1. Who were the Taiping?

The Taiping Rebellion ‘might be the blow that touches the mummified corpse that is Qing China’ 

Karl Marx

Starter:

 In pairs read through Source A and Source B and discuss what each reveals about the beliefs of the Taipings.

Source A

The Ten Heavenly Commandments of Hong

1. Honor and worship the Lord God…
2. Do not worship false gods…
3. Do not take the name of the Lord in vain…
4. On the seventh day, worship and praise the Lord God for his grace…
5. Be filial and obedient to thy Father and Mother…
6. Do not kill or injure men…
7. Do not indulge in wickedness and lewdness. In the world there are many men, all brothers; in the world there are many women, all sisters.  For the sons and daughters of Heaven, the men have men’s quarters and the women have women’s quarters; they are not allowed to intermix.  Men or women who commit adultery or who are licentious are considered monsters; this is the greatest possible transgression of the Heavenly Commandments.  The casting of amorous glances, the harbouring of lustful imaginings about others, the smoking of opium, and the singing of libidinous songs are all offences against the Heavenly Commandment.
8. Do not steal or rob.

Poverty and riches are granted by the Lord God, and whosoever steals or plunders the property of others, transgresses the Heavenly Commandment.

9. Do not tell [or spread] falsehoods.

All those who speak wildly, falsely, or treacherously, and those who use course and vile language transgress against the Heavenly Commandment.

10. Do not think covetous thoughts.

Source B

Taiping Rules and Regulations

 Essential Rules to be Observed in Camp

1. Obey the heavenly regulations

2. Make yourselves thoroughly acquainted with the Heavenly Commandments and with the regulations on praise, on morning and evening worship, and on thanksgiving, as well as with all the issued edicts.

3. Cultivate good morals; do not smoke tobacco or drink wine; be just and harmonious; do not conceal offences, nor indulge in favouritism; do not comply with inferiors nor disobey superiors.

5. Observe the distinctions between the men’s camps and women’s camps; let not men and women give or take from each other’s hands…

  Rules to be Observed on the March

1. Let every officer and soldier, regular or volunteer, from fifteen years old and upwards, carry with him the necessary military accoutrements, provisions, cooking utensils, oil and salt; let no spear be lacking of its shaft…

2. When the trumpet sounds, let everyone immediately hasten to the royal premises, there to hear the orders to slaughter the devils; let none shirk his duty by hiding or fleeing.

3. Let no officer or soldier, male or female, enter into the villages to cook rice or appropriate food; let no one destroy the dwellings of the people or loot property; also let no one ransack the apothecaries or other shops, or the offices of the various prefectural and district magistrates…

4. Let no one set fire to the dwellings of the people, or urinate in the roads or in private houses.

5. Let no one unjustly put to death the aged, infirm, and those unable to hear their burdens.

11. Let everyone obey the commands and dispositions of the commanders and officials; let no one presume to advance or fall out according to his own likes

Franz Michael, in collaboration with Chung-Li Chang, The Taiping Rebellion, History and Documents, 3 vols, University of Washington Press, Seattle and London. 1971. Pp.139-41

Task One

ATL: Thinking skills

2. Who was Hong Xiuquan?

‘We know little about Hong Xiuquan  - he must obviously have been a very charismatic character’ . Historian Frances Wood.

A drawing of Hong Xiuquan dating from about 1860

Hong Xiuquan was born into a fairly wealthy farming family near Guangzhou [Canton] around 1814.  He was a Hakka, who were considered a ‘guest people’, as they were internal Chinese migrants.  Despite his family having lived in the area for centuries, Hakka were still considered outsiders.  Hong was intelligent and he was selected by his family to take the intensely difficult civil service examinations.  Indeed, the examinations were so challenging that fewer than 1% of those that took them passed.  Hong failed the examinations four times. 

