Taiping Rebellion
|
Seal of the "Heavenly Kingdom" |
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 claimed that he was the new
Messiah and younger brother of
Jesus Christ. He and his followers established the
Kingdom of Heavenly Peace () and attained control of significant parts of southern China. Most accurate sources put the total deaths at about 20 million
civilians and army personnel [
1], although some claim the death toll was much higher (as many as 50 million according to at least one source.[
2]). There are reports that "Some historians have estimated that the combination of
natural disasters combined with the political insurrections may have cost on the order of 200 million Chinese lives between 1850–1865 [
3]". That figure is generally thought to be an exaggeration, as it is approximately half the estimated population of China in 1851.[
4]
Artifacts from the Taiping period can be seen at the
Taiping Kingdom History Museum,
Nanjing.
The country had suffered a series of
natural disasters, economic problems and defeats at the hands of the
Western powers, problems that the ruling
Qing dynasty did little to lessen. Anti-
Manchu sentiment was strongest in the south, and it was these disaffected that joined Hong. The sect extended into
militarism in the
1840s, initially against
banditry. The persecution of the sect was the spur for the struggle to develop into
guerrilla warfare and then into full-blown war.
The revolt began in
Guangxi Province. In early January
1851, a ten-thousand-strong rebel army routed the Imperial troops at the town of
Jintian (
Jintian Uprising). The Imperial forces attacked but were driven back. In August 1851, Hong then declared the establishment of the Heavenly Kingdom of Taiping with himself as
absolute ruler. The revolt spread northwards with great rapidity. 500,000 Taiping soldiers took
Nanjing in March
1853, killing 30,000 Imperial soldiers and slaughtering thousands of civilians. The city became the movement's capital and was renamed
Tianjing (in
Wade-Giles:
T'ang-chun) (Heavenly Capital).
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"). Large numbers of females serving in the army were also a unique feature that distinguished it from
19th century armies.
The fighting was always bloody and extremely brutal, with little
artillery but huge forces equipped with
small arms. By 1856, the Taiping armies numbered just over 1 million. Their 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. 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. If this figure were accepted as accurate (which it most likely isn't), it would imply a total of 3 million or more.
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 total
These corps were placed into armies of varying sizes. In addition to the main Taiping forces organised along the above lines there were also many tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of pro-Taiping groups that fielded their own forces often not as well organised.
Ethnically the Taiping Heavenly army largely consisted of
racial minorities — principally the
Hakka and
Zhuang. Hong Xiuquan and the other Taiping royals were Hakka. The second tier was a mixed group and included many Zhuang. Prominent at this level of command was
Shi Dakai who was half-Hakka, half-Zhuang and spoke both languages fluently, making him quite a rare asset to the Taipings. Toward the later stages of the war the number of
Han (the dominant majority ethnic group of China) in the army increased substantially, but minorities remained prominent the whole time. There were almost no prominent leaders among the Taipings who were Han. It is believed that Zhuang constituted as much as 25 percent of the Taiping army.
Socio-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 was a prototype for the
People's Liberation Army of the
twentieth century.
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. 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.
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 well (indeed much better than
feudal Europe), 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. The destruction of the Heavenly Kingdom also meant that any records it possessed were destroyed. Thus figures range enormously. 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 thus whether it was the largest war of the nineteenth century is uncertain.
At the
Third Battle of Nanking (
1864) more than 100,000 were killed in three days.
Although ostensibly
Christian, the Taiping regime has long been considered
heretical by major branches of Christianity.
Hong Xiuquan tried and failed to earn his
shengyuan degree four times. In 1843 after failing the examination again, he was given a pamphlet of translated passages from the Bible, titled "Good Words for Exhorting the Age" by a Chinese Protestant evangelist. He read the texts fully and began to see them as a connection to strange dreams he had been having for the past six years. In his dreams a bearded man with golden hair gave him a sword and was accompanied by a younger man who taught him how to slay evil spirits. In his dreams Hong addressed the younger man as "Elder Brother" (Spence 1999, 172).
Based on his readings, Hong Xiuquan developed a literalist understanding of the Bible, which soon gave rise to a theology very different from the one encountered in the western world. For one, Hong Xiuquan rejected the doctrine of the
Trinity. In his belief system, only the
Father was truly God;
Jesus Christ was the Father's firstborn Son, with Hong Xiuquan himself being the Father's second Son and the younger brother of Jesus (it was said that when foreign
missionaries later explained to Hong Xiuquan that Jesus was the Father's
only Son, he simply crossed out the word "only".) Hong Xiuquan did not consider the
Holy Spirit to be God, or anything more than a "Holy Wind" (as Holy Spirit was formerly, and incorrectly, translated into Chinese by early missionaries). Hong Xiuquan had even bestowed the title "Holy Wind the Comforter" to one of his lieutenants.
Moreover, Hong Xiuquan added a third book, in addition to the
Old Testament and the
New Testament, to the Taiping regime's
Bible.
