The History of~The Taiping Rebellion

During the Qing Dynasty, there were numerous rebel groups that want to challenge the rule of the Manchu Government, when the Qings lost the first Opium War (which you can view by clicking here) the legitimacy of the Qing Dynasty has come into question as the ethnic Chinese people such as the Hans and the Hakkas were beginning to rebel against the Ruling Manchus. The White Lotus Rebellion was first as they briefly took parts of Northwestern China. But there was one rebellion that did the most damage to the Qing Dynasty, and that is the *Taiping Rebellion*. This rebellion would be one of the deadliest rebellions in history, let alone the history of China.

But how did the Taiping Rebellion happen. Well this is what this page will try to cover.

## The beginning

It began with a man named *Hong Xiuquan* who grew up in peasantry in the Guangdong Province in the Qing Dynasty. Hong had a knack to read the Confucian Classics and began reading them when he was only 4 years old.

While he was reading a lot of Confucian classics, he gained the interest in having a job with the Qing Government. However, he would have to go through a system of proper channels in order to have one, they're called the *Civil Service and Imperial Exams*.

So, you may ask: what are these exams?

The Civil Service and imperial Exams were any "man" (Government Jobs in the Qing Dynmasty at the time were literally "manly" professions as women weren't allowed to have government jobs, and thus couldn't study for the exams) wanting a job with the Qing Government must take the exams. These men were required to stay in small cells (no bigger than a modern public bathroom stall) for 3 days straight and must write out 8-10 essays about the Confucian Classics. One must pass the Civil Service Exams in order to take the Imperial Exams, and the exams themselves have a very low pass rate (the Civil Service Exams had a pass rate of only 10% and the Imperial exams were even lower at 5%).

Hong would pass the Civil Service Exams in Guangdong, allowing him to take the Imperial Exams when he was only 12 years old.

Unfortunately, Hong would fail the Imperial exams, and this motivated him to study harder for the next 10 years.

Hong then went to the western port town of Canton to take the Imperial Exams there, but he wouldn't have any better luck with the exams at the town.

During his stay at Canton, Hong encountered a British Jesuit Missionary who gave him a book titled *"Good Words Admonishing the World"* (or *"Quan Shi Liang Yuan"* in Chinese). He only read this book only part way before putting it back on the shelf. Unbeknownst to Hong is that the book he received would change the history of China.

A year after he failed the test at Canton. He would again take the Imperial Exams, but would (again) fail.

Hong then suffered a mental breakdown which would last several months. During which time, he had visions of 2 men: one being an old spirited man and a middle aged man. He then realizes that this was the Christian God *Jehova* and his son *Jesus of Nazareth* (who was the originator of Christianity). Jehova told Hong to stop his worshiping of demons and worship him instead, Jesus would help him defeat those demons.

He then went back to the book the missionary gave him, and by piecing together what he read in the book to his visions, he believed to be the second son of Jehova and thus Jesus' brother, he began to believe that Jehova sent him on the mission to defeat the Manchus and free the people of China.

He began to work as a teacher, but sometime in 1844, he began to destroy Confucian classics and thus he was fired from his job. After he was fired, he met *Feng Yunshan* (who also converted to Christianity) and got together to preach Christianity in the Guangxi province. Their teachings were popular for the time because (like Hong himself) the people were the ethnic Hakka people of China who were usually looked down upon by the Manchus. Both Hong and Feng went back to Hong's home province of Guangdong and there they co-founded the secret society known as the *"God Worshipers"* in 1845. Within their first months they were able to recruit around 2,000 people into the society (and that number would steadily climb within the next 5 years having over 30,000 by 1850).

They also would gain the training needed for them as they raided and destroyed pirate ships. They would also build up some reforms for China (more on that later). But since Christianity was forbidden in the Qing Dynasty, this gave the society to have even more reason to hate the ruling Manchus, and on January 11 1851 (according to the Lunar Calendar). The God Worshipers turned into the Taiping rebels in hopes to overthrow the Manchus.

## The rebellion

This battle was the *Jintain Uprising* which took place in the town of Jintian in the Guangxi Province.

The Taipings were successful in liberating the town of Jintian and then officially declared the *Taiping Heavenly Kingdom*, they also left Guangxi and then headed north. Though they suffered heavy losses on their way to Nanking, they were able to take the city on March 19, in the year 1853 and Nanking became the capital of the Heavenly Kingdom.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was an absolute monarchy and a theocracy and didn't provide religious freedom as anybody who wasn't a christian was executed.

## Taiping Reforms

But with some of the bad stuff they did, the Taipings also tried to bring some positive changes to China.

First, they tried to end slavery. They also made it mandatory to distribute land equally and not have it privately owned (which would inspire the Chinese Communists about a century later). They also ended the class system which ruled China for several millenia. Though not immediately implemented, but the Taipings also wanted equal rights for all genders (even women).

Especially giving women the right to study for the Civil Service and Imperial Exams (the first time in China's history).

The Taipings also wanted to Industrialize China, trying to learn the lessons from the First Opium War. They also tried to make several things illegal such as Alcohol, Tobacco and even Opium. They also outlawed a barbaric practice called *"Foot Binding"* where women had to bind their feet to prevent them from growing (which men at the time thought that was attractive).

They would also replace Confucian classics with the Christian bible in the exams as well.

## Downfall

But things weren't so "heavenly" in this kingdom. Some land owners didn't live up to the expectations of the Taipings, and there was even some huge strife. A Taiping military leader *Yang Xiuqing* had some disagreements with Hong Xuiquan, Yang wanted to convince Hong that to bring on some forms of Confucianism like it's moral codes. But Hong disagreed and wanted to destroy the said religion. This is when Yang would try to attempt a coup, but was killed before the attempt would be made, and weakened the Taipings.

They also wanted to capture the city of Shanghai, but were largely unsuccessful. This was made apparent in 1862 when the Taipings made another attempt on the city, placing it under siege for nearly a year.

Even the western powers such as Great Britain and France would side with the Qings to stop the Taipings (despite their own role in the Second Opium War).

With the Taipings severely weakened, the Qings would quickly conquer the Heavenly Kingdom.

In 1864, Hong gave up the throne to his son, and died from either suicide or food poisoning a few months later. Within a few days of Hong's death, Nanking would be liberated by the Qings.

That is how the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom ended. It also ended with around 20 Million Chinese people dead. Not only is this the deadliest rebellion in Chinese History, but also one of the deadliest conflicts in recorded history of the world and still to this day has left a throbbing scar on China. The combination of the Second Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion would severely weaken the Qing Dynasty, but would take several more decades for it to finally fall with the rise of another rebellion: *The Xinhai Rebellion* in 1912.

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