It was at a certain point in Guangzhou, whilst attempting the examinations, that Hong had picked up a religious pamphlet written by a Chinese convert.  There was some significant protestant missionary activity in the area at the time.  It has been mooted that it was thus an ‘accident of geography’ that Hong became a Christian.  However, although the pamphlet does not seem to have had an immediate impact on him, Hong later, whilst attempting the examinations again, fell into a fever.  In his ‘delirious dreams’ Hong believed that God had come to him and told him he was his son.  Furthermore, God said that he was Jesus Christ’s younger brother.  Hong now believed he had a specific cause or mission in life – he was to be the new messiah.  He began to travel, preach and attempted to start a new movement.   He went first to south west China where there was great poverty and social discontent, and where there would be a receptive audience for his ideas.  His early preaching was mainly based on the ideas he had found in the pamphlet; however, in 1847, Hong went to follow a US missionary – Issachar Jacox Roberts.  It seems that Roberts, who had initially agreed to baptise him subsequently refused, this was probably because he viewed Hong’s version of Christianity as a ‘bit skewed’.

Hong’s brand of Christianity took elements of the Bible’s ten commandments.  What he promised the people was quite simple and appealing, particularly for poor and often minority communities such as the Hakka.  He promoted equality between men and women as ‘universal brothers and sisters’ and the abolition of property - with all land and food to be shared – a radical egalitarian vision in which all were equal before God.  Taiping means ‘Great Peace’ and Hong wanted to establish a Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace on earth.

Hong’s movement quickly developed and he soon had 10,000 followers.  From the beginning, the movement was quite militant with families and professions bonded together into militias or self-defence units.  This militancy grew throughout the 1840s with the aim of converting the Chinese empire to Christianity.

Task One

ATL: Thinking and communication skills

3. What were the core beliefs and aims of the Taiping?

Task One

ATL: Thinking and communication skills

4. What role did Christianity play in the Taiping Rebellion?

'Hong was one of many rebels existing in China at the time but it was the dynamic of Christianity that was ‘more of a challenge to the Qing because it was so foreign’

Historian Julia Lovell

Up until the 19^th century the influence of Christian missionaries in China had been limited.  There were some Catholic missions in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, and Protestant missions only from the beginning of the 19^th century.  These missions were ‘underground’ and it was not until the signing of the treaties at the end of the Opium Wars in the 1840s that missionaries were officially allowed into China and to practice their religion.

There was a long standing tradition in Chinese history of revolt led by a leader against the regime when it was deemed to have lost the mandate heaven; China in the 1840s was ripe with economic issues and social tensions. It had also endured the disastrous defeat to the British all of which were indications that the Manchu was losing favour and authority.  Therefore, followers of the Taiping could put their rebellion into its longer-term context of Chinese history. However, historian Frances Wood suggests that the key difference with the Taiping was the fact it had a Christian dynamic whereas in the past revolt had often been inspired by Buddhism.  Christians, unlike Buddhists, could not have another religion and the Christian God was above even the emperor.  Christianity was also seen as a foreign or ‘alien’ religion.

During the 1840s the Taiping religious movement became increasingly anti-regime and anti-Qing.  Indeed, by 1850 the Qing had been identified as the ‘demons’ that had to be destroyed in order to be able to create the Heavenly Kingdom in China.  Historian Rana Mitter argues that Christianity was significant in the nature and extent of the Taiping Rebellion for two key reasons: firstly that its followers, like Christianity itself, were ‘outsiders’  - either ethnically or economically [e.g. unemployed].  In addition, Hong’s brand of Christianity was appealing as it took aim at the traditional Confucian based nature of society and explicitly equated Confucius and the Manchu with devils.  Mitther argues that ‘by creating something to hate… [Hong used] this outsider feeling as a religious-ideological weapon’.

Task One

ATL: Thinking skills

5. How did the defeat of China in the Opium War foster rebellion?

Task One

ATL: Self-management and thinking skills

6. What were the socio-economic causes of the Taiping Rebellion?

We must not forget [the Taiping Rebellion was] a great peasant uprising.

Historian Michael Wood

The Qing had been a successful dynasty but by the mid-19^th century there were a variety of different factors that were putting pressure on the regime.  It was not only associated socio-economic implications of the British importing opium and the ramifications of the unequal treaties; the imperial state was not bringing in sufficient taxes to maintain its armed forces, nor enough money to sustain the huge bureaucracy and other structural institutions.

