Taiping dynasty

## Taiping Heavenly Kingdom*太平天囯*

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**Prime Minister:**
Yikuang (1892–1906; first)
Yuan Shikai (1911–1918; last)

The **Taiping dynasty**, officially the **Taiping Heavenly Kingdom**, was a Chinese dynasty that lasted from 1851 until its dissolution in 1923 after the Beijing War. By 1910, it bordered the Russian Empire to the north, Burma, Bhutan, Nepal, the Kingdom of Pakistan, the Emirate of Afghanistan and the Indian Federation to the south, and Korea to the southeast, while sharing overseas borders with Japan. Its capital and largest city was Tianjing, being the main economic city of China during the Taiping era.

The dynasty originated in 1851 when Hong Xiuquan claimed himself as younger brother of Jesus Christ, and led a rebellion against the Qing dynasty. Britain, France and Germany decided to side with the revolutionaries, therefore the Tongzhi Emperor was forced to abdicate and the Qing dynasty collapsed. The revolutionaries then officially took over, and gained international recognition from all of the world powers at the time. It underwent the process of industrialization throughout the late 19th century, and eventually became a constitutional monarchy in the 1890s. However, it had to deal with Japan in 1895 in the First Sino-Japanese War, and eventually was forced to give up Korea. This caused Chinese hatred against Japan that would last until the current Chun dynasty restored relations with Japan in the Yǒuyì Treaty in April 1946. In 1911, an attempt was made to overthrow the Taiping dynasty and replace it with a republic, although it only lasted for a few days and was ultimately crushed by the government. The Kingdom then sided with the Reichspakt in World War I with hopes of regaining influence in Korea and gain Mongolia and Tibet back. This triggered the Second Sino-Japanese War, where Japan defeated China. This eventually caused the Beijing War in January 1918, where Yuan Shikai lead a rebellion against the Taiping government. The war lasted for five years until the collapse of the dynasty, and it was replaced with the Xian dynasty.

Compared to the previous dynasties, the Taiping dynasty was a changing era in Chinese history, and is considered a golden age in Chinese history. It is well known for the prototype of the motorcycle in 1883 when Yixin Aisin Gioro came up with the idea of a motorized bicycle. However, it was quite suppressive against rebellions, and when an attempted Manchu Restoration took place in 1917, it was suppressed horribly, with over a thousand deaths as a result.

## History

### Establishment

The Taiping Rebellion began in 1850 in Guangxi. On January 11, 1851 (the 11th day of the 1st lunar month), incidentally Hong Xiuquan's birthday, Hong declared himself "Heavenly King" of a new dynasty, the "Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace". After minor clashes, the violence escalated into the Jintian Uprising in February 1851, in which a 10,000-strong rebel army routed and defeated a smaller Qing force. Feng Yushan was to be the strategist of the rebellion and the administrator of the kingdom during its early days, until his death in 1852.

In 1853 the Taiping forces captured Nanjing, making it their capital and renaming it *Tianjing* ("Heavenly Capital"). Hong converted the office of the Viceroy of Liangjiang into his Palace of Heavenly King. Since Hong Xiuquan had been supposedly instructed in his dream to exterminate all "demons", which was what the Taipings considered the Manchus to be, thus they set out to kill and wipe out the entire Manchu population. When Nanjing was occupied, the Taipings went on a rampage killing, burning and hacking 40,000 Manchus to death in the city They first killed all the Manchu men, then forced the Manchu women outside the city and burnt them to death.

At its height, the Heavenly Kingdom controlled south China, centred on the fertile Yangtze River Valley. Control of the river meant that the Taiping could easily supply their capital. From there, the Taiping rebels sent armies west into the upper reaches of the Yangtze, and north to capture Beijing, the capital of the Qing dynasty. The attempt to take Beijing failed.

### Internal conflict

In 1853 Hong withdrew from active control of policies and administration, ruling exclusively by written proclamations often in religious language. Hong disagreed with Yang in certain matters of policy and became increasingly suspicious of Yang's ambitions, his extensive network of 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.

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 Taiping rebels' peasant mannerisms and their policy of strict separation of the sexes, even for married couples, sided with the Qing forces and their Western allies.

In 1859 Hong Rengan, a cousin of Hong, joined the Taiping Rebellion in Nanjing, and was given considerable power by Hong. He developed an ambitious plan to expand the kingdom's boundaries. In 1860 the Taiping rebels were successful in taking Hangzhou, Suzhou and Shanghai, which lead closer to the dynasty's victory.