The Founder of the Taiping The founder Hong

The Founder of the Taiping The founder: Hong Xiuquan (1814 -1865) Originally a school teacher who passed the local preliminary examination but failed provincial examination four times

Causes of Rebellions Causes vary and are often difficult to pin down Two important ideas supported rebellions – “Guanbi minfan”, rebellion in response to officials’ suppression – Change of the mandate of Heaven Normally Han people rebelled because of the following reasons:

– Economic distress (troubles) Destruction of traditional forms of handicraft employment by the competition of foreign manufactures? – Famine (starvation and sickness) – Landlordism – Population pressure Conflict between migrating Han farmers and the aboriginals minorities – Nationalism Viewing the Manchus’ rule as representing a corrupt alien dynasty – Religious affiliations

The Origin of the Taiping The Taiping refers to both the Taiping Rebellion and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace). “The Taipings” refers to the constituents of the rebels and kingdom The Rebellion was one of many anti. Manchu movements in the middle. Qing period

Its goal was to overthrow the Manchu regime, which was regarded as alien (outsiders), repressive, and corrupt The founder and his cohort began their movement by organizing religion called the God-Worshippers (Bai Shangdi jiao) – Based on their understanding of Catholicism derived from a pamphlet written by a Christian convert, Liang Afa, entitled Good Words to Exhort the Age (World)

• Inspired by Good Words to Exhort the Age, he claimed that during his illness after the failure of the third examination, he was adopted by the Heavenly father as the younger brother of Jesus Christ and was given a divine mission Jintian where Hong started his “uprising” Identify the devils of China and cast them out. The devils are idols of China’s temples (including ancestral temples), the Manchu rulers, opium and alcohol, foot-binding and prostitution

Rebels and Rebellions Hong Xiuquan, his visions, and the Heavenly Kingdom The Heavenly Kingdom and the old capital Nanjing The “Peasant Uprising” in the Communist ideology

Vision I An old man tells Hong that men are worshipping demons instead of him. Hong believes this is God the Father Vision II He sees Confucius being tortured for his lack of faith in God.

Vision III Hong is carried to Heaven by angels. A man with a long golden beard in black robe embroidered with dragons gives him a sword and a magic seal and tells him to purify China of demons. He believes this was his older brother Jesus. His family claims that after this he became taller and filled with authority.

Vision IV An old woman washes the filth of the world from his body. A group of old men remove his internal organs and replace them with new heavenly organs.

The Taiping Rebellion (1850 -1864) – The largest and most influential rebellion during the Qing Dynasty – The only rebellion that had connection with the Western impact on China – Communist historians called it “peasant uprising, ” which started from Guangxi province in south China an area of secret societies, lineage feuds, and conflict between the locals and the Hakka (guest people) this area suffered the most disruption from the Opium War, the result of which made open of new trade ports and huge numbers of porters lost their jobs

The Beginning of the Rebellion Hong soon became well -known and respected Hong’s organization, the God-Worshippers, became the shelter for the victims of social disorder in Hong’s hometown and its vicinity

• The Hakka people joined them because of being harassed by bandits-who were originally members of the demoralized local militia • Thirty bandit gangs operated in the area • Local landlord and rich clans joined the God-Worshippers

Foreigners joining the Taiping

• The God-Worshippers grew rapidly and its members rose from 10, 000 to 30, 000 • Local and central governments found the growing God-Worshippers threatening and began to suppress (keep them down/control) them • This resulted in mass killing (many killed at one time) and wars between them, which anticipated a large-scale rebellion

The Early Phase of the Taiping The Taipings turned into a large political entity – Publicly declared their purposes to overthrow the “devilish Qing” Hong’s study

Taiping Constituents Important leading members came from a wide array of social constituents: failed examinee and village schoolteacher, charcoal-burner and government clerk, female bandit chief, Triad leader and river pirate, wealthy money-lenders and pawnbrokers, merchant, scholar, former account, head of rich clan, poor peasant Predominantly Hakka people Not motivated by peasant discontent, nor by destitution, but by the God-Worshippers’ faith and ethnic identity

Taiping’s Quick Success After several major battles with government troops, the Taipings took control of the ancient capital, Nanjing, which became its capital They also took control of important cities in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hubei, and Anhui and with this areas as their military bases, continued to launch military and cultural campaigns against the Manchu rulers The expansion of the Taiping and its forceful implementation of the Christian faith resulted in the Taipings’ conflict with the people

Taiping Heavenly Kingdom After succeeding in taking control of Nanjing (Nanking), Hong built Taiping’s capital there – Killing all Qing bureaucrats and Confucian scholars and burnt all Confucian texts, which Hong regarded as “evil” He proclaimed himself Heavenly King and five of his closest comrades Eastern, Western, Southern, Northern, and Wing Kings

The fratricide among the Taipings resulted in the gradual collapse of the kingdom, even though it might have promise to overthrow the Qing regime A 100, 000 Taipings died in Nanjing rather than surrender to the Qing. Death of Population during the rebellion: 50 -70 million

Destruction of Nanjing