Buddy, it ain't got nothin' on the Taiping Rebellion. In 1845 he had a mystical crisis after reading a book of evangelical propaganda. Like, why weren't they busy fighting the hardline religious insurrection in their midst? how did the south american plate and african plate move? Amazed, Hong and his guys decided to press their advantage. After a two-year siege, the Taipings surrendered, only for the Qing to chop the heads off every single male inside its walls. The Taiping Rebellion was a revolt against the Qing dynasty in China, fought with religious conviction over regional economic conditions, and lasting from 1850 to 1864. The reality was more Hong taking all the craziest fire and brimstone parts of the Old Testament and jettisoning all the "turn the other cheek" stuff. This Taiping ideology centered around the expectation that a divine or human sage ruler, the Perfect Lord of Great Peace (Taiping Zhenjun), emissary of Heaven, will appear on a prophesied date at the height of a period of cosmic chaos and human suffering. Claudia Bautista,Santa Monica, Calif. You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. 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This scripture, still extant in a revised version (probably sixth century), elaborates the messianic element in the Taiping tradition: the Great Peace that the princes of high antiquity brought about through a Daoist government of "nonintervention" (wuwei ) is a state that will be recreated in the near future as a result of revelations by a divine messenger called Celestial Master (Tianshi). A series of bloody feuds and internal clashes between the various kings who controlled the various kingdoms regions decreed the end of the dynasty. Some speculate that he committed suicide by poison, but this cannot be proved. 19th century in China The first Chinese immigrant to the United Sta, The three main Jiao (systems of teachings and beliefs) in Chinese tradition are Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, which are called the "three relig, Peace. On the 11. of January, in the city of Jiantian in Guangxi, Hong declared a new dynasty, the Taiping Tianguo or Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace. The advance on Shanghai would be the turning point in the story of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. These are universals, as is the fear women feel during times of political upheaval that occur in what could still be called the outside world of men--whether during the Taiping Rebellion so many years ago or today for women in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Sudan, or even right here in this country in the post-9/11 era. Well, that was the idea. And this was a militia that knew how to fight. From 2,000 followers in 1847, by 1850, the God Worshippers counted between 20,000 and 30,000. Occupying much of imperial Chinas Yangzi River heartland and costing more than twenty million lives, the Taiping Rebellion (1851-64) was no ordinary peasant revolt. The Taiping Rebellion: The Deadliest Civil War You've Never Heard Of, Hitler reacted by channeling his inner ultra-racist. And even the By November, the Taiping had given up on any further attempts to capture Shanghai. The population also grew rapidly, doubling from about, 178 million in 1749 to almost 432 million in 1851, . A key idea in world history is that when the rich get too rich and the poor get too poor, change will happen. (It was a very crazy time period.) They were able to reach within 5 kilometers of Shanghai, but once again, the Qing and their Western allies were again able to repulse this attack. | Contact Us As the National Army Museum tells it, the First Opium War was basically an extended exercise in Britain kicking the Qing in the testicles, running away to laugh, then running right back up and kicking again. The, lasted almost two years, with the food situation becoming increasingly perilous. This, the first of the . Eventually, the Qing forces overwhelmed those of the Taiping and embarked on a campaign of looting and burning. In 1837, a young man named Hong Xiuquan failed the examinations to enter the imperial civil service. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. The stage was set for a decisive battle. Taiping Rebellion: Causes, Definition & Death Toll - History Yet lack of coordination, energy and competence on the side of the Qing armies made the Taiping expansion victorious. Various people had to learn the Ten Commandments, and if you didn't learn them right, you could actually be executed, so a certain kind of motivation for education. The idea of peace is ancient, reaching back to the beginnings of organized society and perhaps even earlier; but until the Renaissance it had not pas, Tibet Although they'd initially been dynamic rulers, they were by now about as dynamic as Elmer Fudd. In early 1864, Hong commanded his citizens to eat wild weeds and grasses. 