At the same time, with a view to the full technical
establishment of the dynasty, the Imperial ancestors were canonised, and
an ancestral shrine was duly constituted. The general outlook would
now appear to have been satisfactory from the point of view of Manchu
interests; but from lack of means of communication, China had in those
days almost the connotation of space infinite, and events of the highest
importance, involving nothing less than the change of a dynasty, could
be carried through in one portion of the empire before their imminence
had been more than whispered in another. No sooner was Peking taken by
the One-Eyed Rebel, than a number of officials fled southwards and took
refuge in Nanking, where they set up a grandson of the last Emperor but
one of the Ming Dynasty, who was now the rightful heir to the throne.
The rapidly growing power of the Manchus had been lost sight of, if
indeed it had ever been thoroughly realised, and it seemed quite natural
that the representative of the House of Ming should be put forward to
resist the rebels.

This monarch, however, was quite unequal to the fate which had befallen
him; and, before long, both he himself and his capital were in the
hands of the Manchus. Other claimants to the throne appeared in various
places; notably, one at Hangchow and another at Foochow, each of whom
looked upon the other as a usurper. The former was soon disposed of, but
the latter gradually established his rule over a wide area, and for
a long time kept the Manchus at bay, so hateful was the thought of an
alien domination to the people of the province in question. Towards the
close of 1646, he too had been captured, and the work of pacification
went on, the penalty of death now being exacted in the case of officials
who refused to shave the head and wear the queue. Two more Emperors,
both of Imperial Ming blood, were next proclaimed in Canton, one of
whom strangled himself on the advance of the Manchus, while the other
disappeared. A large number of loyal officials, rather than shave the
front part of the head and wear the Manchu queue, voluntarily shaved the
whole head, and sought sanctuary in monasteries, where they joined the
Buddhist priesthood.

One more early attempt to re-establish the Mings must be noticed. The
fourth son of a grandson of the Ming Emperor Wan Li (died 1620) was in
1646 proclaimed Emperor at Nan-yang in Honan. For a number of years of
bloody warfare he managed to hold