Taiping Rebellion

Taiping Rebellion
Date December, 1850–August 1871
Location China
Result Victory by the Qing dynasty
Fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
Weakening of the Qing Dynasty
Belligerents
China Qing Dynasty Flag 1862.png Qing Empire
United Kingdom
France (United Kingdom and France join the war later)		 Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
Commanders
Xianfeng Emperor
Tongzhi Emperor
Empress Dowager Cixi
Zeng Guofan
Sengge Rinchen
Zuo Zongtang
Charles George Gordon
Frederick Townsend Ward
Guam Wing		 Hong Xiuquan
Yang Xiuqing
Xiao Chaogui
Feng Yunshan
Wei Changhui
Shi Dakai
Li Xiucheng
Strength
2,000,000–5,000,000 regulars
~340,000 militia		 1,000,000–3,000,000 regulars 100,000 female regulars
Casualties and losses
~20,000,000 including civilians and soldiers (best estimate)
 
Taiping Rebellion
Jintian – 1st Nanking – Sanhe – Cixi – 3rd Nanking

The Taiping Rebellion was a large-scale revolt conducted from 1850 to 1864 by an army led by heterodox Christian convert Hong Xiuquan. He established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (traditional Chinese: 太平天國; simplified Chinese: 太平天国; pinyin: Tàipíng Tiān Guó), namely Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace with capital Nanjing and gained control of significant parts of southern China, at its height ruling over about 30 million people. They tried to institute several social reforms, such as strict separation of the sexes, abolition of foot binding, land socialization, "suppression" of private trade, and the replacement of Confucianism, Buddhism and Chinese folk religion by a form of Christianity, holding that Hong Xiuquan was the younger brother of Jesus. Troops were nicknamed the Long hair (長毛) pinyin: cháng máo, as they sported a different queue to the Qing. Qing government papers refer to them as "hair rebels".

The Taiping areas were constantly besieged and harassed by Qing forces; the rebellion was eventually put down by the Qing army aided by French and British forces. With an estimated death toll of between 20 and 30 million due to warfare and resulting starvation, this civil war ranks as one of the bloodiest conflicts in history (see List of wars and disasters by death toll). Mao Zedong viewed the Taiping as early heroic revolutionaries against a corrupt feudal system. Today, artifacts from the Taiping period can be seen at the Taiping Kingdom History Museum in Nanjing.

Contents

History

Hong Xiuquan

In the mid-19th century, China under the Qing Dynasty suffered a series of natural disasters, economic problems, and defeats at the hands of the Western powers--in particular, the humiliating defeat in 1842 by the United Kingdom in the First Opium War. The Qing (ethnically Manchu) were seen by the Chinese citizenry (majority Han) as ineffective and corrupt foreign rulers. Anti-Manchu sentiment was strongest in the south among the laboring classes, and it was these disaffected who flocked to join the charismatic visionary Hong Xiuquan.

Secret organization

After Hong failed to pass the examinations that would make him one of the elite, he studied the Bible with the help of a Protestant missionary. One day he claimed to have had a vision to the effect that he was Jesus' brother. After his vision, he felt it was his duty to spread Christianity and overthrow the Qing so that China would no longer be under foreign rule.

Hong's associate Yang Xiuqing was a former firewood salesman of Guangxi, who frequently claimed to be able to act as a voice of God to direct the people and gain himself a large amount of political power.

The sect's power grew in the late 1840s, initially in response to its struggle to suppress groups of bandits and pirates, but persecution by Qing authorities spurred the movement into a guerrilla rebellion and then into civil war.

Beginning of the rebellion

Ever Victorious Army units with turbans.

The revolt began in Guangxi Province. After a previous small-scale battle resulting in the rebels' victory in the late December 1850, in early January 1851, a ten thousand-strong rebel army organized by Feng Yunshan and Wei Changhui routed Imperial troops stationed at the town of Jintian. Heavenly Kingdom forces successfully drove back the Imperial reprisal, and on January 11, 1851, Hong Xiuquan formally declared the Jintian Uprising on his birthday (lunar calendar). Subsequently, in August 1851, Hong declared the establishment of the Heavenly Kingdom of Peace (Taiping Tianguo) with himself as absolute ruler.

