A Brief Modern Chinese History

2. The Qing Government in Despair

The Taiping Rebellion and Its Socio-Political Experiments

The Taiping rebellion occurred at a time when Qing was facing an upsurge of peasant rebellions. The leader of the Taiping Rebellion was Hong Xiuquan 洪秀全 (1814–1864). Born into an ordinary family in Hua County, Guangdong, he devoted himself to studying the Confucian classics in the hope that he would pass the Imperial Examination and become a candidate for office. However, he did not perform well on the Imperial Examination and this made Hong bitter and resentful. He tried again in 1843 but failed again. He began to read the Christian book Good Words Exhorting the World (劝世良言), which spoke of monotheism and suggested people not worship any supernatural beings other than God. Convinced by these teachings, Hong, who was disillusioned with Confucianism, had himself baptized and became a Christian.

Later Feng Yunshan went to Guangxi, where he preached Hong-style Christianity. Zijingshan (Mount Zijing), the center of the Taiping Rebellion, was the center of Feng’s missionary work. He stayed in his hometown and worked as a teacher while also working on several treatises, expanding his religious ideas. In the spring of 1847, Hong visited Guangzhou at Issachar J. Roberts’ invitation. Roberts was a Baptist missionary from the American South. Believing that Hong did not know much about the Bible, Roberts would not baptize him. Hong then decided to leave for Zijingshan, a mountainous region renowned for its ethnic diversity.

As a result of Feng’s hard work, many local residents joined Hong’s church. In collaboration with Feng, Hong set up the God-Worshipping Society (拜上帝会) and recruited more than 2,000 members. Several prominent figures joined the following, such as Yang Xiuqing 杨秀清 (1821–1856) and Xiao Chaogui 萧朝贵. Yang was a poor farmer and charcoal-burner who lost his father at an early age. Hardship made Yang tough, unyielding and quick-witted. Xiao, a decisive and strong-minded man, lived a life similar to Yang’s and the two were like brothers.

In one of his treatises, Perceiving the Good and the Bad of the World (原道觉世训), which combined Confucian Great Harmony with some Christian doctrines, Hong said that the Great Peace would be fulfilled worldwide very soon and the Heavenly Kingdom would be created on earth. Hong’s teachings offered hope and power to people who were suffering. It was in this treatise that Hong explained that Yanluo (demons) were the chief enemy of God. Hong strongly condemned all types of Yanluo and even led his followers to destroy the image of Confucius. Hong’s God-Worshipping Society won the support of many of the poor working class. A senior general from the Taiping Army later recalled that Hong’s followers were usually from destitute families.

The God-Worshipping Society was strongly disliked by landlords and the local gentry. In 1847, Feng was taken into custody by a militia organization led by the wealthy. It was decided that he should be sent back to his hometown even though he did not do anything illegal. As a result, the stability of the God-Worshipping Society was threatened. However, in April, 1848, Yang declared that the Heavenly Father, or God, had come down to earth and, by doing so, had consolidated the God-Worshipping Society in Zijingshan. Half a year later, Xiao, one of Yang’s closest friends joined the society.

The God-Worshipping Society’s leadership was thus comprised of Hong, Feng, Yang and Xiao; the four became sworn brothers. They revered Jesus as their eldest brother. Later, Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai (1831–1863) joined them. They expanded their leadership, yet Hong took the lead. In the spring of 1850, Hong assumed an imperial yellow robe, usually the exclusive privilege of the emperor, and declared the beginning of Taiping Rebellion. Hong’s followers hailed him as the Heavenly King of Great Peace.1 The armed uprising formally started on November 4, 1850 in Jintian.2 Yang led the rebellion as the top military leader. Yang and Xiao, who were leading army advisers, issued an official proclamation, declaring God’s omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence,3 and called for all righteous men to join the Taiping army. The rebellion was reported to the imperial court of Qing, which, in the winter, sent troops to put down the rebels. However, Qing was unaware of what a threat the rebellion would pose to the dynasty.

Thanks to Yang’s efforts, the number of Taiping soldiers grew to more than 20,000 by the end of 1850. Yang and Xiao saw themselves as leading a powerful and well-disciplined army and adopted their regulations from The Book of Rites of the Western Zhou (周 礼), one of the most important of the Confucian classics. The following January, the Taiping Army celebrated Hong’s thirty-eighth birthday in Jintian and then began to march eastward. Within half a year, the army grew from five brigades to ten. The rapid growth of the Taiping Army shocked the imperial court. Angry at the corruption and inefficiency of the Guangxi government, it had the political and military governors replaced with new ones. None other than the well-known Lin Zexu was sent to Guangxi to supervise the work of rehabilitating Qing’s armed forces. Unfortunately, Lin passed away en route. Another high-ranking governor was immediately sent to Guangxi. When he arrived, he soon realized that the Taiping rebels constituted a true threat to Qing. He, however, unexpectedly soon died of an illness. The government then asked an aristocrat to lead a united army to crack down on the Guangxi rebellion.

