Zu Dashou

Zu Dashou
General of the Qing dynasty
Born	(unknown)
Died	1656
Names
Traditional Chinese	祖大壽
Simplified Chinese	祖大寿
Pinyin	Zǔ Dàshòu
Wade–Giles	Tsu Ta-shou
Courtesy name	Fuyu (simplified Chinese: 复宇; traditional Chinese: 復宇; Wade–Giles: Fu-yü)

Zu Dashou (died 1656), courtesy name Fuyu, was a Chinese military general who served on the northern border of the Ming dynasty during the Manchu conquest of China. He fought against the Manchu-led Qing dynasty in several major engagements before ultimately surrendering to them in 1642. An alleged descendant of the Eastern Jin dynasty general Zu Ti (祖逖), he was the maternal uncle of the Ming general Wu Sangui, who surrendered Shanhai Pass to Qing forces and defected to the Qing side.Zu's tomb was acquired by the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada, and is considered one of the "iconic objects" of the museum.

Zu Dashou was born in Ningyuan, present-day Xingcheng, Liaoning province, during the Ming dynasty. His year of birth is unknown. His courtesy name was Fuyu (復宇).

In November of 1629, the Manchu army under Hong Taiji invaded China, bypassing the heavily defended Ming fortress at Ningyuan north of the Great Wall, where Hong Taiji's father Nurhaci had been defeated three years earlier at the Battle of Ningyuan. Slipping through friendly Mongol territory, the Manchus attacked to the west through Xinfengkou Pass in Hebei province, aiming towards the capital at Beijing. Yuan Chonghuan, commander of the Ningyuan garrison, sent 20,000 troops under Zu Dashou to relieve Beijing. Zu crossed the Great Wall through Shanhai Pass and marched to Beijing, defeating the Manchus outside the city walls.

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