Capital

Royal seal of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

The revolt rapidly spread northward. In March 1853, between 700,000 and 800,000 Taiping soldiers directed by commander-in-chief Yang Xiuqing took Nanjing, killing 30,000 Imperial soldiers and slaughtering thousands of civilians. The city became the movement's capital and was renamed Tianjing, "Heavenly Capital". Hong built his Palace of Heavenly King there by converting the former residence of Qing officials.

At its height, the Heavenly Kingdom encompassed much of south and central China, centered on the fertile Yangtze river valley. Control of the river meant that the Taipings could easily supply their capital at Nanjing. From there, the Taipings continued their assault. Two armies were sent west, to secure the upper reaches of the Yangtze. Two more armies were sent north to take the Imperial capital, Beijing. Potentially, these two expeditions could have acted as a giant pincer movement across the country. The western expedition met with some mixed success, but the attempt to take Beijing failed.

In 1853 Hong withdrew from active control of policies and administration, ruling exclusively by written proclamations that often had religious content. Hong disagreed with Yang in certain matters of policy and became increasingly suspicious of Yang's ambitions, his extensive network and spies, and his declarations when "speaking as God". Yang and his family were put to death by Hong's followers in 1856, followed by the killing of troops loyal to Yang.[1]

With their leader largely out of the picture, Taiping delegates tried to widen their popular support with the Chinese middle classes and forge alliances with European powers, but failed on both counts. The Europeans decided to stay neutral. Inside China, the rebellion faced resistance from the traditionalist middle class because of their hostility to Chinese customs and Confucian values. The land-owning upper class, unsettled by the Taipings' peasant mannerisms and their policy of strict separation of the sexes, even for married couples, sided with the Imperial forces and their Western allies.

In 1859 Hong Rengan, a cousin of Hong, joined the Taiping in Nanjing, and was given considerable power by Hong. He developed an ambitious plan to expand the Kingdom's boundaries. In 1860 the Taiping were successful in taking Hangzhou and Suzhou to the east, but failed to take Shanghai, which marked the beginning of the decline of the Kingdom.

The fall of the Kingdom

Ever Victorious Army

An attempt to take Shanghai in August 1860 was repulsed by a force of Chinese troops and western officers under the command of Frederick Townsend Ward.[2] This army would later become the "Ever Victorious Army", led by "Chinese" Gordon, and would be instrumental in the defeat of the Taiping rebels. Imperial forces were reorganized under the command of Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, and the Imperial reconquest began in earnest. By early 1864 Imperial control in most areas was well established.

Hong declared that God would defend Nanjing, but in June 1864, with Imperial forces approaching, he died of food poisoning as the result of eating wild vegetables as the city began to run out of food. He was sick for 20 days before the Imperial forces could take the city. Only a few days after his death did the Imperial forces take the city. His body was buried in the former Ming Imperial Palace where it was later exhumed by the conquering Zeng to verify his death, and cremated. Hong's ashes were later blasted out of a cannon in order to ensure that his remains have no resting place as eternal punishment for the uprising.

Four months before the fall of the Heavenly Kingdom of Taiping, Hong Xiuquan abdicated in favour of Hong Tianguifu, his eldest son, fifteen years old. Hong Tianguifu was unable to do anything to restore the Kingdom, so the Kingdom was quickly destroyed when Nanjing fell in July 1864 to the Imperial armies after vicious street-by-street fighting. Most of the princes were executed by Qing Imperials in Jinling Town (金陵城), Nanjing.

Although the fall of Nanjing in 1864 marked the destruction of the Taiping regime, the fight was not yet over. There were still several hundred thousand Taiping rebel troops continuing the fight, with more than a quarter-million Taiping rebels fighting in the border regions of Jiangxi and Fujian alone. It would take more than half a decade to finally put down all remnants of the Taiping Rebellion: it was not until August 1871 that the last Taiping rebel army led by Shi Dakai's commander, General Li Fuzhong (李福忠) was completely wiped out by the governmental forces in the border region of Hunan, Guizhou and Guangxi.

Other rebellions

The Nien Rebellion (1853–1868), and several Muslim rebellions in the southwest (Panthay Rebellion, 1855–1873) and the northwest (Hui Rebellion in Gansu and Shaanxi, 1862–1877) continued to pose considerable problems for the Qing; some former Taiping rebels participated in these rebellions.

