Taiping Rebellion

The Taiping Rebellion was a 14-year civil war in late imperial China, pitting the ruling Qing dynasty against the rebel Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It began in 1850 and ended in 1864 when the Taiping-held city of Nanjing—which they called Tianjing, or "heavenly capital"—fell. The last remaining rebel forces were finally crushed in August 1871. The death toll is estimated between 20 and 30 million people, about 5 to 10 percent of China's population at the time, though some estimates go as high as 73 to 100 million, which would be roughly a quarter of the population. This makes it possibly the deadliest civil war in history. The Qing won, but the victory severely damaged the state's economy and political stability.

The rebellion was led by Hong Xiuquan, an ethnic Hakka who, after having visions, declared himself the younger brother of Jesus Christ. He aimed to convert the Han people to his own blend of Christianity, overthrow the Qing dynasty, and completely remake society. Unlike typical rebellions that sought to replace the ruling class, the Taiping wanted to overturn the entire social order. At its height, their Heavenly Kingdom in Nanjing controlled large parts of southern China and ruled nearly 30 million people.

For over a decade, Taiping armies fought across much of the middle and lower Yangtze River valley, turning the region into a battlefield. It was the largest war in China since the Ming-Qing transition and one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 19th century, comparable to World War I in terms of deaths. About 30 million people fled the war zones to foreign settlements or other parts of China. Both sides committed extreme brutality: Taiping soldiers massacred Manchus, the ethnic minority of the ruling imperial family, while Qing forces also carried out massacres, most notably against civilians in Nanjing.

The rebellion weakened after internal strife, including a failed campaign against Beijing from 1853 to 1855 and an attempted coup in September and October 1856. The Taiping were eventually defeated by decentralized provincial armies, like the Xiang Army led by Zeng Guofan. After capturing the strategic city of Anqing, Zeng's forces besieged Nanjing starting in May 1862. On June 1, 1864, Hong Xiuquan died during the siege, likely from eating weeds from the palace grounds or from poison. Nanjing fell just over a month later.

This 14-year war, along with the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion, weakened the Qing dynasty's control over central China. It prompted the government's "Self-Strengthening Movement," which initially succeeded, but ongoing social and religious unrest worsened ethnic tensions and boosted the power of provincial leaders. This loss of central control eventually led to the Warlord Era, which began in earnest after the Republic of China was established in 1912.

Different names for the conflict reflect different viewpoints. The Qing government never called it a civil war or movement, as that would have legitimized the Taiping. Instead, they referred to it as a period of chaos, rebellion, or military ascendancy, often calling it the Hong-Yang Rebellion after the two main leaders, or dismissively the Red Sheep Rebellion due to a pun in Chinese. In modern China, it is often called the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, because the Taiping promoted ideas seen as nationalist or protocommunist. Some scholars call it the "Taiping Revolutionary Movement" for its goal of completely transforming society and politics. Many Western historians use "Taiping Rebellion," but some argue this term is biased because it implies the Qing were the legitimate government fighting illegitimate rebels; they prefer "civil war." Others call it the "Taiping Revolution" due to the rebels' radical aims. Little is known about what the Taiping themselves called the war, but they often referred to the Qing and Manchus as demons or monsters, framing their fight as a holy war. The Qing called the Taiping "Yue Bandits" in official records, referencing their origins in Guangdong. Colloquially, the Chinese called them "Long-Hairs" because they did not shave their foreheads and braid their hair like the Qing required.