The Taiping Army proceeded to capture Yong’an, the first city that they had successfully captured. More than 37,000 Taiping soldiers marched into Yong’an, where Hong laid out a set of rules and regulations and awarded his generals prestigious titles. As the commander of the central army, Yas was named the East King. Xiao was given the title of the commander in chief of the Front Army Corps and declared the West King. Feng was made the commander of the rear guard and the South King. Wei was appointed the commander of the right army and the North King, while Shi was made the commander of the left army and the Wing King. Hong stipulated that the East King was superior to all other kings. The Qing army tried to take Yong’an; however, they failed to defeat the Taiping Army in large part due to a lack of coordination amongst the top generals. Then, in April, 1852, the Taiping Army successfully broke the Qing encirclement and annihilated more than 4,000 of the enemy. Four commanders of Qing’s army were killed in action.

The Taiping Army then marched on Guilin. When approaching the walls of Guilin, they had grown into a huge army of 50,000 soldiers. However, they failed to capture Guilin, despite capturing one of Qing’s top generals. The rebels then headed north and took Quanzhou, after which they charged toward southern Hunan. This resulted in Feng, the South King, dying in battle. In the following four months, many poor peasants and members of secret societies joined the Taiping Army bringing its numbers to 100,000. Xiao, the West King, was killed later that year in September, after attacking Changsha.

After the death of Xiao, Hong and Yang decided to lead all of their troops northward to Changsha. At the same time, Qing’s army, which numbered more than one hundred thousand soldiers, set its sights on Hunan. The Taiping Army could not take Changsha. Then, in late November, 1852, they discontinued their attack on Hunan deciding instead to push northward to Hubei. It is particularly noteworthy that Hong built the Taiping navy by recruiting thousands of sailors and boatmen.

After two months (December, 1852–January, 1853), the Taiping Army captured Hankou, Hanyang and Wuchang, all Wuhan towns. Wuchang was then the capital city of Hubei and one of the best-known cities in China. The conquest of Wuhan displayed the full power of the Taiping Army. The army then moved east toward the Yangtze River. At this point, the number of Taiping soldiers exceeded 500,000 and many Wuchang residents joined the Taiping Army.4 As they proceeded eastward, the Taiping Army divided into two groups. One group was headed by Hong, the Heavenly King, and advanced by sea. The other group was headed by generals such as Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang and they made their way forward by land. Some reported that the Taiping troops were the most gallant.5

In February, 1853 the Taiping army defeated Qing’s army in eastern Hubei and then went on to capture Jiujiang (in Jiangxi) and Anqing (in Anhui). One month later, the Taiping soldiers stormed their way into Nanjing, the most strategic and important city in southeast China. Soon Zhenjiang and Yangzhou, two famous cities of Jiangnan (south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River), were also taken by the Taiping Army. Hong entered Nanjing in a grand dragon boat and established it as the capital of his Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace. Ten days later, the Qing army set up its Southern Barracks on the eastern outskirts of Nanjing. Qing’s Northern Barracks were established outside of Yangzhou, a strategic city north of Nanjing. These two huge military camps posed a great threat to Nanjing and Zhenjiang in particular. For this reason, the Taiping Army was not able to extend to the more wealthy southern Jiangsu. Regardless, Yang, the East King, second only to the Heavenly King (i.e., Hong), decided to launch the northern and western expeditions.

The goal of the northern expedition was to capture Beijing and overthrow the Qing dynasty. The commanders of the northern expedition army were Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang and Ji Wenyuan, all the bravest and most brilliant generals of the Taiping Army. The Northern Expedition Army (NEA), which was comprised of more than 20,000 soldiers, was renowned for its combat effectiveness, unparalleled in all of the fifty Taiping brigades. The NEA’s vanguard landed at Pukou in May, 1853 and crushed Qing’s defending force. It then captured cities such as Chuzhou. The NEA’s rear guard suffered a setback. When informed about this, Yang, the East King, sent out an order that the NEA must achieve its strategic goals as soon as possible as they were unable to provide more support.6 Despite this news, the NEA still marched forward courageously and entered Henan, where it attacked the enemy without mercy. By late June, the NEA had swelled to a huge army of about 40,000 men and continued north across the Yellow River. However, a very dangerous situation lay ahead for the soldiers.