Critical appraisals from famous scholars

Professor Qian Mu :"Now it seems to be clear, people used to be sympathetic of Taiping Tianquo, and agreed that it was a ethnic revolution, but in reality that wasn't the full picture. At the very least, they knew nothing of politic, Nanjing was under their control for more than ten years, and during that time they did not set up any governmental institution." "Towards the lower rank of the society, they did try to offer "Equal share of land" system (Chinese:均田制度) , a rudimentary socialism. They were hopeless on politic."

"The name Heavenly Kingdom of Taiping, had foretold their doom. Such a name, defied the historical tradition of Han Chinese. The lack of literati within the clique was the root cause of their failure. Had Taiping Tianquo suceeded, it could only mean the complete failure of Chinese history. Even if Hong Xiuchuan and Yang Xiuqing had the ability to topple Manchu Qing dynasty, but then they wanted to topple the complete Chinese history simultaneously, the finale of doom was ensured.

Professor Fung Yu-lan denounced Taiping Tianguo, and believed the theocracy tendency of Taiping Tianguo would drive China back into the dark ages had they suceeded in their campaign. Professor Fung said:"Some historians branded Taiping Tianguo as equivalent to Peasant Government, without mentioning the historically fact that China had yet had an established Peasant Government.

The Heavenly Kingdom's policies

Within the land that they controlled, the Taiping Heavenly Army established a theocratic and highly militarised rule.

However, the rule was remarkably ineffective, haphazard and brutal; all efforts were concentrated on the army, and civil administration was non-existent. Rule was established in the major cities but the land outside the urban areas was little regarded. Even though polygamy was banned, Hong Xiuquan had numerous concubines. Many high-ranking Taiping officials kept concubines as a matter of prerogative, and lived as de facto kings.

Theology

Although ostensibly Christian, the "Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace" has long been considered heretical by major branches of Christianity.

The movement's founder, Hong Xiuquan, had tried and failed to earn his shengyuan civil service degree numerous times. After one such failure in 1836, Hong overheard a Chinese Protestant missionary preaching and took home some Bible tracts, including a pamphlet titled "Good Words for Exhorting the Age" by Liang Fa. The missionary was probably Edwin Stevens of New England, who operated illegally in China.[5] In 1843, after Hong's final failure at the exams, he had what some regard as a nervous breakdown and others as a mystical revelation, connecting his in-depth readings of the Christian tracts to strange dreams he had been having for the past six years. In his dreams, a bearded man with golden hair and a black robe, naming himself Jehovah, gave him a sword, and, with a younger man (Jesus) whom Hong addressed as "Elder Brother," taught him to slay demons.[6]

"Hong and his cousin were both baptized according to the way prescribed in the pamphlet Good words to admonish the age"[7]

Based on his readings, Hong Xiuquan came to believe that the figures in his dreams was The Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and that they were revealing his destiny as a slayer of demons and the leader of a new Heavenly Kingdom on Earth.[8] The demons were later interpreted by him to be the Qing and false religions.

Hong developed a literalist understanding of the Bible, which soon gave rise to a Oneness theology. He rejected the doctrine of the Trinity -- only the Father was truly God. Jesus Christ was the Elder Brother of Hong Xiuquan in Hong's system of belief. Hong said the Holy Spirit is God.

Hong's deputy Yang Xiuqing later took the title "Holy Wind the Comforter", as he was keen to gain titles. Yang Xiuqing's religious motivations are disputed.

Based on his readings and personal revelations, Hong Xiuquan added a third group of books, or rather annotations, (in addition to the Old Testament and the New Testament) to the Taiping regime's Bible.

Currency

In its first year, the Heavenly Kingdom minted coins that were 23 mm to 26 mm in diameter, weighing around 4.1 g. The inscription 太平天囯 ("The Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace") was on the front and 聖寶 ("Holy Treasure") on the back. Unlike the canonical character 國 for "country" used at that time, the Kingdom chose alternative variant form 囯 instead, which is a king inside a boundary. It somewhat resembles the simplified character 国 that was created by the PRC government.