10 Ancient Chinese Inventions That Will Surprise You. Ha, no, Washington D.C. and London didn't rush to liberate the Taipings' subjects. That's all. And even way over in Europe, a man called Karl Marx heard about the Taiping and thought that this sounded like the death knell for the old Chinese empire and the beginning of what he would think of as communism. It was, quite possibly, the single bloodiest civil war ever in history. - Sitemap. You could be beheaded for singing raunchy songs, for smoking opium, for "casting amorous glances," and for having lustful thoughts. Seven million German dead, including the five hundred thousand killed by the Allied bombing campaign. According to ThoughtCo., 600 whole cities were completely annihilated in the course of the war. This war would last for fifteen years and devastate the empire, setting it on the path to collapse. Seriously, the guy took it three times, and each time he failed. It's name was the Taiping Rebellion, and it claimed anywhere from 20 million to a jaw-dropping 70 million lives (via History). According to the BBC's In Our Time, Hong Xiuquan himself died in the middle stages of the siege, possibly after eating some poisonous berries, possibly while believing they were manna from God. Encyclopedia of Religion. He came under the influence of Christian Subcategories This category has the following 29 subcategories, out of 29 You know how in the Matrix trilogy the machines deliberately created an escape valve in their simulation so the most desperate humans could blow off steam by leaving for Zion? Juvenal, Hoping is such hard work. The book Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom(via The Washington Post) describes how American Christians began agitating for their government to support the Taipings, with The New York Times even writing editorials in Hong's favor. Not only did large sections of the population begin to go hungry, but with such population growth came a labor surplus. Karl Marx and the continent's hardline liberals all saw Hong's devotion to land rights and economic equality as, like, the very thing they'd been agitating for for decades. WebTaiping Rebellion Books Showing 1-24 of 24 Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War (Hardcover) by Stephen R. Platt Now all it would take was one charismatic preacher to capitalize on this, and he'd have a religious army ready to roll. The New York Times describes how groups of fanatical true believers gathered in the last hours of the city and set themselves on fire rather than be captured. Moreover, both sides had a fanatical hatred of the other based partly on ethnic and linguistic differences. But the real horrors came when the Qing finally breached the city walls. On medieval Daoist messianism, see my article "The Image of the Perfect Ruler in Early Taoist Messianism: Lao-tzu and Li Hung," History of Religions 9 (19691970): 216247, and "Taoist Messianism," Numen 31 (1984): 161174. The agrarian system of the Chinese dynasty was proclaimed. But the sad fact is that most people who took those exams failed them. There'd been no infrastructure improvements to China for 100 years, even as the population tripled. Aside from netting Hong Kong, the British won the right to flood the nation with opium, making the addiction crisis even worse. By allowing the provincial leaders of China to set up their own armies, they had set the seeds for an acknowledgment that the central government no longer had the power to control things from Beijing, from the capital. Feng founded the God Worshippers, gathering numerous proselytes among the Hakkas and Miaos of the area. And gods, it seems, are no exception. Although most people were stuck in their crappy lives, an exit did exist. The peasants, having suffered floods and famines in However, in 1843, he was inspired after reading pamphlets from a Christian missionary. Things were even worse for the Hakka class, of which Hong Xiuquan was a member. 1814- Hong Xiuquan was born in Hua County . The Kingdom built up an armed force up to a million strong. Poor, fed-up, and done with this whole "being oppressed" thing, they formed a militia loyal to Hong known as the God Worshippers. WebThe Taiping Rebellion, one of the greatest upheavals in modern Chinese history, is a fascinating example of the interplay of Chinese and Western ideas in the middle of the nineteenth century. The Kingdom built up an armed force up to a million strong. Britannica describes him also meeting a middle-aged man who instructed Hong in the art of kicking demon backside. By the eighteenth century, the Qing dynasty was at the height of its power. After consolidating their power, the Qing undertook a campaign of expansion and development. Lanham, Md., 1999. Unearthing the Power of Chinas Rural Areas Through Sustainable Deve, Creating Gateways into Other Worlds: Navigating the Unknown with Yiran Jias Mysterious Illustrations. Fine. The story began in a very small-scale way in a village in southern China, in Guangdong province, where a young man named Hong Xiuquan had basically taken the exams to enter the imperial bureaucracy for the fourth time. Taiping forces