(185064) A major uprising against the Qing dynasty in China. Hong Xiuquan (181464), a Hakka schoolmaster and failed Confucian scholar, became a Christian in 1837, and saw himself as the younger brother of Christ, with a divine mission. By 1850 he had recruited 10 000 members of his God Worshippers League, and in 1851 declared himself Heavenly King of the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace (Taiping Tian Guo). After taking several cities, Nanjing was made his capital in 1853. A counter-attack was led by the Confucian Zeng Guofan, other provincial leaders, and General Gordon. Nanjing fell in 1864, and the Taipings were eliminated. Hong, a figurehead since 1856, committed suicide. The Taiping beliefs (they made property communal, promoted sex equality, and were against caste) appeared heroic to 20th-c revolutionaries, and the rebellion contributed to the collapse of the Qing dynasty.
| Taiping Rebellion | |||||||
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| Xianfeng Emperor, Tongzhi Emperor, Empress Dowager Cixi | Hong Xiuquan | ||||||
The Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864) was perhaps the bloodiest civil war in human history, a clash between the forces of the Qing Empire in China and those inspired by a Hakka self-proclaimed mystic named Hong Xiuquan, a Christian convert who had declared himself the new Messiah and younger brother of Jesus Christ.
Most accurate sources put the total deaths at about 20 million civilians and army personnel , although some claim the death toll was much higher (as many as 50 million according to at least one source ).
Artifacts from the Taiping period can be seen at the Taiping Kingdom History Museum in Nanjing, China.
Beginning
In the mid-1800s, China suffered a series of natural disasters, economic problems and defeats at the hands of the Western powers.e.g The Qing Dynasty lost their war against Great Britain in the First Opium War.
The revolt began in Guangxi Province. Heavenly Kingdom forces successfully drove back the Imperial reprisal, and in August 1851, Hong declared the establishment of the Heavenly Kingdom of Peace (Taiping Tianguo) with himself as absolute ruler.
The revolt rapidly spread northward.
Army
The rebellion's army was its key strength. 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. Although most modern estimates never put the Taiping Heavenly Army as numbering much more than a million in total, contemporary estimates placed its numbers far higher — indeed it was said that the main Taiping Armies in central China in 1860 numbered 2.5 million.
The organization of a Taiping army corps was thus:
1 general 5 colonels 25 captains 125 lieutenants 500 sergeants 2,500 corporals 10,000 privates 13,156 men in totalThese corps were placed into armies of varying sizes.
Ethnically, the Taiping Heavenly army largely consisted of racial minorities — principally the Hakka (a sub group of Han Chinese) and Zhuang. Hong Xiuquan and the other Taiping royals were Hakka.
Socially and economically, the Taipings came almost exclusively from the lowest classes.
Opposing these forces was an imperial army of more than 2 million (possibly as large as 5 million) with something on the order of hundreds of thousands of regional militias and foreign mercenaries operating in support.
From the above it is of course obvious that establishing reasonable figures for the sizes of the opposing armies is very difficult. Although keeping accurate records was something Imperial China traditionally did very well, the decentralised 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.
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 was the largest war of the nineteenth century.
At the Third Battle of Nanking in 1864, more than 100,000 were killed in three days.
Theology
Although ostensibly Christian, the "Kingdom of Heavenly 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.
Based on his readings, Hong Xiuquan came to believe that the figures in his dreams were God the 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.
Hong developed a literalist understanding of the Bible, which soon gave rise to a unique theology.
Based on his readings and personal revelations, Hong Xiuquan added a third book, in addition to the Old Testament and the New Testament, to the Taiping regime's Bible.
The Kingdom's policies
Within the land that they controlled, the Taiping Heavenly Army established a theocratic and highly militarised rule.
In its first year, the Heavenly Kingdom minted coins that were 23 mm to 26 mm and around 4.1 g. The inscription 太平天囯 ("The Heavenly Kingdom of Taiping") was on the front, where "Kingdom" was written in a non-standard form of the character (囯, instead of 國/国), and 聖寶 ("Holy Treasure") on the back.
Administration
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 (meaning flanks). The kings' names were:
South King (南王), Feng Yunshan (馮雲山) (–1852) East King (東王), Yang Xiuqing (楊秀清) (–1856) West King (西王), Xiu Chaogui (蕭朝貴) (–1852) North King (北王), Wei Changhui (韋昌輝) (–1856) Yi King (翼王), Shi Dakai (石達開) (captured and executed by Qing Imperials in 1863)The later leaders of the movement were 'Princes':
Zhong Prince (忠王), Li Xiucheng (李秀成) (1823–1864, captured and executed by Qing Imperials) Ying Prince (英王), Chen Yucheng (陳玉成) (1837–1862) Gan Prince (干王), Hong Rengan (洪仁玕 Hóng Rēngān) (1822–1864, executed), cousin of Hong Xiuquan Fu Prince (福王), Hong Renda (洪仁達) (executed by Qing Imperials in 1864), Hong Xiuquan's second eldest brother Tian Gui (Tien Kuei) (田貴?) (–1864, executed)Other princes include:
An Prince (安王), Hong Renfa (洪仁發), Hong Xiuquan's eldest brother Yong Prince (勇王), Hong Rengui (洪仁貴) Fu Prince (福王), Hong Renfu (洪仁富)Climax
At its height, the Heavenly Kingdom encompassed much of south and central China, centered on the fertile Yangtze river valley.
Downfall
In 1853, Hong withdrew from active control of policies and administration.
With their leader largely out of the picture, Taiping delegates tried to widen their popular support with the Chinese middle classes -- and to forge alliances with European powers -- but failed on both counts.
Following a setback near Beijing, they continued to expand westward, but spent most of their efforts maintaining their hold in the Yangtze valley.
An attempt to take Shanghai in August 1860 was repulsed by troops under the command of Frederick Townsend Ward, a force that would later become the 'Ever Victorious Army' led by 'Chinese' Gordon.
Hong declared that God would defend Tianjing, but in June, with Imperial forces approaching, he took poison.
Four months before the fall of the Heavenly Kingdom of Taiping, Hong Xiuquan passed the throne to Hong Tianguifu, his eldest son. However, Hong Tianguifu did nothing to restore the Kingdom, so the Kingdom was quickly destroyed when Nanjing fell 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.
The Nian Rebellion (捻軍起義) (1853–1868), and several Muslim rebellions in the southwest (1855–1873) and the northwest (1862–1877) were led by the remnants of the Taiping rebels.
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