Administration

Miniature of the Palace of Heavenly Kingdom in Nanjing
The Heavenly king's throne in Nanjing

Ranked below the "King of Heaven" (天王), Hong Xiuquan (洪秀全), the territory was divided among provincial rulers called kings or princes, initially there were five—the Kings of the Four Quarters and the King of the Yi (flanks). Of the original rulers, the West King and South King were killed in combat in 1852. The East King was murdered by the North King during a coup d'état in 1856, and the North King himself was subsequently killed. The kings' names were:

The later leaders of the movement were 'Princes':

Other princes include:

In the later years of the Taiping Rebellion, the territory was divided among many, for a time into the thousands, of provincial rulers called princes, depending on the whims of Hong.

Death toll

Most accurate sources put the total deaths during the fifteen years of the rebellion at about 20 million civilians and soldiers.[9] Some historians estimate the combination of natural disasters together with the political insurrections may have cost as many as 200 million Chinese lives between 1850 and 1865. That figure is generally thought to be an exaggeration, as it is approximately half the estimated population of China in 1851.[10] Modern estimates are that China’s population had been about 410 million in 1850 and, after the Taiping, Nien, Muslim, Panthay, Miao and other smaller rebellions, amounted to about 350 million in 1873.[11]

At the Third Battle of Nanking in 1864, more than 100,000 were killed in three days.

The rebellion happened at roughly the same time as the American Civil War. Though almost certainly the largest civil war of the nineteenth century (in terms of numbers under arms), it is debatable whether the Taiping Rebellion involved more soldiers than the Napoleonic Wars earlier in the century, and so it is uncertain whether it should be considered the largest war of the nineteenth century.

Taiping Heavenly Army

The rebellion's army was its key strength. It was marked by a high level of discipline and fanaticism. They typically wore a uniform of red jackets with blue trousers and grew their hair long—in Chinese they were known as Chángmáo (長毛, meaning "long hair"). The large numbers of women serving in the Taiping Heavenly Army also distinguished it from 19th century armies.

Combat was always bloody and extremely brutal, with little artillery but huge forces equipped with small arms. The Taiping army's main strategy of conquest was to take major cities, consolidate their hold on the cities, then march out into the surrounding countryside to battle Imperial forces. Estimates of the overall size of the Taiping Heavenly Army varied from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000.

The organization of a Taiping army corps was thus:

These corps were placed into armies of varying sizes. In addition to the main Taiping forces organised along the above lines, there were also thousands of pro-Taiping groups fielding their own forces of irregulars.

Ethnic structure of the army

Ethnically, the Taiping Heavenly army was formed at the outset largely from two groups: the Hakka, a Han Chinese sub-group (客家 pinyin: kèjiā, literally “guest families” or “guest households”), and the Zhuang (a non-Han ethnic group), both of which were minority peoples as compared to the Han Chinese sub-groups that form dominant regional majorities across south China. It is no coincidence that Hong and the other Taiping royals were Hakka. As a Han sub-group, the Hakka were frequently marginalized economically and politically, having migrated to the regions they inhabit only after other Hàn groups were already established there. For example, when the Hakka settled in Guangdong and parts of Guangxi, speakers of Cantonese were already the dominant regional Hàn group there and had been for some time, just as speakers of various dialects of Min (閩/闽) are locally dominant in Fujian province. The Hakka settled throughout South China and beyond, but as latecomers they generally had to establish their communities on rugged, less fertile land scattered on the fringe of the local majority group’s settlements. As their name (“guest households”) suggests, the Hakka were generally treated as migrant newcomers, often subject to hostility and derision from local majority Han populations. Consequently, the Hakka, to a greater extent than other Han Chinese, have been historically associated with popular unrest and rebellion.

The other significant ethnic group in the Taiping army were the Zhuang (traditional Chinese: 壯族; simplified Chinese: 壮族; pinyin: Zhuàngzú), an indigenous people of Tai origin and China’s largest non-Han ethnic minority group. Over the centuries Zhuang communities had been adopting Han Chinese culture. This was possible because Han culture in the region accommodates a great deal of linguistic diversity, so the Zhuang could be absorbed as if the Zhuang language were just another Han Chinese dialect (which it is not). As Zhuang communities were integrating with the Han at different rates, a certain amount of friction between Han and Zhuang was inevitable, with Zhuang unrest on occasion leading to armed uprisings.[12] The second tier of the Taiping army was an ethnic mix that included many Zhuang. Prominent at this level was Shi Dakai, who was half-Hakka, half-Zhuang and spoke both languages fluently, making him quite a rare asset to the Taiping leadership.

