Question about Wu Sangui

[Geppetto]

I'm very curious about the figure of Wu Sangui in the Chinese historiography and in common view.

In 1644 A.D. he permitted the Manchurian Army to enter in imperial territory, hoping that they would liberate the capital from the rebelleous forces. Every of us knows what happened next: the Qing didn't move from the capital and became the imperial dynasty. Wu Sangui became a Qing general, then he revolted and tried to repel the foreign dominators.

I would to know how he is considered in Chinese historical tradition: as a betrayer ( an oriental Judas), an hero that understood when the previous dynasty lost the Heaven Mandate, just an opportunist or whatever...

[Annaliu]

I think Wu Sangui was a historical person and the commentary of him are anfractuous.

Many kinds of opinion exist in academe. In army management, he was an excellent general, his " GuanNing TieQi" was a powerful army and less failed on the battlefield. In the love, he was the delegate of romantic and loyal. He loved Ms. Chen Yuanyuan all the while. On the other hand, as a official of Ming dynasty, of course, he was a rebel. For Qing dynasty, contrarily, he was a meritorious general for beginning of the Qing.

This was the history of Wu Sangui full of disputed and dramatic...

[Luobot]

But wasn't he also a traitor to the Qing? It seems that he was just using them until he could build up the strength to rebel against them, and not out of any loyalty to the Ming, but because his real ambition was to become the Emperor.

[Geppetto]

In fact he looks like a double-dealer, but it seems that there are discourdant opinions about his deeds...

[bhchao]

Whether he was a traitor is debatable. But he was certainly a flipflopper whose actions were dictated by his own interests. The most probable motive for him letting the Qing armies past Shanhaiguan was to help himself become emperor, rather than a genuine desire to see the Qing takeover China.

It's like a host inviting his guests to dinner and once the dinner is over, the guests unexpectedly never leave the house.

And had he not killed the last Ming pretender in Burma, he would have had credibility in his Three Feudatories revolt against Kangxi later on. Killing the last Ming inheritor destroyed his credibility when he claimed he wanted to restore the Ming during the Three Feudatories revolt.