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The Taiping Rebellion and consequent civil war took place in [[China]] between 1850 and 1864. It is believed to have been the most destructive civil war in history, causing up to 60 million deaths.
== Origins of the Taiping Movement ==
By the mid 19th century the [[Qing]] dynasty was facing severe internal and external pressure. Rural discontent led to an increase in secret society activity, among bodiies such as the White Lotus Society, the Small Sword Society, the Society of Elders and Brothers (Gelaohui), and the Triads in the south. Features of this activity included egalitarianism (primitive communism), a membership drawn from peasantry and poor artisans, cult worship, and xenophobia - towards the ethnic-Manchu dynastyu as well as foreigners. A common slogan was ''Fan Qing fu Ming'' - 'Overthrow the Qing, restore the Ming'. Peasant uprisings were increasing in number in the early decades of the century, and, in south China, tensions were rising between local Chinese and Hakka people - ethnic Chinese who had migrated from north to south China centuries before, but who had never fully integrated.
== Hong Xiuquan and the outbreak of the Taiping Rebellion ==
Hong Xiuquan(1814-1864) was from poor Hakka family in Guangdong province in south China. He had received some education, and had had contact with missionaries in Guangzhou (Canton), but had failed repeatedly in the civil service examinations, and suffered a mental breakdown ''circa'' 1837, following which he espoused a garbled version of Chritianity in which he claimed that he was son of God, and younger brother of Christ. Around 1845 he founded the 'God Worshippers Society' which grafted elements of Old Testament theology onto peasant rebel tradition, and which began to develop a following among Hakka and minority Zhuang and Yao peoples in Guangxi province in SW China. Guangxi in the late 1840s/early 50s was troubled by famine, rebellion, smuggling, and secret societies; it was a fractured society (with Han, Hakka, and minority nationals) and remote from Beijing: fertile ground for revolt. In 1850 the God Worshippers Society raised a rebel standard at Jintian (Guangxi) and in 1851 proclaimed itself the 'Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace' (''Taiping Tianguo'').
== Early Taiping success ==
In September 1851 the Taiping army captured its first fortified town, Yong'an (Guangxi) and in Spring 1852 began to march northwards. It failed to capture the provincial capitals of Guilin and Changsha, but in January 1853 took [[Wuchang]] (part of the triple city of [[Wuhan]] in central China) and in March [[Nanjing]], the former Ming capital and second city of the empire. This they renamed ''Tianjing'' ('Heavenly Capital') and it remained the Taiping capital until their final defeat in 1864.
== Taiping military code ==
This was ostensibly an ethical code of conduct, and bears some similarities to the 'Rules of Conduct' decreed for the Red Army in the 1930s and 1940s:
*1. Obey decrees and orders (including Heavenly laws and commands)
*2. Separate men's and women's regiments
*3. Forbid the slightest violation of the people's interests
*4. Be selfless and friendly and obey chiefs
*5. Be co-operative and never retreat in battle.
The Taiping espoused the equality of women (a revolutionary development in Imperial China) and abolished customs such as [[foot binding]].
== Elements of Taiping success ==
The Taiping army had a strong central core of efficient soldiers, largely of the Zhuang nationality. It was able to play upon Han Chinese resentment of 'foreign' (Manchu) rule, and Taiping nationalism was symbolised by the establishment of their capital at Nanjing (and by abolition of the servile 'queue', or pigtail). They were supported on their march north by spontaneous peasant risings, accompanied by the burning of land ownership deeds and the killing of landlords. The millenarian monotheistic ideology of the Taiping movement gave cohesion to the movement (but the destruction of Confucian temples, family shrines etc alienated many).
Initial nature of Taiping government
- ostensibly, and initially, egalitarian, applying a primitive communism. No wages, no private property. Artisans organised into 'Heavenly Battalions' whose products went to the state. Land was allotted to the peasants, but surpluses were taken by the state.
- puritanical. Opium, gambling, prostitution banned.
- progressive approach to women. Women could take examinations, serve in the army, entitled to same education as men. Foot-binding abolished
- positive attitude to 'foreign brothers' (and supposed fellow Christians); but disappointment as foreign powers rejected such Taiping advances as were made, to support the Qing after second Opium War
- state was ruled by six kings: the Heavenly King (Hong Xiuquan) assisted by Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western Kings, and Assistant King (Shi Dakai)
1853: Northern Expedition sent from Nanjing to destroy the Qing forces and occupy Beijing. Instead of fighting directly north it detoured west, failed to take the provincial capital Kaifeng, and by October 1853, and the outbreak of the harsh north China winter, had only reached Tianjin (Tientsin). Like the French in 1812 and the Germans in 1941, the south Chinese troops were worn down by the cold, were defeated in 1854 by Qing troops under the Mongol general Senggeinqin, and the final remnants were defeated in 1855. In 1854 & 55 fighting moved up and down the middle Yangtse, as Wuhan was captured twice and lost twice.