In the later stages of the Taiping rebellion, the number of Han Chinese in the army from Han groups other than the Hakka increased substantially. However, the Hakka and the Zhuang (who constituted as much as 25% of the Taiping army), as well as other non-Han ethnic minority groups (many of them of Tai origin related to the Zhuang ), continued to feature prominently in the rebellion throughout its duration, with virtually no leaders emerging from any Han Chinese group other than the Hakka.

Social structure of the army

Socially and economically, the Taipings came almost exclusively from the lowest classes. Many of the southern Taiping troops were former miners, especially those coming from the Zhuang. Very few Taipings, even in the leadership caste, came from the imperial bureaucracy. Almost none were landlords and in occupied territories landlords were often executed. In this sense the Taiping army very much resembled the People's Liberation Army of the twentieth century.

Generals

In fact, Taiping Rebellion‘s generals military ability were higher than Qing government‘s generals, examples:

Early(1851--1854):Xiao Chaogui, Wei Changhui, Shi Dakai,Qin Rigang, Lin Qirong(林啟榮), Lai Hanying(賴漢英), Zeng Tianyang(曾天養), Li Kaifang, Luo Dagang(羅大綱), Tang zhengzai

Middle(1855--1859):Li Xiucheng, Chen Yucheng, Yang Fuqing, Wei Jun, Li Shixian, Ye Yunlai, Huang Chengzhong, Liu Chunlin(劉瑲琳)

Late(1860--1864):Li Ronfar, Lai Wenkwok, Chen Kunshu

Imperial Army

Charles Gordon as a titu (general)

Opposing these forces was an imperial army with a size of 2 million to 5 million regulars along with hundreds of thousands of regional militias and foreign mercenaries operating in support. Among the imperial forces was the elite Ever Victorious Army, consisting of Chinese soldiers led by a European officer corps (see Frederick Townsend Ward and Charles Gordon). A particularly famous imperial force was the Xiang Army of Zeng Guofan.

Although keeping accurate records was something Imperial China traditionally did very well, the decentralized nature of the Imperial war effort (relying on regional forces) and the fact that the war was a civil war and therefore very chaotic meant that reliable figures are impossible to find. The destruction of the Heavenly Kingdom also meant that any records it possessed were destroyed.

Also of importance in putting down the rebellion was Zuo Zongtang, also known as General Tso, from Hunan Province.

Taiping Rebellion in popular culture

Art

The rebellion was featured on Tian An Men square's Monument to the People's Heroes plus many public places in Beijing and Nanjing.

“ On the pedestal of the tablet there are eight huge bas-relieves carved out of white marble covering the revolutionary episodes, which are depictions of Chinese struggle from the First Opium War in 1840 to the founding of the People's Republic in 1949. The relieves can be read in chronological order in a clockwise direction from the east: 1) Burning opium in the Opium War in 1840. 2) The Jintian Village Uprising in Taiping Revolution in 1851. ”

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Spence 1996, p. 243
  2. ↑ Spence (1996)
  3. ↑ Spence 1996, p. 25
  4. ↑ Spence 1996, p. 234
  5. ↑ Spence 1996, p. 31
  6. ↑ Spence 1999, p. 172
  7. ↑ The Taiping rebellion History and Documents Volume 1 p. 25
  8. ↑ Wsu.edu. "Wsu.edu." Taiping Rebellion. Retrieved on 2007-04-11.
  9. ↑ Userserols. "Userserols." Statistics of Wars, Oppressions and Atrocities of the Nineteenth Century. Retrieved on 2007-04-11.
  10. ↑ Afe.easia. "Columbia.edu." "China's Population Growth throughout history." Retrieved on 2007-04-11.
  11. ↑ John King Fairbank, The Great Chinese Revolution 1800–1985 (New York: Harper & Row, 1986), 81.
  12. ↑ Ramsey, Robert, S. (1987). The Languages of China. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. 167, 232-236. ISBN 0-691-06694-9. 

References

Further reading

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, 1851–1864
Personal Name Period of Reign Era Names "Nian Hao 年號" (and their according range of years)
Hong Xiuquan—洪秀全
August 1851–May 1864
Yannian (元年 Yuánnián) 1851–1864
Hong Tianguifu—洪天貴福
May 1864–August 1864
None