Within the land that they controlled, a
theocratic and
highly militarised rule was established.
* The subject of study for the
examinations for officials (formerly
civil service exams) changed from the
Confucian classics to the
Christian Bible.
* Private property ownership was abolished and all land was held and distributed by the state.
* A
solar calendar replaced the
lunar calendar.
* The society was declared
classless and the
sexes were declared equal. It was the first Chinese regime ever to admit women into examinations.
*
Foot binding was banned.
*
Monogamy was promoted.
* Other new laws were promulgated including the prohibition of
opium,
gambling,
tobacco,
alcohol,
polygamy (including
concubinage),
slavery, and
prostitution.
However, the rule was remarkably ineffective, haphazard and brutal; all efforts were concentrated on the army, and civil administration was very poor. Rule was established in the major cities but the land outside the urban areas was little regarded. Even though polygamy was banned, it was believed that Hong Xiuquan had 88 concubines. Many high ranking Taiping officials kept concubines as a matter of prerogative, and lived as de-facto kings.
In its first year, the Heavenly Kingdom coined money 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.
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). Of the original rulers, the West King and South King were killed in combat in
1852. During a coup d'etat in
1856, the East King was murdered by the North King, and the North King himself was subsequently killed. The kings' names are:
* 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"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 R"ngān) (
1822–
1864, executed), cousin of Hong Xiuquan
* Fu Prince (福王), Hong Renda (洪仁") (executed by Qing Imperials in 1864), Hong Xiuquan's second eldest brother
* Tian Gui (Tien Kuei) ("貴?) (–1864, executed)
Other
(minor?) 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)
At its height, the Heavenly Kingdom encompassed much of south and central China, it was centered on the fertile Yantze valley. Control of the river meant that the Taipings could easily supply their capital at
Nanjing, which the Taipings had renamed Tianjing (Heavenly capital). From Nanjing the Taipings continued their assault. Two armies were sent west, so secure the upper reaches of the Yangtze. Two armies were sent north, to take the government's capital,
Beijing. The western expedition met with some mixed succes but the attempt to take Beijing failed. The two northern armies were turned back at the outskirts of
Tianjin. According to some accounts the two expeditions were part of a giant pincer movement.
The impetus of the movement suffered greatly as Hong withdrew from active control of policies and administration in
1853. He had become progressively less
compos mentis and devoted himself to
meditation, and allegedly more sensual pursuits. The failure of the movement to secure European support or that of the middle classes was another blow.
The Taipings failed to get unanimous support for their rebellion because of their hostility to many long-standing Chinese customs and certain Confucian values. This and their peasant mannerisms encouraged the gentry, the landed upper class, to side with the Imperial forces and their Western allies.
Following a setback near Beijing most expansion was thereafter westwards, with most fighting being to maintain their hold in the Yangtze valley. But from
1860 the kingdom's fall was rapid.
An attempt to take
Shanghai in August
1860 was repulsed by forces under the command of
Frederick Townsend Ward, a force that would later become the '
Ever Victorious Army' led by
'Chinese' Gordon. Imperial forces were reorganized under the command of
Zeng Guofan and
Li Hongzhang. The Imperial reconquest then began in earnest. By early
1864 Imperial control in most areas was well established, Hong declared that God would defend Tianjing, but as the Imperial forces approached in June he took poison. His body was discovered in a sewer.
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.
* Jonathan Spence,
God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan (1996) ISBN 0393038440
* Thomas H. Reilly,
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Rebellion and the Blasphemy of Empire (2004) ISBN 0295984309
* Lindley, Augustus, "Ti-ping Tien-Kwoh: The History of the Ti-Ping Revolution" (1866, reprinted 1970) ASIN: B0006CPGM4
* Hsiu-ch°êng Li, translator, "The Autobiography of the Chung-Wang (Confession of the Loyal Prince)" (reprinted 1970) ASIN: B0006C09XA
* Carr, Caleb, "The Devil Soldier : The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China" (1994) ISBN 0679761284
*Both
China's
CCTV and
Hong Kong's
ATV made historical dramas about Taiping Rebellion. The series on CCTV ran for 50 episodes.
*A strategy
computer game based on Taiping Rebellion is made in China, the game can mainly be bought in
China and
Taiwan. The player can choose either the Qing government or the Taiping Rebels.
* Taiping society — in some sources, the
Heavenly King himself, is given credit for developing the popular Chinese game of
Mahjong.
Mahjong tile designs form the basis of the computer memory game
Shanghai.
*
Flashman and the Dragon (1986) — A portion of the memoirs of the fictional
Harry Paget Flashman recounting his adventures during the Anglo-Chinese
Second Opium War and Taiping Rebellion.
Spence, Jonathan D.
The Search for Modern China. New York: Norton, 1999.
Spence, Jonathan D.
God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan. New York : W.W. Norton, 1996.
*
Chinese history *
Chinese sovereign *
Qing Dynasty *
Protestantism in China
