For little under fourteen years the Taiping Rebellion waged over China.
Seventeen provinces were ravished and the estimated loss of life is between twenty and
twenty five million.
It is the deadliest civil war, one of the deadliest wars ever, and the largest conflict
of the 19th century.
The Qing dynasty, however, was not only faced with the Taiping rebellion during this time,
but with several other rebellions throughout the country and the second opium war.
It is one of the bloodiest episodes in Chinese history, which…really says something.
and it raises an interesting question, how did the Qing manage to stay in power during
this carnage?
-intro-
Historical Background
The first Opium War between China and the United Kingdom waged from eighteen-thirty-nine
to eighteen-forty-two.
The result was the humiliating Treaty of Nanking, which did not mention Opium, the primary cause
of the war, at all.
The second opium war, or the arrow war, broke out after the United Kingdom and France had
won the Crimean war in the European theatre against Russia.
This meant they could concentrate their troops in the far east, and once again, wage war
against China.
In eighteen-sixty the French and British forces reached and overtook Beijing, China’s capital,
upon which the Hsien-feng emperor fled to Jehol.
All this will be delved into in a video about these wars, but it is important to note this
took place during the Taiping rebellion.
This already gives an idea of the chaotic situation within China.
Well, in eighteen-fifty-one in southern China, the Kwangsi province to be exact, a rebellion
under Hung Hsiu-chuan broke out.
It would become known as the Taiping rebellion.
Many reasons and causes can be given for the outbreak of this rebellion, with one of the
major ones being the horrible conditions the peasantry was living in.
The quality of life in rural China during this age (and, basically, up until far into
the next century) was abhorrent.
And why did it break out in the south?
Well, it was the last territory consolidated under the Qing dynasty and was located furthest
away from the capital.
The area was notorious for its secretive sects with anti-dynastic convictions.
Furthermore, China’s defeat during the first opium war had severely tainted the prestige
of the dynasty, especially in the south, as the majority of the war had taken place there.
One of the concessions after the war was that China had to open ports other than Canton,
in turn leading to large unemployment around this area, as harbours such as Shanghai were
closer to the silk and tea producing areas.
Now, one last reason was… pirates.
After eighteen-forty-two Chinese pirates were driven in-land by the British navy after a
campaign of pirate suppression.
All these elements were a poisonous cocktail that was very likely to end up in a rebellion…
but a rebellion of this magnitude?
Nobody had foreseen that.
Origins of the Taiping
Let’s figure out what the roots of this Taiping movement were.
China had a history with rebellions driven by an ideological force such as Buddhism (the
White Lotus Rebellion) or secret societies that adhered to a folk-taoist ideology.
The Taiping rebellion was unique as it had a Christian impulse.
There had been European Protestant missionaries active on the southern Chinese coast for several
decades and, among others, their preaching reached a village school teacher in Kwangsi
by the name of Hung Hsiu-chuan, a member of the minority Hakka people.
Hung had failed the Chinese state exams four times.
Heavily influenced by a poorly understood Christian tractatus it is said he became delusional.
During one of these episodes he had visions that convinced him he was the new messiah.
In conclusion he, logically, concluded he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ.
These tracts that influenced Hung were written by Liang Fa, and Hung decided to base his
religion on the Old, rather than the New testament.
This in turn created a more militant ideology which adhered to the ten commandments, but
not the Sermon on the Mount.
In short: he created his own justification for violent rebellion.
Alright, so Hung Hsiu-chan had a charismatic personality and he convinced several people
to follow him, as he was still convinced he was Jesus’s younger brother.
A distant cousin of his, Feng Yunshan, created the God Worshippers Society based on Hung’s
ideas of Christianity.
This cult quickly grew as more disaffected persons were recruited over the years.
Peasants, pirates, triad members and Hakkas, it didn’t matter.
Then, in eighteen-fifty armed resistance against government troops broke out.
Small skirmishes occurred until eventually, in eighteen-fifty-one, the Jintian armed revolt
was the first major success for the Taiping.
Taiping forces routed forces loyal to the Qing dynasty.
It marked the official beginning of the Taiping rebellion, and, as you do when you rout imperial
forces, Hung declared himself Heavenly King of the “heavenly kingdom of eternal peace”
(T’ai-p’ing t’ien-kuo).