were severely weakened as they unsuccessfully laid siege to towns between Nanjing and Beijing. They banded together to pay for his tuition and basically bet their life savings on this one poor Hakka kid passing. But Mao was not unaware of the religious roots of the Taiping Rebellion. The Royal Navy wiped the floor with the Qing, seriously damaging their prestige. Web-It created a society of opium addicts -it caused a massive outflow of silver to pay for the opium -it shifted the trade imbalance in Britains favor -china was forced to open many ports to foreign traders -china was open end to Christian missionaries Millions may well have died-- well, millions did die in the course of the Civil War between the Taiping and the Qing dynasty-supported new armies. Over the next few years, similar treaties would be signed with the French and the Americans. Webvitasgo 4 yr. ago That tend to happen when you have millions fighting millions 34 HazelGhost 4 yr. ago More casualties than World War 1. Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) Throughout history, China was plagued by internal revolts and Suddenly, a whole bunch of Chinese peasants were aware of Christianity in a way they'd never been before. Taiping forces took the city in March 1853, and Hong declared it to be the capital of his Heavenly Kingdom. All Rights Reserved. According to Britannica, he made it an offense for even married couples to have sexual intercourse. Kate Atkinson, They don't want to know that you'll never eat birthday cake because you don't want to erase the magical taste of frosting on his lips. Hong Xiuquan (pictured) was the guy who'd inspire the Taipings to rebel and plunge China into chaos so great, it was chaotic even by ancient Chinese standards. And his repeated attempts clearly seemed to have tipped him over the edge. The idea that land and property should be made collective. Historians estimate it may have claimed up to 30 million lives. He experienced delusions in which a heavenly father-figure appeared to him. Their first action was the destruction of the idols of the local temple. Jing has received traditi, Social Entrepreneur, Curator, and Documentary Filmmaker. He concluded that he had witnessed God himself. The Taiping Rebellion, from 1851 to 1864, was the deadliest civil war in history. Sure of Gods protection, the Taiping prepared two military expeditions, one to the north, to conquer Beijing, and one to the west. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. Five years later, Hong had just failed the Imperial Exam for a fourth time when a cousin gave him a pamphlet on Christianity. , ceded Hong Kong to Britain and stipulated that China would pay reparations of $21 million and open itself up to free trade with the West. And who were the demons? As well as domestic issues, China was also increasingly dominated by the Western powers, particularly the British. Crucial in this was the recruitment of a peasant army in Hunan province. The expedition was hampered by poor planning, unpreparedness for the cold winters of Northern China, and a determined Qing resistance. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. In January 1851, after yet another victory against the imperialists, Hong proclaimed himself Heavenly King, founding the new dynasty of the Heavenly Kingdom of the Great Peace (Taiping Tianguo). Hong had failed these exams twice previously, and with this third setback, he plunged into a nervous breakdown. Mao chose to downplay the religious element of the Taiping Rebellionand inspired Kim Il-sung (19121994) to do the same for the Donghak Revolution in Korea (189495), another religious uprising interpreted by Marxists as a primitive peasant form of class struggle. The term never implied social equality in a modern sense but rather referred to a society where, as Xunzi defined it, each individual occupies the place that he should and fulfills his task according to his capacities. Like Hitler getting rejected from art school, Hong didn't take being failed lightly. It was rejected because of its Daoist tenor. It is under their standards that the [Western] allies choose to throw in their lot for humanity's defense. https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/taiping, "Taiping WebThe Taiping Rebellion is one of the forerunners of China's awakening. Following the successful capture of Nanjing, the Taiping underwent an internal power struggle and a series of military setbacks as they attempted to expand. The population also grew rapidly, doubling from about 178 million in 1749 to almost 432 million in 1851. Yet, unlike the Chinese Civil War, it is largely forgotten in the West, despite the involvement of French, British, and American officers. In the end, the foreigners were one of the factors. It had demonstrated the weakness of Qing control over the country and had only increased the Wests influence in China due to the assistance that British, French, and American troops had provided to the dynasty. 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