Historian Frances Wood highlights how the West aggravated the socio-economic issues in China at the time by creating more unemployment,  ‘disrupting shipping, bringing in steamers leaving a lot of unemployed boatmen who would go to join the Taiping army’. 

In addition, the socio-economic situation had changed in China as the population had doubled from around 100 million in the 18^th century to over 300 million people in the 19^th century.  This put a significant burden on land, food supplies and infrastructure.  The tax system, bureaucracy, roads and sewerage systems simply did not keep up.

This population increase meant that there were a lot of hungry, discontented men with few economic prospects.  There was an added social issue; many of these men were unlikely to find a wife, in part due to the practice of female infanticide but also because wealthier men would take more than one wife.  This socio-economic issue was significant as it was a ‘disgrace’ in Confucian society not to be married and not to have children.  

In the 1840s, population growth, the system of land ownership and environmental  factors led to an agrarian crisis in China. Around 80% of arable land was owned by 30% of the population.  The issues caused by unequal land ownership and population growth was exacerbated by but the corrupt administration, the feudal conditions in farming, and severe natural disasters; there were earthquakes in Hunan in 1834, droughts and plagues across several provinces and a severe famine in Szechuan between 1839-41.

Hong’s movement therefore greatly appealed to the peasantry as it promised the redistribution of land, that production would be regulated and food would be distributed by need.

Task One

ATL – Thinking, self-management and communication skills

7. Why were there so many rebellions in mid-nineteenth century China?

As well as the Taiping rebellion, 1850 – 1964, there were other rebellions against the Qing from the 1850s.  One of these was the  Miao or Qian Rebellion of 1854 – 1873.  This was an uprising of ethnic Miao and other groups in Guizhou province.  The uprising was caused by long term ethnic tension between the Miao and the Han Chinese, rife corruption in local government, abject poverty and competition for increasingly scarce land.  However, a trigger had been the Taiping Rebellion which had subsequently led the Qing government to increase taxation to pay anti-Taiping forces and to withdraw its troops from the area. 

Task One

ATL – Research skills

Task Two

ATL: Thinking and self-management skills

8. When and how did the Taiping Rebellion begin?

‘By 1850 – [the Taiping] really was the church of the militant.’

Rana Mitter.

Key dates:

1849-50          Widespread famine

1851 Jan          Formal declaration of revolution

1853                Nanjing captured and becomes Heavenly capital

1856                Internal division within Taiping leadership

1860+              Foreign assistance for Qing to fight the Taiping

1864                Hong dies.  Rebellion is crushed

By 1850 the Taiping leadership was organising for war.  As with its ideology, the Taiping drew on - and then adapted - traditional ideas about the organization of its forces.  In isolated Hakka communities people were bound together by the Taiping ideology and leadership and took up arms.  These units were trained, drilled and led by a number of Hong’s associate leaders. 

Hong declared the beginning of the rebellion after a campaign against the ‘God Worshippers’ had been launched to crush the Taiping in Guangxi.   After a battle in December, 1950, a Taiping army of 10,000 troops defeated the Qing forces in Guangxi.  Then, on January 11, 1851 Hong declared himself the Heavenly King of the Heavenly Kingdom of Peace.  The Taiping army, with Qing forces closing in on them, marched north, besieged Changsha and occupied Yuezhou.  The Taiping army then continued to expand its control until on 19^th March, 1853 they achieved their greatest conquest – the city of Nanjing.  The Taipings now held the ancient Chinese capital and could establish the Heavenly Kingdom. 

It should be noted that all Manchu were considered ‘devils and demons’ and those living in the city were brutally killed.

From Nanjing, the Taiping then launched northern and western expeditions to gain more territory and resources, and to relieve pressure on their capital.   Nanjing was key to their initial success as it had key strategic value.  It was where the route for tribute grain to Beijing began its travel up the Grand Canal.  Historian Julia Lovell claims that to ‘hold Nanjing was to hold the Qing empire by the throat.’

As the Taiping rebellion was a civil war, every town conquered meant that they acquired silver and other material goods, as well as more followers.  By 1853 there were over 1 million people under Taiping control.

Task One

ATL: Thinking skills

9. What was the nature of the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Heavenly_Kingdom#/media/File:Taiping2.PNG

Hong’s cousin became the equivalent to a prime minister of the new Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace. He put forward ideas that were supposed to strengthen the movement.

