Taiping Rebellion

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Lore & Background

The uprising was led by Hong Xiuquan, an ethnic Hakka who, after a series of visions, proclaimed himself to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ. Hong sought the religious conversion of the Han people to his syncretic version of Christianity, as well as the political overthrow of the Qing dynasty, and a general transformation of the mechanisms of state. Rather than supplanting China's ruling class, the Taiping rebels sought to entirely upend the country's social order. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Nanjing seized control of significant portions of southern China. At its peak, the Heavenly Kingdom ruled over a population of nearly 30 million. The war was characterized by extreme brutality on both sides. Taiping soldiers carried out widespread massacres of Manchus, the ethnic minority of the ruling Imperial House of Aisin-Gioro. Meanwhile, the Qing government also engaged in massacres, most notably against the civilian population of Nanjing.

Reader's Guide

For more than a decade, Taiping armies occupied and fought across much of the mid- and lower Yangtze valley, ultimately devolving into civil war. It was the largest war in China since the Ming–Qing transition, involving most of Central and Southern China. It ranks as one of the bloodiest wars in human history, the bloodiest civil war, and the largest conflict of the 19th century, comparable to World War I in terms of deaths. Thirty million people fled the conquered regions to foreign settlements or other parts of China. Weakened severely by internal conflicts following the failure of the campaign against Beijing (1853–1855) and an attempted coup in September and October 1856, the Taiping rebels were defeated by decentralised provincial armies such as the Xiang Army organised and commanded by Zeng Guofan. After moving down the Yangtze River and recapturing the strategic city of Anqing, Zeng's forces besieged Nanjing during May 1862. After two more years, on June 1, 1864, Hong Xiuquan died during the siege, caused from the consumption of weeds in the palace grounds as well as suspicions of poison. Nanjing fell barely a month later. The 14-year civil war, along with the internal and external conflicts of the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion, weakened the Qing dynasty's grasp on central China. The Taiping rebellion prompted the government's initially successful "Self-Strengthening Movement", but continued social and religious unrest exacerbated ethnic disputes and accelerated the rise of provincial powers. The Warlord Era, the loss of central control after the establishment of the Republic of China, would begin in earnest in 1912.

Did You Know?

• The Taiping renamed Nanjing to Tianjing, meaning 'heavenly capital'.
• Hong Xiuquan proclaimed himself the younger brother of Jesus Christ after a series of visions.
• The Qing government referred to the Taiping as 'Yue Bandits' in official sources.
• Taiping soldiers refused to shave their foreheads and braid their hair into a queue, earning them the nickname 'Long-Hairs'.
• Hong Xiuquan died on June 1, 1864, from consuming weeds in the palace grounds, with suspicions of poison.