Red Turban Rebellion (1854–1856)
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The Red Turban Rebellion of 1854–1856 was a rebellion by members of the Tiandihui (Chinese:
The initial core of the rebels were Tiandihui secret societies that were involved in both revolutionary activity and organised crime, such as prostitution, piracy, and opium smuggling. Many lodges were formed originally for self-defence in feuds between locals and migrants from neighboring provinces.[1] They were organized into scattered local lodges, each under a lodge-master (
In Summer 1854, 50,000 outlaws, proclaiming a restoration of the Ming dynasty, captured Qingyuan. That roused the Tiandihui to revolt in the city of Conghua, forty miles northeast of the provincial capital. The Red Turbans were formed by religious members from Tiandihui, such as Qiu Ersao, who joined the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom with thousands more. In September, forces commanded by Taiping-affiliated Ling Shiba captured Luoding and made it their headquarters.[3] Ling Shiba was connected to the Taiping Rebels, as he was also a member of the Taiping God-Worshipping Society.[4]: 660 [5][6]
Viceroy of Guangdong Xu Guangjin (
To fund the further defence of the province against the Taiping rebellion, heavy taxes begun to be levied on the population. That resulted in the people becoming alienated, and flooding of the Pearl River added to their economic woes. The Taiping victory in the capture of Nanjing galvanised the Tiandihui to redouble its revolutionary efforts.[8] A group, allied with the Small Swords Society in neighboring Fujian Province, succeeded in seizing the city of Huizhou. The rebel leader He Liu proceeded to capture the city of Dongguan, which was followed by Chen Kai's capture of the major city of Foshan on 4 July 1854.[9]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/00SChina.png/220px-00SChina.png)
The Red Turbans did not succeed in taking the city of Guangzhou but fought through much of the country round it for more than a year.[10]: 473 Failure to co-ordinate had exhausted the supplies of the rebel alliance, which faltered during the attack on the provincial capital Guangzhou, where the gentry had succeeded in raising a force of militia to defend the city alongside the British Royal Navy, which intervened on the government side.[11]
By 1856, after failing to capture Guangzhou, Red Turban forces, hoping to regroup with the Taiping forces in Nanjing, retreated north, occupied parts of Guangxi province, proclaimed the Dacheng Kingdom, and managed to hold out for nine years. Others fought their way through government-held territory in Hunan province and finally to Jiangxi province, where they coalesced with the Taiping forces of Shi Dakai. Some of them were consolidated as the Flower Flag Force (
Dacheng phase
[edit]The rebellion was led by Chen Kai (
The Dacheng Kingdom army was joined by the forces of other Yue Chinese rebels such as Huang Dingfeng (
Other short-term rebel regimes were established alongside Dacheng, such as the Yanling Kingdom and the Shengping Heavenly Kingdom.[15]
In November 1856, Li Wenmao besieged and captured Liuzhou. In April 1857, Chen Kai captured Wuzhou. They advanced to Yongzhou (now Nanning) and captured the city. In September 1857, the Dacheng Kingdom managed to expand half of Guangxi, an area equal to northern Vietnam, and issued their own currency called Pingjing Shengbao (
In 1857, Li Wenmao attacked Guilin. However, the Qing army, commanded by Jiang Yili (蒋益澧) managed to recapture Wuzhou. During a battle in Huaiyuan, Li Wenmao was killed. Liuzhou then fell to the Qing. In 1859, Chen Kai led a large land and naval force in an attack on Wuzhou. The attack failed, and Chen Kai had to retreat with heavy losses.
In February 1861, the Qing army attacked Xiujing. The city fell after a six-month long siege. Chen Kai was killed in the battle. The rebellion then entered an insurgency phase of actively resisting the Qing army until the last rebel holdouts surrendered in May 1864.
Impact
[edit]The British involvement in the counter-insurgency involved selling British weaponry to government forces and allowing the Chinese shipping carrying them to avoid rebel attack by using the British flag. That would lead to the Second Opium War in which a pirate ship with a British flag was captured by Chinese government forces.[16]
References
[edit]- ^ Kim, Jaeyoon (2009). "The Heaven and Earth Society and Red Turban Rebellion in Late Qing China". Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. 3 (1): 4–5. ISSN 1934-7227.
- ^ Kim, Jaeyoon (2009). "The Heaven and Earth Society and Red Turban Rebellion in Late Qing China". Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. 3 (1): 7–9. ISSN 1934-7227.
- ^ a b Wakeman, Strangers at the Gate pp. 132-133
- ^ S. Y. Teng (December 1968). Strangers at the Gate: Social Disorder in South China, 1839-1861. by Frederick Wakeman (review) Political Science Quarterly 83 (4): 658–660. (subscription required)
- ^ Yeh Ming-Ch'en: Viceroy of Liang Kuang 1852-8 By J. Y. Wong, Senior Lecturer in History J Y Wong
- ^ Guangdong and Chinese Diaspora: The Changing Landscape of Qiaoxiang – Yow Cheun Hoe – Google Books
- ^ Hsu, Madeline Y. (2000). Dreaming of Gold, Dreaming of Home: Transnationalism and Migration Between the United States and South China, 1882–1943. Stanford University Press. p. 26. ISBN 9780804746878.
- ^ Kim, Jaeyoon (2009). "The Heaven and Earth Society and Red Turban Rebellion in Late Qing China". Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. 3 (1): 67. ISSN 1934-7227.
- ^ Wakeman, Frederic (1997). Strangers at the Gate: Social Disorder in South China, 1839-1861 (Reprint, revised ed.). University of California Press. pp. 137–139. ISBN 0520212398.
- ^ June Mei (October 1979). Socioeconomic Origins of Emigration: Guangdong to California, 1850–1882. Modern China 5 (4): 463–501. (subscription required)
- ^ Kim, Jaeyoon (2009). "The Heaven and Earth Society and Red Turban Rebellion in Late Qing China". Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. 3 (1): 10–11. ISSN 1934-7227.
- ^ Kim, Jaeyoon (2009). "The Heaven and Earth Society and Red Turban Rebellion in Late Qing China". Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. 3 (1): 22–23. ISSN 1934-7227.
- ^ Steven Platt (2012). Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom. Knopf
- ^ Lu, Zhouxiang (2018). Politics and Identity in Chinese Martial Arts. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9781351610032.
- ^ China Encyclopedia: History of Tiandihui Archives
中國 大 百科全書 :天地 會 之 史料 及其參考 書目 - ^ Kim, Jaeyoon (2009). "The Heaven and Earth Society and Red Turban Rebellion in Late Qing China". Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. 3 (1): 25–26. ISSN 1934-7227.