The NEA spent two months besieging Huaiqing (present-day Qinyang in Henan), but failed to capture the city. As more of Qing’s armies arrived, the NEA had to retreat to Shanxi. The failure of the Huaiqing campaign had a serious impact on the Taiping Army’s northern expedition and it suffered heavy losses. Worst of all, it wasted fifty-six days there. However, in late September it won a series of battles against the Qing army, encouraging the hope that it would be able to launch an attack on Beijing, Qing’s imperial capital, before winter. Yet the NEA was exhausted and couldn’t go further, needing to rest in Shenzhou, a prefecture south of Beijing.

It was rumored that the Taiping Army had captured Dingzhou, which was close to Beijing. This news appalled the imperial court. Emperor Xianfeng (r. 1850–1861) appointed a prince and Sengge Linqin, one of the most renowned Qing generals, to defend Beijing at all costs. Sengge led an army of four or five thousand men to Zhuozhou, a prefecture south of Beijing. At the same time, another high commander stationed his troops in Baoding, Beijing’s southern gate. Qing was determined to fight the Taiping Army to the death. However, the NEA did not head straight for Beijing but instead pushed eastward toward Tianjin. In late October, the NEA arrived in Yangliuqing, a town in Tianjin. By then, the NEA had nine brigades and 30,000 soldiers in total.

The NEA was stationed there for more than three months. It was in this period that the northern expedition began to face problems. The biggest threat at this time was not the opposing forces but the bitter cold of winter. Most of the NEA’s soldiers came from the south and did not know how to protect themselves from the cold. As a result, the NEA lost half of its elite soldiers due to bad weather. Quite a few Taiping soldiers froze to death. In February, 1854, the NEA began to retreat southward and the NEA’s commanders desperately hoped for reinforcements.

In December, 1853, Nanjing arranged relief troops. However, of the sixty thousand soldiers recruited, many were not well-disciplined, nor did they want to head north. By the following April, the reinforcements were utterly defeated. In June, 1854, Nanjing made a second vain attempt to save the NEA. Li Kaifang and Lin Fengxiang, the NEA’s two leading generals, were defeated and captured in the first half of 1855. They were later taken to Beijing and brutally executed. A leader in the Taiping Army reflected that the failure of the northern expedition had a bad effect on the entire rebellion.

The Taiping Army’s western expedition aimed to capture the entire middle region of the Yangtze River and turn the region into a base to provide protection and supplies to Nanjing. Unlike the NEA, which was particularly good at fighting on the ground, the Western Expedition Army (WEA) made the best of its navy. In June, 1853, the WEA left Nanjing with a fleet of more than 1,000 ships. It captured several cities in Anhui and Jiangxi and attacked the strategic city of Nanchang. While attacking Nanchang, the WEA tried its utmost to transport grain to Nanjing. Lai Hanying, the WEA’s commander, underestimated the enemy, and the WEA finally failed to take Nanchang and had to end its siege in September. Lai was dismissed and replaced with Shi Dakai, the Wing King. The WEA began its retreat in October and started to attack Hubei.

In November they concentrated on northern Anhui, attempting to capture Luzhou (present-day Hefei) in one go and in January of the following year, Shi achieved his goal. The Governor of Anhui had to drown himself in the river. The result was that the Taiping Army successfully controlled more than twenty prefectures and counties in Anhui.

In the meantime, the Taiping Army attacked Hubei with greater force. They took Wuchang, Jingzhou and Yichang. When they began to head south, the Taiping Army encountered the Hunan Army led by Zeng Guofan 曾国藩 (1811–1872), the most ferocious yet. In Hunan’s Xiangtan, the southern brigade of the Taiping Army was almost completely wiped out by the Hunan Army. It was here that the Hunan army successfully defeated the Taiping Army. The Taiping Army was forced to give up the strategically important Wuchang. Just a month later both sides engaged in fierce fighting. In the face of the unstoppable Hunan Army, the WEA was put to rout all along the line. The Hunan Army continued its pursuit of victory and began to close in on Jiujiang, a city of strategic importance. It was in Hunan and Hubei that Taiping suffered the most humiliating and most disastrous defeat since the 1851 Jintian Uprising. The Taiping navy was entirely annihilated by the Hunan Army and had to give up their control of the Yangtze River.

