Taiping Rebellion: Dissension of Ideologies
The Taiping Rebellion, one of the largest revolts in Chinese history, took place from 1850 to 1864, taking the lives of approximately 20 million people. Led by Hong Xiuquan, peasants hoped to overthrow the oppressive Manchu ruled Qing Dynasty and establish a regime of their own called the Taiping Tianguo (Taiping Heavenly Kingdom). Set in a time when the Qing was already weakened from a series of devastating natural disasters, a declining economy, corrupt rulers, and the aftermath of the Opium War, they were almost powerless against the rebels. However, with the intervention of Western forces and a lack of strong leadership, the rebellion was eventually put to an end. I will focus on the role of religion and ideologies (primarily Christianity and Confucianism) in the rebellion, and after…show more content… Also, they place an emphasis on the types of people on either side. The Taipings, or rebels, consisted mainly of laborers, peasants, and low-income workers while the Manchus were high class, corrupted, and wealthy government officials who couldn’t sympathize with the problems of the lower class. However, not much is mentioned about the middle or upper classes. Regarding this lack of information, how did the bourgeoisie and aristocracy respond to the rebellion and how did it impact them, if at all? At that time, the majority of China followed Confucian teachings, so to answer this question, I will study the main principles of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and how their Christian values conflicted with the rest of Chinese society. Also, I will find more information on where most middle and upper-class citizens lived and compare it to the areas occupied by the Taipings by finding maps and government census data from the 1850s and 60s (if it is