killing the scholars, he went after the women, merchants, and all the officials. Then he had his soldiers kill each other and the officers' wives' feet cut off and put on top of a mound.

Zhang Xianzhong was obsessed with ears and feet, so he had his own personal guards retrieve the ears and feet of the people killed in the outlying districts in order to count how many people they killed there. After the massacre was over, he ordered this inscription in a stone to be placed in an important part of Chengdu:

Heaven brings forth innumerable things to help man.

Man has nothing with which to recompense Heaven.

Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.

Zhang Xianzhong's rule devastated Sichuan. The population of Sichan dropped from 3,102,073 at 1578 to 18,090 at 1685, and the number of residents in Chengdu decreased from 400,000 to 20. A massive resettlement called Huguang fill Sichuan lasted more than a century during the Qing Dynasty, which triggered another massive resettlement: Jiangxi fill Huguang.