Shi Dakai was appointed to restore the western effort and was able to successfully defend Jiujiang, leading the Hunan Army to attack Hukou instead. Shi lured the Hunan Army into the Poyang Lake where it was forced to split in half. In the end, the WEA destroyed thirty-nine battleships of the Hunan navy and was even able to capture Zeng’s flag. Zeng himself fled in panic in a small boat. The WEA in Hukou and Jiujiang inflicted heavy causalities on the Hunan Army and launched a large-scale counteroffensive, recapturing Hankou, Hanyang and Wuchang. As a result, the Hunan Army’s entire offensive collapsed. At this time, Hu Linyi, a famous general of the Hunan Army, was appointed the Governor of Hubei. He did his best to turn the tables on the Taiping Army but the situation in Wuchang grew worse again. Shi sent in more reinforcements and in January, 1856, the insurgents of the Tiandihui of Guangdong joined the WEA, giving Shi’s army an enormous capacity. Shi and his troops swept through Jiangxi, bringing most parts of Jiangxi under their control. Zeng, who was defending the besieged Nanchang, was desperately in need of Qing’s relief troops. Shi, however, was hastily recalled by Nanjing to attack Qing’s Southern Barracks, giving Zeng and his troops some breathing space.

As mentioned above, Qing’s Southern and Northern Barracks posed a great threat to Nanjing, Yangzhou and Zhenjiang. Two years later, the imperial court ordered the Governor of Jiangsu, together with the Southern Barracks, to attack Zhenjiang. The defending forces in the first two months overwhelmed the Qing army and destroyed more than one hundred and twenty of Qing’s military camps. Then, in April, the Taiping Army retook Yangzhou. In May, they killed the Governor of Jiangsu and, in June, they forced the Qing army to retreat to Danyang. Soon, Shi and his troops joined the defending forces. Shi led the united army directly toward the Southern Barracks. He wiped out the Barracks and seized all its armaments and supplies. The head of Qing’s army fled and died in August. The threat from the Southern Barracks was thus neutralized.

The basic socio-political programs of the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace were religious, utopian and revolutionary. Hong aimed to create a universally harmonious and peaceful heaven on earth. In one of his treatises, he argued that the reason for social ills lay in selfishness and that men and women all over the world should live with one another as if they were the brothers and sisters of one family.7

After the Jintian Uprising, the leaders such as Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui told the public that their goal was to overthrow the Qing dynasty and liberate all oppressed people.8 They collaboratively started to rebuild after establishing the capital in Nanjing. They decreed that people should change their hair style and way of dressing as well as worship God. Men and women should live in separate camps, all private property should be abolished and replaced by the public treasury. They also strictly prohibited people from smoking opium, drinking alcohol and visiting prostitutes. While many social vices were eliminated as a result, urban life grew increasingly less vibrant. The Taiping administration in the rural areas did not recognize private ownership of land, yet they were not able to exert the strict control that they did in urban centers. The previous top-down taxation system was replaced with a bottom-up tribute. When going westward, the Taiping Army specifically told local residents that they would not cause any harm to their lives nor would they tax them. The peasants enthusiastically welcomed this news and some landlords and scholar-officials said that very many rural residents paid tribute to the Taiping Army.

Gradually a systematic program of social reform was created. In December, 1853 The Land Law of the Heavenly Dynasty (天朝田亩制度, hereinafter referred to as the Law) came into effect,9 the law that laid the blueprint for a completely new world, one giving full expression to the Chinese peasants, denying feudal rule and creating their dream of an ideal society.

Compared to other proposals and plans formulated by other peasant revolts in the past two thousand years, the Law was the most scientific and the most complete. According to the Law, the whole of society should be reorganized in accordance with the military system. The xiangguan (sub-county official) played the leading role in governance at the grass-roots level. The xiangguan would take care of civil affairs as well as local residents’ economico-cultural life. In most cases the xiangguan was from a poor family and was always considered totally trustworthy. The xiangguan system was very similar to that of a military organization. Taiping society was comprised of twenty-five families, all of whom shared one public treasury and one church. The head of this group was the xiangguan and additionally held the title of liangsima (literally, the dual administrator of horses). Under the instruction of the liangsima, the families of this group took part in various economic, political, cultural and educational activities. At least one member of each family joined the armed forces or the police. The men and women enlisted took up farming during peacetime and joined battle in times of war. There were more superior posts in addition to the xiangguan. The Law also included some rules regarding the judicial system.