A new type of government was set up based on idea of Christian doctrine, but the Taiping also established a banking system, post offices and had a drive to build railways which were important for both communication and defence of the Kingdom.  A newspaper was also founded.   The Taiping wanted to present an orderly and effective state that should be recognised internationally. A Taiping currency was issued and there was some trade with foreign countries.

The population of Nanjing was around 240,000 at this time.  Slavery was made illegal and so too was the practice of footbinding.  Woman were given significantly more rights than in Qing China including forming their own military units and being able to take the civil service examinations.

Task One

ATL: Thinking skills

Historians have noted the ‘double standards’ of Hong's regime which imposed intensely puritanical conditions on its subjects.  Indeed, in addition to the abolition of all private property - which was collectivised, there were very harsh laws against drinking, smoking tobacco or opium and dancing.  All sexual behaviour was strictly regulated.  The city was divided into men’s and women’s quarters and there was a prohibition on sexual relations until ‘the demons in Beijing had been defeated.’  This segregation of the sexes continued until 1855, after which the policy was changed as it was deemed bad for morale.  There was a ban on hoarding goods and food – the punishment was beheading.

Historian Julia Lovell highlights that it was very much the case of ‘one rule for the ruled and another for the rulers.’  Hong had been carried into Nanjing, in 1853,  on a great yellow silk sedan chair with 16 bearers flanked by women twirling yellow silk parasols. Hong then surrounded himself with an enormous hareem, which Lovell suggests was an outrageous ‘double sexual standard’. Hong permitted no males in the palace at all.

Significantly, once in his palace in the Heavenly Kingdom, Hong retreated behind the its walls in Nanjing.   Large numbers of foreigners were flocking to Nanjing wanting to understand the Taiping,  but no one was permitted to meet with Hong.  All foreigners, including the British and the French, were seen by Hong’s cousin.

Initially, many Christian missionaries were enthusiastic about the establishment of the kingdom and the merchant classes in Shanghai were also tentatively positive about the Taiping.  Indeed, for the western powers Christianity was ‘essential to the western outlook’ and Hong was a Christian after all.  The British Times newspaper even suggested that the Qing regime was over and that this new alternative administration would be succeed it.  But this enthusiasm soon diminished as it became clear that Hong was pursuing his own specific form of Christianity.   Historian Frances Wood cites an example of how this disenchantment manifested in the exchange of letters between Hong and a reverend in the London missionary society.   The reverend  wrote to Hong suggesting that God had only had one son, to which Hong - using the imperial ‘red brush’ - replies by crossing out the comment and adding ‘not only son – I’m the other one’.  In another letter, where the reverend had suggested that he had to think about religion in a slightly figurative sense, Hong again crossed it out and wrote ‘no, real’. Rana Mitter argues that the missionaries that visited Nanjing were quickly disillusioned with the Taiping vision of Christianity

Task Two

ATL: Self-management, thinking and communication skills

In 1851, Hong had rewarded his subordinates with the title of King.  Initially there were five 'Kings':

Wei Changhui became the North King, Xiao Chaoqui, Hong’s brother-in-law who claimed to be possessed by Jesus was the West King, the East King was Yang Xiuqing who was the Taiping spy master, key general and claimed to be possessed by God, South King, Feng Yunshan a close friend of Hong and a strategist and Wing King – Shi Dakai who was a capable general and military leader.

Hong became increasingly unpredictable as a ruler, which might be expected as he announced policy decisions by falling into a trance and having God speak through him. He had had to appoint new leaders, and as he retreated he took less and less advice from his advisers.

Task Three

ATL: Thinking skills

10. Why did the Taiping rebellion fail to overthrow the Qing dynasty?

Costumes of Taiping officers and soldiers, Illustrated London News  1864

The Taiping forces  advanced without much trouble towards Shanghai.   The Qing tried and failed to stop their advance time and time again.  However, the imperial forces' failures forced the ruling Manchu to realise that something had be done to improve its military - and fast.

