Events
Taiping Rebellion
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
A civil war fought in Qing dynasty China from 1850 to 1864, led by Hong Xiuquan, a failed civil service examination candidate who came to believe, after a series of visions, that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ sent to found a Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace on earth. His movement grew into an army that captured Nanjing in 1853 and held much of southern China for over a decade before Qing forces, backed by regional armies raised by Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang and by the foreign-officered Ever Victorious Army, retook the city in July 1864, days after Hong Xiuquan died in the siege. It is among the deadliest conflicts in recorded history and permanently reshaped Qing finances and regional military power.
Facts
Disputed
Death Toll, Low EstimateThe conservative demographic range most general histories use, drawn from population data recorded before and after the fourteen year war; historian Stephen Platt reports this range, 20 to 30 million dead, as the figure most consistently cited, attributing the bulk of the toll to famine, disease and displacement rather than to combat deaths alone. This entry records 20 million as its lower bound. Death Toll, High EstimateDemographic historian Cao Shuji's 2001 reconstruction of Qing-era population records put the total toll as high as 70 million; Stephen Platt reports this figure alongside the standard 20 to 30 million range while noting how uncertain any single total is once Qing record-keeping collapsed across the war zones. Both bounds draw criticism, the low end for undercounting indirect famine and disease deaths in areas that stopped keeping records, the high end for extrapolating too far from incomplete regional data; this entry records 70 million as the documented upper bound rather than a preferred figure. YearConventionally dated from Hong Xiuquan's 1850 uprising in Guangxi to the July 1864 fall of Nanjing. LocationQing dynasty China, chiefly the south and the Yangtze valley 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
The rebellion was fought against the Qing dynasty, whose survival it directly threatened for over a decade.
In Era
Participant
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War
Stephen R. Platt, Alfred A. Knopf, 2012
Wikipedia: Hong Xiuquan
WikipediaParticipant: Hong Xiuquan, Lead section, Taiping Heavenly KingdomQuote, Participant: Hong Xiuquan, Lead section, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
He established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom over large portions of southern China, with himself as its "Heavenly King".
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.