1856: the Taiping court was riven by rivalry between the Eastern King (Yang Xiuqing, former charcoal burner) and the Northern King (Wei Changhui, a former merchant). Hong Xiuquan, though increasingly remote from matters of government, confided to Wei his fears of Yang's increasing power; Wei then purged Yang and tens of thousands of his supporters. The Taiping general and Assistant King Shi Dakai, one of the most capable leaders, returned to Tianjin, the Wei faction attempted to kill him; forces loyal to Hong Xiuquan subsequently captured and executed Wei. Hong also became suspicious of Shi Dakai, who fled Nanjing to Sichuan, where he maintained rebellion on his own account until his death in 1863.
Reasons for Taiping decline
- they were “inept and ill-directed” (J.K.Fairbank)
- failure to hold on to territories that they occupied while advancing north
- failed to finish off the Qing in 1852 following the fall of Nanjing
- failure to establish early and adequate contact with foreign powers presenting themselves as attractive alternative to Qing
- alienated the gentry and administrative classes by their anti-Confucian iconoclasm, thus depriving themselves of effective administrators
- inept generalship and division of forces in 1853-4
- purges and internal bloodshed of 1856
- abandonment of egalitarianism and increasing luxury and corruption amongst leadership
- flexibility of response to the rebellion by the Qing court
Qing responses to the Taiping
- appointment of Zeng Guofan (Tseng Kuo-fan) (1811-72) in 1853 to raise troops, Xiang or Hunan Army, to combat the Taiping. Zeng was a Confucian scholar, implaccably opposed to the Taiping; he built up an officer core of trusted men, established arsenals and a river fleet, and methodically began to encirclke Taiping forces. His chief protege was Li Hongzhang (Li Hung-chang) (1823-1901) who was appointed to raise an army in Anhui, the Huai or Anhui army, similar to Zeng's forces. Li became governor of the key eastern province of Jiangsu in 1862 where he made use of Western and Chinese-Western forces to combat the Taipings around Shanghai and Hangzhou. The Anhui army participated in the final defeat of the Taiping in 1864 and went north to finish the Nien rebels. Li went on to become the key political figure in China for the remainder of his life. He visited Newcastle and Cragside in 1896 as part of a world tour.
- Traditional Chinese 'Green Banner' regular forces had proved useless against the Taiping. the brunt of the considerable fighting was by militias, Manchu Banner forces and the 'new armies' of Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang. The success of these regional armies, together with the devolution of responsibility to provinces, and the collection by provinces of a new tax (lijin) on goods transported, was to have severe long-term implications for China.
- the Qing court was at war with Britain and France 1857-60. Once the conflict was settled to western satisfaction, the powers abandoned their neutral stance towards the Taiping.
Foreign action against the Taiping: the Ever Victorious Army and 'Chinese Gordon'
1860: Chinese Shanghai merchants finance Shanghai Foreign Arms Corps led by US adventurer Frederick Townsend Ward (d 1862), initially western but increasingly Chinese troops; renamed 'Ever Victorious Army'. Brritish and French troops were also stationed in the Shanghai area and active against Taiping. Following Ward's death, and an unsatisfactory American replacement, the Imperial authorities requested the British to second an officer to the Ever Victorious Army. Charles Gordon was sent, and led the EVA with some success, including the capture of Suzhou in Nov 1863. The Ever Victorious Army was disbanded in 1864.
The '''Taiping Rebellion''' was a rebellion in 1850 led by [[Hong Xiuquan]], who had received a Christian upbringing. Its goal was to overthrow the Chinese [[Qing Dynasty]] and replace it with a "Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace". The rebellion enjoyed widespread initial success, causing massive destruction throughout much of southern and central China and capturing many major cities.
The '''Taiping Rebellion''' was a rebellion in 1850 led by [[Hong Xiuquan]], who had received a Christian upbringing. Its goal was to overthrow the Chinese [[Qing Dynasty]] and replace it with a "Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace". The rebellion enjoyed widespread initial success, causing massive destruction throughout much of southern and central China and capturing many major cities.