The Yellow Turban Rebellion played a major role in the collapse of the Han Empire. During this time (184-c. 204 CE), the people of China were suffering from poverty and famine caused by natural disasters, such as floods and drought in the Yellow River.[totallyhistory.com] The suffering of the civilians promoted the idea that the emperors had once again lost the Mandate of Heaven. [fsmitha.com]Workers from the north traveled to the south to seek better lives. The rich and prosperous people of the south took advantage of the poor and unemployed farmers and military soldiers. The workers became poorer and poorer, while the landowners became very rich. All the while, taxes were being increased on the peasants, making it even harder for them to…show more content… During their revolts, they wore yellow scarves (turbans) to distinguish themselves from the Han government troops and to represent the earth, their symbol. [earlyworldhistory.blogspot.com] Thus, influencing the name Yellow Turban Rebellion.[totallyhistory.com/yellow-turban-rebellion] The rebellions were led by a man named Zhang Jue and his brothers Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, who claimed they could bring about a new age of Great Peace (tai ping). [Wikipedia.com] The brothers appointed themselves with titles; Zhang Jue became ‘Great Virtuous Teacher’, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang became ‘Great Healer’. [threekingdoms.wikia.com] The brother’s main goals were to spread Taoism throughout the empire to contradict the Confucian religion, equal land distribution, and equal rights. Through time people started to believe the Zhang brothers possessed divine powers. About 360,000 peasants were a part of the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Most of them were untrained and weakened by their lack of organization and ineffectiveness. Another disadvantage of the Yellow Turbans was their lack of weapons because of their belief to not use weapons.