1851-64

Mintz “Asia’s Contributions to

World Cuisine”
• “Sugar and tea were among the first true
commodities and the first overseas food
products in history to become items of mass
consumption in Europe. Exploding British tea
consumption in the 19th century, and the
Chinese insistence on being paid for tea with
specie [silver coin], played a critical part in
the British decision forcibly to impose the sale
of opium upon China.” p. 6
Repercussions of tea trade:
• Global expansion of trade in 19th
century was motivated in part by
Western appetite for tea.
• What were the repercussions for the
Chinese?
Charismatic leader of
Taipings
 Hong Xiu Quan (1814-64)
• Failed in his examinations that would have
qualified him as a Confucian scholar.
• Then, turned to Bible study with a Protestant
missionary.
• Died in a plague that swept through China in
1837, and was resurrected seven days later.
• Declared himself to be the brother of Jesus.
• Established the “Heavenly Taiping Kingdom” in
1851.
 Taipings supported
• Christian beliefs, adapted to China.
• Land reform.
• Abolish private ownership of land.
• Liberation of women.
• Equality of the sexes.
• Simplification of script.
• Increase literacy rates.
 Taipings opposed
• The legitimacy of China’s rulers, the
Qing emperors (Manchu).
• Confucian ideology and orthodoxy.
• The current basis of Chinese society
and economy.
 Qing dynasty view of
Taipings
• The Chinese ruling class was on the
defensive against foreign imperial expansion
after the Opium War (1840-42), but the
Taiping Rebellion gave them much more
trouble.
• Foreign threat: “disease of the limbs”
• Taiping threat: “disease of the heart”
• The Taiping Rebellion was more of an
abortive revolution than a mere rebellion.
 Causes of the Taiping
Rebellion
• The Opium War (1840-42) signaled the
beginning of modern Chinese history, with the
Qing Dynasty on the defensive against
European imperialist expansion.
• Opium War ended with Treaty of Nanking
(1842), signed by Emperor Dao Guang.
• Treaty opened more Chinese ports to
international commerce, including tea exports
and opium imports.
 Causes, cont.
• The Opium War and intrusion of imperialism
strained the Qing state, damaged the dynasty’s
prestige, and deepened the economic crisis.
• The Taipings first arose in Guangdong and
Guangxi provinces (south China).
• Guangdong and Guangxi were hotbeds of
lawlessness and unrest in the decade leading
up to the uprising.
 Reasons for unrest in South
China:
• Far from capital of Beijing, created
administrative power vacuum.
• Increased population there.
• Normal trade was disrupted after
Opium War.
• Famine.
• Flood.
• Plague.
 More reasons for unrest:
• Anti-Manchu sentiment due to presence of
former Ming loyalists (Hakka).
• Corrupt officials, extorted bandits for bribes.
• Pirates came inland due to British naval
patrols of the coastal seas.
• Soldiers and mercenaries turned to banditry.
 Response to unrest:
• Regular Manchu armies were useless to
combat lawlessness.
• Therefore, local gentry raised local militias to
protect their property.
• This forced outlaw bands to go to districts
where banditry was easier.
• An increasing proportion of population was
armed, not with guns but swords and spears.
• Famine in Guangxi 1856-7 led to open
conflict.
 1856-7 famine: conflict in
Guangxi
• Peasants against landlords
• People against officials
• Lawful against lawless
• Clan against clan
• Village against village
• Ethnic group against ethnic group
• Local people (punti) against later settlers
from north (Hakka); both were Han
Chinese
 “Association of God-
Worshippers”
• In this period of unrest, peasants formed
secret societies to protect their interests.
• “Association of God-Worshippers” (Bai
Shangdi Hui) was created by Hong Xiu Quan
and Feng Yun Shan.
• God-worshippers and other secret societies
emphasized the brotherhood of the
oppressed.
 Hong Xiu Quan
• Charismatic leader, ruled by visions.
• “God-worshippers” turned to Christianity
because they had no investment in the existing
Confucian order.
• Taipings represent the second time Christianity
served in Asia to arm a revolutionary
movement.
• First time was when Amakusa Shiro (1621-
1638) led a Christian uprising against the
Tokugawa in Shimabara, Japan in 1636-8.
 Taiping uprising
• Around 1847-48, militia and God-Worshippers
clashed in battles for the first time.
• In 1850, 4 villages spontaneously rebelled
against the landowners and their victory
increased faith in the movement.
• The Taipings escaped Qing (Manchu) troops
by fleeing to the hills.
• Taipings took food and clothing from villagers
and burned their houses so they would join.
 Taiping capture Nanking
• The popularity and strength of the Taipings grew
rapidly with each victory in battle.
• By March, 1853, they had captured Nanjing.
• In Nanjing, they established an imperial capital,
named Tian Jing “Heavenly Capital.”
• Hong Xiu Quan changed his name to Tian Wang
“Heavenly King.”
• There were six other “kings” below Tian Wang in the
hierarchy.
 Dong Wang “Eastern King”
• Dong Wang ran the new capital very strictly, and this won
people’s respect.
• Men and women lived in separate quarters.
• Trades were segregated in different sections.
• Some God-Worshippers joined the army, others returned
home carrying only what they could hold.
• No looting or theft was allowed, and so the Heavenly
armies were welcome everywhere.
 Defeat of Taipings
• Taipings wasted time setting up a splendid court at
Nanjing (Tianjing), and kept their main armies nearby to
protect it.
• Smaller armies were sent north to attack Beijing in May,
1853, but were defeated.
• Qing rulers ordered Zeng Guofen to raise an army and
attack Nanjing: the Hunan army.
• Taipings defeated regular Qing armies that tried to cut
supply lines to Nanjing in 1856.
The Hunan Army
 Taiping internal struggles
• A power struggle ensued among the seven
heavenly kings in Nanjing (Tianjing) and
most of them were killed.
• This prevented the Taipings from attacking
and destroying the Hunan Army led by Zeng
Guofen.
• Tian Wang ceased to trust any of his
ministers and placed his trust only in his
sons and clan members.
 Foreign opposition to
Taipings
• Britain and France received commercial and
political concessions from Qing Dynasty in
1858 and 1860 that made them wish to
support a stable dynasty.
• Missionaries did not support the Taipings
because of its blasphemous aberrations from
orthodox Christian faith.
• Foreigners opposed Taiping’s threat to
western commercial interests in Shanghai,
including the trade in tea.
 Fall of Taipings
• Britain, France, and U.S. adopted stance of hostile
neutrality to Taipings—saw no economic
advantage in supporting them.
• Foreign armies intervened to prevent Taiping
access to ports in Shanghai and Ningpo, which
might have allowed the rebellion to succeed, but
would have disrupted tea trade.
• Tianjing fell on 19 June, 1864, ending the greatest
civil war in history: 10 million troops involved, 20
million people dead.
“Chinese Gordon” fought
Taiping
 Taiping history
• All history of the Taiping was ruthlessly
expunged prior to 1949.
• No records left by the illiterate people who
supported Taiping, no newspapers, journals,
police records, memoirs.
• Ex-Taipings feared execution even 80 years
later.
• Later, communists came to admire the
Taipings as “heroes of the peasant class
struggle.”
 Conclusions
• The forces that expanded trade in the 19th
century created tremendous upheaval in
China—globalization has its cost in social
unrest and civil war.
• Western intervention in China’s civil war
was motivated by ideological and
economic self-interest.
• The Qing Dynasty manipulated global
forces of western self-interest to defeat
the Taipings and postpone its own demise.