*Taiping, 1850-64
*Nian, 1851-68
Yunnan Muslim Rebellion, 1855-73
NW Muslim Rebellion, 1862-78
30% increase 1600-1785
3.5 mu/person 1766
3.3 mu/person 1790
Granary system not kept up
Officialdom and army static in size
Manchu banner soldiers go soft?
Increased landlessness, vagrancy, and banditry
Increased disillusionment among educated elite
Opium imported
1842: 33,000 chests
Silver exports
1821-30: 85,000 kg
1831-40: 372,000 kg
1841-50: 2,900,000 kg
Natural Disasters
Drought in Henan in 1847
Yangtze flood in Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang in 1849
Famine in Guangxi in 1849-50
Yellow River shift in course in 1853-55
Ethnic/Religious tensions
Hong Xiuquan (1814-64)
*Hakka "Guest People"
4 Exam failures, 1830-43
Road to rebellion
Meets missionary, 1836
3rd Exam failure, 1837
Delirium, 1837
4th Exam failure, 1843
Spiritual awakening
“God’s Second Son”
Spiritual leader, 1844
Fired from job as teacher
Ideas
Against
Opium-smoking, Gambling, Drinking, Footbinding, Manchus, Concubinage, “False” Idols
For
Heterodox Christianity
Egalitarianism
Retreat to Guangxi, 1847
10-20,000 followers, 1850
Hakkas
*“Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace (Taiping)” 太平天國 1851
“Heavenly King”
5 subordinate kings
Military expansion, 1851-53
37,000 followers in 1852
Yuezhou, Dec. 1852
Hankou, Dec. 1852
Nanjing occupied, 1853-64
Taiping Rebellion Attacks on Shaoxing, 1861
Zhang Daye, The World of a Tiny Insect, pp. 79-107
Taiping rebel supporters
Zhuji Prefecture
Hills and mountains
Minor local elites
Defensive militias
Shaoxing & Ningbo
Plains and waterways
Eminent local elites
Wealthy merchants
Environmental problems
Yellow River shift, 1853-55
Impoverished communities
Fortifications
Raids
Survival strategies
Predatory
Protective
Zhang Daye, The World of a Tiny Insect, pp. 109-20
Nian Sack of Yuanjiang, 1860
Shaanxi tensions, 1862
Taiping and Nian incursions
Hui-Han feuding
Ethnic cleansing of Hui
10% of pop. 1862
1% of pop. 1878
Spread of violence to Gansu
Hui refugees