I’ve read online about how the Great Plague (1643) contributed to the defeat of the Ming Dynasty, but there’s absolute no primary sources or accounts of this plague. There are many websites detailing statistics and info about the plague, but did it even exist? I can’t find any primary sources that talk about it.
Have you checked the seminal article by Chinese Historian Cao Shunji (曹树基) on the plague outbreak of Late Ming Period, 'Outbreaks of the plague and the social transformation of Northern China (1580-1644) (鼠疫流行与华北社会的变迁)'? While Cao's interpretation of the primary sources is sometimes criticized by other historians, he is regarded as the leading scholar in this field of research, Chinese epidemic history from the 13th to the 20th century, authoring the most up-to-date and comprehensive monograph on this topic (Cf. Hymes 2014; Ijima 2009).
In the first part of his article, he indeed cites different primary sources on outbreaks of possibly plague during the reign of Chongzhen Emperor, the last emperor of Ming dynasty (d. 1644), in footnotes. While the majority of the cited primary sources are local histories compiled under the reign of Kangxi Emperor and after, he also cites the official history for the Ming Period, Ming History (Ming-Shi) Five Element Treatise (on the plague outbreaks) as well as imperial annals, Ming Shilu (明實錄) (though for the reign of the last emperor Chongzhen, it's rather an non-official historical writing).
I only link the passage of the most basic primary source, Ming-Shi, here: http://chinesenotes.com/mingshi/mingshi028.html (check the section under 'pestilence (疾疫)').
References:
+++