What would follow was the deadliest civil war ever… so much for eternal peace.
The Taiping Rebellion
As Hung declared his heavenly kingdom, the cult saw as its goal to establish its own
empire with Hung at its head.
The rebellion quickly expanded and gained momentum, killing and recruiting thousands
on its path.
The bands of peasants and rebels quickly transformed into over a million disciplined, extremely
zealous warriors.
With strict moral restrictions, upon which we will touch later, the organization of the
army was elaborate and strict.
Indoctrination occurred to such a degree that many times Taiping troops chose death, even
suicide, over capture.
Several Chinese southern provinces were taken over in record tempo and eventually even Nanking,
the second city of China only behind Beijing, was captured in eighteen-fifty-three.
Nanking’s name was changed to Tianjing, or ‘heavenly capital’.
Now ruling southern China, Hung felt rather confident and sent a northern expedition towards
the Qing capital, Beijing.
While this expedition failed, it did manage to penetrate Tientsin, another important city,
before it was forced to retreat.
The Taiping-empire consolidated itself amidst the Yangtze river, and several more attempts
to capture the rich agricultural grounds of Hunan, failed.
Philosophy of the Taiping
The philosophy of the Taiping rebels was a mixture of old Confucian and new Christian
elements.
Puritanism was very present, as prostitution, opium, and gambling were prohibited on their
territory.
Its followers were inspired by its dogmatic and puritan worldview, the Taipings offered
an ideological and societal alternative to being a peasant.
Huan Hsiu-chan considered a proper way of carrying out his divine task of repenting
demons by destroying traditional Buddhist, Taoist temples and Confucianism ancestor tablets.
This magnitude and severity of iconoclasm was never seen before in China.
Aside from the slaughter, thousands, if not tens of thousands of ancient Chinese temples
and other relics were destroyed.
The Taiping was revolutionary in another sense as well: women’s emancipation.
The century-old practice of footbinding was outlawed and women could even serve in the
army as officers.
And there were plenty of women that did serve.
Considering the Taiping had forces that numbered in the millions, if even a fraction were female
it was already more than armies general employed during this time.Private property was abolished
and land was distributed between families that were clustered as religious, military
and political units.
All of this was only put into practice at a small scale, the Taiping grip over their
conquered territories wasn’t too tight due to their lack of cadres.
Especially the gentry which could have supplied the Taiping with educated leaders was scared
by the revolutionary doctrines and practices.
One could argue that this is where one of the main reasons lie for the eventual demise
of the Taiping.
Now, as a historical footnote, a little under one-hundred years later Mao’s Communists
consolidated their power over China.
The Taiping served as an example of a precursor of the eventual communist revolution, because
of their primitive-style communism and resistance towards the gentry and any old religious and
ideological sentiments.
Suppression of the rebellions and aftermath
The jealousy of several military commanders proved fatal for the Taiping.
Yang Hsiu-ching, the Machiavellian commander-in-chief of the Taiping, pretended he went into trances
during which he spoke with the holy trinity.
While Hung claimed to be the son of god, he did not fake these kind of experiences.
Yang being the most influential commander of the Taiping, he was a real threat to Hung.
In eighteen-fifty-six, Yang challenged Hung’s leadership.
Demanding a title only reserved for the emperor, Hung tasked his ‘king’ of the north, Wei
Chang-hui to assassinate Yang.
Wei did so, together with the general Qin Rigang, but in the process he massacred Yang’s
family and thousands of his followers too.
Well, Hung felt it was only right to assassinate Wei after this complete onslaught.
Another general, Shi Dakai, grew worrisome and decided to take his followers, leave Nanjing
and cut ties with Hung.
The rest of the Taiping generals were quick to fall as intrigues and conspiracies managed
to really thin out the military command.
It left Hung with subpar relatives and loyalists to lead the army and govern provinces of the
kingdom.
The kingdom would last for another eight years, mainly thanks to the military genius Li Hsiu-cheng,
governing the Taiping troops at the lower Yangtze.
Now, the Qing weren’t just sitting idly by during this time.
Tseng Kuo-fan was tasked with reorganizing the imperial army.
