Hong Xiuquan's Taiping Rebellion

More than twenty million people died in southern China during one of history's bloodiest rebellions known as the Taiping Rebellion. Begun in January 11, 1851, it lasted two decades until the Qing army massacred the Taiping forces. This Rebellion, originally sparked by a delusional man, ultimately proved detrimental to both the Taiping and Qing people because it decimated both political parties and did not alter the political or religious systems at the time.

A rebellion is always sparked by someone or something; in this case, the someone was Hong Xiuquan. After failing the Imperial Examins for a third time, he became extremely ill and was delirious for days.(Spence page 26) He claimed he had a vision connecting him, God, and Jesus. He believed there was evil in China and that it was his duty to purge that evil.(Spence page 26) In his mind, the Qing were the evil. Buttressed by his vision, he began traveling to preach his vision and to gather people in order to inculcate them into followers of the radical reformation of the existing politics and social norms of the time in China. Hong Xiuquan was furious at the leaders of China who allowed free flowing trade of opium and the deadly abuse of this drug, that infested China at the time. He

also did not agree with the Qing dynasty's foreign policy and religious beliefs. Hong Xiuquan recognized that western countries were attracted to China's wealth and natural resources. The Taipings did not agree with the government and wanted to reform it into a communist state. They also wanted to transform the religion into Christianity.
The Taipings wanted to overthrow China and instate a communist government, as well as mandatory Christian religion with many overly strict restrictions. To do this, the Taipings recruited many men to rule and lead. A crucial leader of the Taipings was Li Xiucheng. He was born in 1824 in Xinwang village, Guangxi Province, to a poor peasant family. Though barely literate and living in abject poverty, he mastered Chinese classical literature. He was attracted to the Taiping beliefs because he recognized the importance of equal l social classes.(Peng)
His high intellectual ability enabled him to rise to the rank of the general of the army.
China was a proud independent nation. For millions of years, China was ruled by dynasties. The Qing Dynasty in the late 1800’s was plagued by an exploding population, tripling to over 430 million. This led to political and social problems as well as challenges from Western powers. China was in ruins and the government was in shambles. Many independent parties formed in opposition to the government. The Taipings, one of these opposition parties, were upset with the way China was being dominated by external nations, and yet the Qing Dynasty was not reacting against those external countries. Xiuquan knew this was the perfect time to strike. During the winter of 1851, on January 11th, Xiuquan led his Taiping force in its first attack on the Qing Dynasty in the battle of Jintian.
Early in the war, the Taipings surprised the Qing with an organized and large army. The Taipings first took Yong'an and. The Taipings sacked Quanzhou and Wuchang. Due to the early, victories many Qing supporters switched their alliances towards the Taipings, immensely increasing the Taiping army’s size. Under General Yang Xiuqing, upwards of 500,000 soldiers took the capital city of Nanjing after a 14-day siege, whereupon this huge victory he renamed the capital Tianjing (Heavenly Capital) to show the country its new leadership. The Taipings tr to besiege Tianjin but with a great loss of life, the Taiping Northern Expedition was repulsed. In a last ditch effort the Taipings took Anqing and Anhui. Then Taiping Northern Expedition is decimated at Lianzhen but surprisingly in the Battle of Hukou, Shi Dakais Taiping army defeated Zeng Guofan's elite Qing marines. At the same time the Second Opium War, or Arrow War, was being fought between the Qing and allied Western forces led by Great Britain. The Qing forces were again humiliatingly defeated and forced to open further treaty ports and pay heavy indemnities further adding to Xiuquan hate for the western world. Yang Xiuqing had a resounding victory against the Qing army that was besieging Nanjing, during which upwards of 10,000 Qing troops are killed. The Quin were now angry and on the offensive against the Taipings
A major turning point in the Taiping Rebellion occurred when internal strife within the highest ranks of the army led to the Tianjing Incident in which several key Taiping leaders were killed.

Fearing a potential regicide, Hong Xiuquan's secretly ordered Wei Changhui and Qin Rigang to assassinated Yang Xiuqing. The assassination squad, however, took it upon themselves to go on a killing spree, allegedly to eliminate Yang's remnant followers. More than 27,000 were killed, including innocent civilians. To stop the carnage, Hong reacted by having both Wei and Qin executed as well. This thinning of the generals by Hong further hurt the army and, shook its confidence. Hong became isolated and only trusted his family

members.

In the final years of the Rebellion, the Taiping attempted to overtake the Qing’s new capital of Shanghai, but were repulsed. As representatives of the Qing Dynasty, the British and French ambassadors began meeting with the remaining Taiping leadership to advise to stay outside a 30 mile perimeter of Shanghai. Agreeing to these terms for a period of one year, Hong’s hatred for western countries continued to grow, and he turned his focus to other cities such as Ningbo and Hangzhou.
As the Rebellion neared its end, Li Xiucheng launched an attack on Shanghai in January, but after six months retreated Suzhou. Shortly there after Hong Xiuquan dies and his son Hong Tianguifu inherited the title of king. As the leadership of the Taiping shifted the Qing recaptured the capital city of Tianjing restoring its original name of Nanjing, and massacring most of the Taiping population. Li Xiucheng is captured and executed causing a huge loss for the Taiping army because he was a brilliant commander. Hong Tianguifu is also captured in Shicheng, on November 18 is executed at Nanchang. Lai Wenguang attempted to revive the Taiping movement with the help of the Nian rebels, but was captured and executed by Li Hongzhang a Qing general. On ___________ Qing forces completely massacred the last of Taiping Army under General Li Fuzhong, In the border region of Hunan, Guizhou, and Guangxi, marking the end of the Taiping Rebellion.
About 20 million lives were lost in the unrelenting warfare associated with the Taiping Rebellion. Economic devastation in the lower Yangzi River Valley was extensive. While Taiping the taiping push to instil Christianity failed to leave any lasting impact on Chinese society, the Qing dynasty initially began reinforcing the importance of the Confucian traditions in the wake of the upheaval. Meanwhile, In the Qing army reform-minded high officials, the Qing to take the first step toward modernization: the Self-Strengthening Movement (1861-1895), which placed an unequivocal emphasis on adopting Western military technology. This push was initiated by three major generals who rose to power in the campaign against the Taiping Rebellion: Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang (1823–1901) and Zuo Zongtang (1812–1885), during the rest of the nineteenth century, the British policy that had taken shape during the Taiping Rebellion— assisting and strengthening the Qing—continued to serve as Britain’s China policy, resulting in a different form of imperialism in China than in India and some other parts of Asia, where the British Empire ruled as a colonizing power in its own right. This gave Britain far to much power over the independent country of China.
The rebellion ultimately failed due to inconsistencies in the political and religious policies of movement, strategic and tactical military mistakes, and internal dissension among its leaders. The anti-Taiping forces led by Zeng Guofan demonstrated integrity and ability. Their commitment to Confucian ideology was more in tune with the ideology of the time and the country. The Rebellion devastated a huge area in southern China and caused millions of deaths. It also resulted in a shifting in the internal balance of power in China from the central government in Beijing (Peking), to Han Chinese loyalists who defeated the Rebellion by raising local forces. The defeat of the taipings caused even more unrest in the country and began China’s long spiral downward to communism

The Taipings were upset with the way China (the Qin Dynasty) was being dominated by external nations, and yet the the Qing Dynasty was not reacting the external control
a important and influential man gaining in popularity in the Taipings Yang X