 After the fall of Beijing to Li Zicheng's rebels (and, soon thereafter, to the Qing dynasty) in 1644, the Nanjing Ming Palace briefly became the seat of the Prince of Fu, who was crowned the "Hongguang Emperor" in Nanjing in an attempt to continue the Ming dynasty (one of a series of short-lived regimes known collectively as the Southern Ming dynasty).By this time only a small portion of the palace was intact, and the Hongguang Emperor set about rebuilding some sections of the palace.However, the following year (1645) the Qing armies reached Nanjing.