He organized the Hunan army, which became a powerhouse within the Qing military establishment,
but loyal primarily to Tseng.
This meant its military control became decentralized, and this Hunan army will play a role again
during the period of warlordism, over sixty years later.
For now, Tseng tasked his young disciple Li Hung-Chang to build up the Anhwei army in
order to support his Hunan army.
Raising tribute and grain from territories around the Yangtze, he was properly financed,
bought Western arms and increased the army size to seventy-thousand.
This was the largest professional standing army serving the imperial government.
The Taiping kingdom was crumbling, and its soldiers were pushed back more and more.
The incentive to purchase western arms was given by the victory against the Taiping of
the so-called “Ever Victorious Army” under the American Frederick Townsend Ward.
As the Taiping forces came closer to the outskirts of Shanghai in eighteen-sixty-two, this small
Western army defended the treaty port and repelled the Taiping.
After Ward’s death that same year, British Major Charles “Chinese” Gordon took over
command.
Chinese troops were recruited into the force and this sino-foreign army captured Soochow,
while a similar Franco-Chinese force captured Hangchow.
Basically, the Taiping were locked in Nanjing at this point.
Nanjing was surrounded by Tseng Kuo-fan’s younger brother by eighteen-sixty-two.
The siege would last for two years, but the city was eventually captured without foreign
assistance.
As for the leader of the once mighty Taiping heavenly kingdom?
Hung committed suicide a month before the city fell.
That’s one version of the story.
Another one is that food supplies ran low and he ate… weeds.
He ate weeds and fell ill which resulted in his death.
Okay, sporadic Taiping uprisings would continue to occur throughout the region for the next
four years.
Interestingly enough, the commander Li Fuzhong, leading Shi Dakai’s army, was defeated in
eighteen-seventy-one, seven years after Hung’s death.
As you can see, some branches lasted for a while, and it underlined the lack of control
Qing forces had in some regions.
Nevertheless, in essence Hung’s suicide meant the bloody and brutal end of the Taiping
rebellion.
The armies under Tseng did the bulk of the fighting and the Qing dynasty was saved by
its loyal bureaucratic machine and army commanders.
Concurrent Rebellions (Nian, Dungan & Panthay rebellions)
What I find rather fascinating about the time period of the Taiping rebellion is that as
the Taiping rebellion was waging over the Chinese mainland, in other areas massive rebellions
broke out as well, completely separate from the Taiping.
One of the most dangerous of those rebellions was the Nian rebellion in Northern China.
It was inspired by the White Lotus-sect, with the direct reason for the outbreak being the
poor social-economic situation of peasants and flooding of the Yellow River.
These rebels defeated the Qing troops from their fortified villages.
The rebellion would wage on until eighteen-sixty-eight and caused over hundred-thousand deaths and
an economic collapse of the region.
In several other areas the Muslim population of China revolted against the Han Chinese
and Manchu-led Qing Dynasty.
The Panthay rebellion, known in China as the Du Wenshu Rebellion, broke out in eighteen-fifty-six
and lasted for seventeen years.
Over two million people died during this bloody revolt.
The Dungan revolt broke out in eighteen-sixty-two under the leadership of Yaqub Beg, in which
a Muslim minority in Western China faced the troops of the Qing dynasty.
It is estimated over seventeen million people died during this war, famine, disease and
atrocities from both sides being the main causes.
These mid-century rebellions were crushed without Western participation, although in
many western arms were used.
You’re probably wondering how the Qing managed to stay in power with massive rebellions going
on in virtually every province?
Fairbank and Reischauer write that the monopolization of administrative talent played a central
role.
Those that knew how to govern the Chinese empire, were loyal to the tradition of scholar
government and more importantly, preferred the Manchu Qing dynasty instead of a group
of revolutionary rebels.
Tseng and Li, furthermore, appointed their own supporters to important positions within
the bureaucratic machine.
The Qing, however, would never regain control over all of China after the disastrous Taiping
Rebellion.
A period of ‘self-strengthening’ followed, in which the Qing attempted to regain control
over the country.
The Qing would manage to stay in power for several decades, but these several decades
saw an increase in Western encroachment, rebellions, and wars with both Western powers and the
new rising Asian power, Japan.
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