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  • Essay / The Impact of the Taiping Rebellion in China

    Table of ContentsThe Taiping Rebellion in ChinaThe Beliefs of the TaipingEffects of the RebellionConclusionThe Taiping Rebellion in ChinaThe Taiping Revolution was a thorough political and spiritual disruption that was probably the event the most important in China during the 19th century. The Rebellion was a massive civil war in southern China from 1850 to 1864. It was a millennia-old movement against the ruling Manchu Qing dynasty. The rebellion ravaged 17 provinces and left around twenty million dead. It also irrevocably changed the Qing dynasty. This research paper analyzes in detail the causes of the rebellion, the events that took place during the rebellion, and the effects of the rebellion on China as a nation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get the original essay The Taiping Rebellion began under the influence of Hong Xiuquan who lived from 1814 to 1864. The leader of the revolution was greatly influenced by Christian teachings, and was said to have had many visions from God. Xiuquan believed he was the son of God and the younger brother of Jesus, sent to reform China. Hong's friend took advantage of his friend's ideas and organized a religious group that worshiped God in China. Hong decided to join the religious group among the poor peasants of Guangxi in 1847. Three years later, after joining the religious group, Hong led the rebellion which turned out to be a deadly conflict in history (Michael, 1966). The Taiping took their beliefs from many alternative sources. A number of these beliefs reflected ancient philosophical theory and a few came from ancient writings defining ideal systems that had never been practiced. The alternative concepts were of Western origin. Obviously, this mix of concepts was terribly powerful. Because they introduced previously mentioned concepts, the Taiping could promise their followers a completely new system. Their revolutionary program was terribly vast. He introduced the notions of common property, reform, equal position of girls, self-discipline with regard to drugs, tobacco and alcohol, calendar reform, literary reform and, in particular, a whole new political-military organization of society. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was established by Hong with its capital at Nanjing. The kingdom's army controlled most of southern China and was expected to rule over more than 30 million people. The rebellion was based on a program of social reforms among the people, equality in society, and the replacement of other religions such as Buddhism and Chinese folk religion with Christianity. Social changes were to allow for the sharing of property and equality for women who were at that time considered a minority group in society. Taiping BeliefsThose who participated in the Taiping Rebellion drew their beliefs from different sources. Their beliefs reflected ancient Confucianism and others also came from traditional writings describing activities and systems in Chinese history that had never been practiced. The rebellion also extracted certain beliefs from Western countries. The mixture of ideas from different origins caused the resistance to operate under very strong influence because it introduced ideas that had never been discussed before. Because of their new invention of ideas, the Taiping promised their followers a completely new system. They had an innovative and very extensive program. The programaddressed the reasons for the rebellion such as social reforms, notions of property sharing and equal position for women. The rebellion also had strategies to help combat the abuse of opium, tobacco, and alcohol that lagged behind China due to its health implications. Above all, calendar reform and literary reform as well as a new political-military organization in society were other strategies put in place by the rebellion. The reforms were based on the Christian origins of the group's members (Foster, 1951). China was so huge and the government had difficulty controlling its expanding domains. Given the increase in uprisings in the 19th century, they posed a challenge to the state, also weakened by demographic challenges and foreign encroachment. During the rebellion, politics, society's social interactions as well as economic life were all disrupted. Yang Xiuqing, who was Taiping's minister of state, attempted to seize much of Taiping's power, a situation which led to Yang and many of his supporters being killed. Hong ordered the murder of Changhui, the general who had killed Yang since he started being arrogant. The killing of the first general spread fear among other generals, including Shi Dakar, who even abandoned Hong out of fear for his life. Shi Dakar took many of Hong's supporters with him. An attempt by the Taiping to regain strength in 1860 by taking Shanghai was stopped by the Western-trained army which always proved victorious in all wars. The army was commanded by the American adventurer Fredrick Townsend Ward and later by the British officer Charles George. Hong began to suffer and refused all requests to escape. He decided to commit suicide in June 1864 before he could even install his 15-year-old son as Tianwang. Periodic resistance continued in other parts of China until 1868 (Ch'en, Michael, & Chang, 1966). The Taiping religious group paid little attention to New Testament ideas of compassion, forgiveness, and redemption. Taipang Christians instead emphasized the wrathful God of the Old Testament who demanded worship and obedience. Evil deeds such as prostitution, adultery and slavery were forbidden as in the Old Testament Bible. The rebellion had a well-organized army with strict rules governing the soldiers on duty. Rewards were given to soldiers loyal to the rebellion. At one point during the rebellion, around 100,000 Taipang followers preferred death to capture. Confucianism greatly influenced Taipang religion, although much of their borrowing from their traditional religions may have been unconscious. Propaganda and essay writing during the rebellion depended as much on Confucianism as on Christianity. The Chinese could therefore easily accept God as a father figure since ancestor worship had been a common practice among them for many years (Edkins, 2013). The Taiping style was to gather an army and incite the people to rebellion. They first succeeded in capturing Hupeh, after being held up in the city of Yungan by the emperor's militia. The Taiping Rebellion even attempted, during the same campaign, to seize Kwangsi and Hunan, but without success. Initial success was offset by several defeats at the hands of practical forces at sea, where the emperor was well equipped and provided with better material resources. Initially, the Taiping's goal was to take Nanking and extend their rule over all of China. The rebellion experienced many challenges such as the.