The Empress Dowager Cixi appointed Zeng Guofen as supreme military commander.  He was appointed on merit, and unlike previous supreme commanders was Han Chinese and not Manchu.  Zeng Guofen had passed the highest levels of the civil service examinations and was a reformer.  He understood the limitations of the banner armies and promoted more personal relationships between officers and soldiers, discipline and sound training.

To suppress the Taiping new types of provincial armies emerged in the 1850s and 1860s.  These provincial armies were organised by ruthless and disciplined local commanders. Units were also intensely loyal to local commanders.  Thus, the military forces that developed during the rebellion were no longer led by a hereditary Manchu elite.

In addition, historian Julia Lovell argues that western support in terms of advice on how restructure its forces and supply of modern weapons had an important effect; Lovell claims that this ‘turned the tide of Qing defeats at the hands of the Taiping’

Task One
ATL: Research Skills

Quick inquiry task:  Divide class into small groups.  Assign groups as Group A or Group B. 

Group As will explore the role of key Chinese pro-Qing leaders, such as Zeng Guofen, Li Hongzhang & Zuo Zongtang.

Group Bs will research the role of western forces in the defeat of the Taiping, such as US Frederick Townsend Ward or British Major Charles George Gordon [who became known as ‘Chinese Gordon’ in Britain].  Townsend was replaced by Gordon in command of the ‘Ever Victorious Army’ which was a force of Chinese troops led by European officers. 

Group A and Group B should then bring their research together in the form of a poster such as the one below:

In addition, it could  be argued that the Taiping made a crucial strategic miscalculation by deciding to advance on Shanghai.  Shanghai was a target as it was the centre of western trade, it was the fastest growing of the new treaty ports, and was a centre for western technology.  But, it was when the Taiping threatened their interests there that the westerners decided to shift from the position of neutrality and repulse the Taiping attack.  Having successfully repulsed the Taiping, the European and US commanders began to train Chinese soldiers and to give the Qing access to western artillery and rifles.  It was these new weapons that rendered the walled Taiping cities vulnerable and indefensible. 

Nevertheless, it should be noted that it took another four years to finally crush the Taiping rebellion.  The last stand came in 1864.  Qing imperial forces defeated the Taiping at Nanjing in what was the ‘bloodiest battle in recorded history’ at the time.  Historian Rana Mitter suggests that the casualties in just three days of the last battle of Nanjing numbered 100,000.

The Taiping leadership had all but collapsed by this point.  The city had been besieged and Hong had died.  The Heavenly King died a relatively quiet death, assumed to be from food poisoning although some accounts suggested that he committed suicide.  As Nanjing had run out of food, Hong had ordered people to gather herbs and weeds to survive and it was likely that some of these were poisonous.  Although Hong’s son, Tianwang only a boy of 15, was put on the throne – it was of no significance as the last days of the Heavenly Kingdom had come.  The Qing, with western advisers [not leaders], had reformed the army of the province into a capable fighting force.  Most of the Taiping rebels fought to the death.  There were also mass suicides

Task One

ATL – Thinking and Research skills

11. What were the consequences of the Taiping Rebellion for Chinese society?

The physical impact of the Taiping rebellion was catastrophic.  Not only had 20 million people been killed but there had been widespread destruction of property. 600 cities had been destroyed and, of China’s 18 provinces, 16 had been affected.

It had given the Qing the impetus to modernise the armed forces, and to do this the regime had to engage with western technology.  The westernisation and modernisation of the military became a key part, according to Julia Lovell, of the fight to take control of China in the 20^th Century. 

Politically, it also shaped the attitude of reformist local leaders who wanted to learn from the west.  There was a decentralization of power and provincial leaders had more control and influence.  This decentralisation of power meant that after the fall of the Qing in the 1911 revolution, China quickly fractured into kingdoms, ruled by local warlords who could be seen as the direct political descendants of the powerful regional commanders who emerged in the 1850s to fight the Taiping.

Rana Mitter suggests that it is because of this descent into a militarist period after 1911 that the PRC today is so concerned about the idea of the country being torn apart from within because: ‘the cultural memory of the post-Taiping settlement - in which the country was in danger of splitting up - is very fresh and affects policy in the here and now’.

Task One

ATL: Thinking skills

Task Two

ATL: Thinking and communication skills