TAIPING REBELLION IN CHINA (1850-1864) CONTENTS: BACKGROUN D AGE OF REVOLUTION Chinese American man with queue Manchu queue BACKGROUND • Among the many rebellions that enveloped China in the mid-19th century, the Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) caused most devastation and posed the greatest danger to the Qing dynasty • By the early 19th century, the available land could no longer sustain the burgeoning population, and there were no industries to absorb the surplus labor force Natural disasters in the 1840s along the Yellow and Yangzi (Yangtse) River valleys further devastated the economy.  • Politically, the Qing dynasty was in decline, evident in the pervasive corruption among the bureaucracy Defeat by Great Britain in the First Anglo-Chinese Opium war further discredited the dynasty and brought to the fore latent anti-Manchu sentiments among the majority Han Chinese - Hong Xiuquan is a resident of Huado district, Guangdong province - Once again failed four time the imperial examination , Hong fell ill and into a coma in 1837 - In 1843, after carefully reading a pamphlet he had received years before from a Protestant Christian missionary - In 1847 Hong went to Guangzhou, where he studied the Bible with Issachar Jacox Roberts, an American Baptist missionary, gaining some knowledge of the Old Testament But he was not baptized - In 1844 his follower Feng Yunshan founded the Society of God Worshippers and began preaching his version of (Christianity, Daoism, Confucianism and indigenous millenarianism, which Hong presented as a restoration of the ancient Chinese faith in Shangdi) among poor people in Guangxi province in southern China.  (1814-1864) AGE OF REVOLUTION  ESTABLISHMENT : South king • Led by Hong Xiuquan, the self-proclaimed brother of Jesus Christ, • The rebellion began in Guangdong where Bibles had been brought into Guangzhou Hong (a member of the Hakka minority people) had by 1847 taken control of the whole Guangxi province (The rebellion was strongly supported by both Hakka and Miao ethnic groups) • Anuary 1851, following a small-scale battle in late December 1850, a 10,000-strong rebel army organized by Feng Yunshan and Wei Changhui routed Qing forces stationed in Jintian (present-day Guiping, Guangxi) 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 • Hong declared himself "Heavenly King" of a new dynasty, the "Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace ( Taiping Heavenly Kingdom) which comes the term “Taiping” North King - The Taiping army pressed north into Hunan following the Xiang River, besieging Changsha, occupying Yuezhou, and then capturing Wuchang in December 1852 after reaching the Yangtze River At this point the Taiping leadership decided to move east along the Yangtze River Anqing was captured in February 1852 - On March 19,1853 the Taiping captured Nanjing, and Hong declared it the Heavenly Capital of his kingdom - In 1853 Hong Xiuquan withdrew from active control of policies and administration to rule exclusively by written proclamations Hong disagreed with Yang in certain matters of policy and became increasingly suspicious of Yang's ambitions - In Hunan, a local irregular army called the Xiang Army or Hunan Army, under the personal leadership of Zeng Guofan December 1856 Qing forces retook Wuchang for the final time The Xiang Army captured Jiujiang in May 1858 and then the rest of Jiangxi province by September In 1859 Hong Rengan, a cousin of Hong, joined the Taiping Rebellion in Nanjing, and was given considerable power by Hong The Taiping rebels were successful in taking Hangzhou on March 19th, 1860, Changzhou on May 26th, and Suzhou on June 2nd to the east While Taiping forces were preoccupied in Jiangsu , Zeng's forces moved down the Yangtze River Hangzhou Suzhou Changzhou Fall of Taiping • August 1860 An attempt to take Shanghai was repulsed by an army of Qing troops supported by European officers under the command of Frederick Townsend Ward • Imperial forces were reorganized under the command of Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, and the Qing government's reconquest began in earnest By early 1864, Qing control in most areas was well established hong declared that God defend Nanjing June 1864, with Qing forces approaching, he died of food poisoning as the result of eating wild vegetables as the city began to run out of food • Hong Xiuquan abdicated in favour of Hong Tianguifu, his eldest son, who was 15 years old then Hong Tianguifu was unable to anything to restore the kingdom Nanjing fell in July 1864 to Qing forces after vicious fighting in the streets The retaking of Nanjing by Qing troops • Although the fall of Nanjing in 1864 marked the destruction of the Taiping regime, the fight was not yet over • It took seven years to finally put down all remnants of the Taiping Rebellion In August 1871 the last Taiping rebel army, led by Shi Dakai's commander, Li Fuzhong was completely wiped out by the Qing forces in the border region of Hunan, Guizhou and Guangxi