Taiping Rebellion

Taiping Rebellion

The Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864) was the second bloodiest conflict in history, a clash between the forces of Imperial China and those inspired by a Hakka self-proclaimed mystic named Hong Xiuquan, who was also a Christian convert who had claimed that he was the new Messiah and younger brother of Jesus Christ. Most accurate sources put the total deaths at about 20 million civilians and army personnel, although some claim the death toll was much higher (as many as 50 million according to at least one source.[1]). 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 [2]". That figure is generally thought to be an exaggeration, as it is approximate to half the estimated population of China in 1851.[3] The rebellion is named after the revolutionaries' name Kingdom of Heavenly Peace or Tàipíng Tiānguó Wade-Giles (T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo), which lasted as long
as the revolution.

Beginning

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 Tiānjīn (in Wade-Giles: T'ang-chun) (Heavenly Capital).

Army

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 (長毛 Chángmáo). Large numbers of females serving in the army were also a unique feature amongst 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. Accepting this figure as accurate (which it most likely isn't), it would be reasonable to assume a total of 3 million or more.

The organisation 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.

Theology

Although ostensibly Christian, the Taiping regime has long been considered heretic by mainstream Christianity. This was mainly the result of Hong Xiuquan's limited understanding of Christianity, having been exposed to just a few pamphlets during his youth.

Hong Xiuquan never fully comprehended the significance 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.

The Kingdom's policies

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.
But 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.

Taiping Rebellion in popular culture

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.