What is Taiping Kingdom?

• Taiping Kingdom (1851-1864) was a brief Chinese kingdom resulting from peasant uprising to rebel against the last Chinese dynasty, the Qing dynasty
• The name, Taiping Kingdom, is a direct vocal translation from the Chinese name, literary meaning kingdom of heavenly peace

What is the rebellion about?

• The peasants in the south, being the most heavily taxed, oppressed and suffering under hardships in poverty rebelled
• The leaders use the powers of religion and public restlessness to rise up against the Qing rulers
• The rebellion aims to build up a kingdom of peace, harmony and without oppression for men & women alike
• The rebellion was brought down after much effort from the combined Qing-foreign powers, resulting in the deaths of millions
• Result: destabilisation of the Qing dynasty & illustration of the will of the poor and oppressed

What leads to the rebellion?

• Internal:
• The leaders and the followers are the oppressed peasants of the dilapidated China of the 19^th century
• The Qing rulers are Manchurians and ruthlessly, consistently oppress the Hans, the original inhabitants of China especially in the South
• The oppression occurs in the forms of crippling taxation, caste system, deprivation of freedom, imposition of severe penalties and injustice, yet the Qing rule is rifted with corruption and weak will – the Manchus are not enthusiastic towards strengthening China
• The peasants have nothing to lose (they will die, but at least they get to choose) & anything to gain
• Natural disasters like drought, famines and floods, together with population explosion (increased fourfold over the previous century) brought extreme hardships to the people, especially the illiterate peasant class
• The societal order is deteriorating, weakening the communal spirit; many attribute this to the strict, rigid and rudimentary Confucian system of the age
• People are crippled by opium addiction & other vices
• External:
• Rampant profiteering by the foreign powers of US, UK, France, Spain, Russia, Holland and Japan
• Societal disorder, invasion of territory, subjugating of rights and further oppression by the foreign powers colluding with the corrupt Qing rulers
• Shrinkage of the previously large, strong & glorious Chinese empire that stretches to the Middle East & South-east Asia

Who are the leaders?

• Hong XiuQuan: the founder, preacher, strategist and Heavenly King of the ill-fated rebellion
• Yang XiuQing: the head of military, assassinated for overbearing attitudes
• Wei ChangHui: the leader providing funds into the Heavenly Treasury, killed for murdering fellowmen
• Shi DaKai: the strategist, providing funds and words of caution, but weakened the kingdom with his desertion
• The leaders and many of the initial followers are Hakkas because the uprising started in the south, the Hakka stronghold, in GuangXi
• As in any movement, the leaders are critical to success
• With Hong as the visionary, Yang & Wei as the militarists, Shi as the strategist & hungry, tough and loyal peasants as the soldiers, the Taiping rebellion was initially a formidable, cohesive force, abet lacking in organisation & luck
• Hong & Yang are able to muster public support

What happened in the initial stages?

• The rebellion started in GuangXi and expanded to the whole of South China
• The troops are highly-spirited with their chants of "killing the Qing devils" and "long live the Heavenly King"
• After much fighting, the "long hairs" finally settled at the ancient city of NanJing, renamed TianJing
• From then on, the top leaders stayed in TianJing to direct the rebellion movement – this proved to be the cause for the demise of the kingdom as well as its millions of followers

What happened after that?

• While the troops were still pushing the military confrontation towards East, North & West, the leaders at TianJing were busy caving up privileges, power, status & control amongst themselves, leading to internal disputes and then mutual murders
• The troops were scattered across large regions, testing the weakening control effectiveness of the leaders
• The Qing employed the services of Zen GuoFan & Zuo JiGao to lead the Hunan Qiang army as well as the allied foreign armies to combat the Taiping rebellion
• With deteriorating leadership, weakening morale, scattering of resources and inappropriate strategy, the Taiping rebellion was eventually subdued in the year 1864 shortly after the death of Hong from sickness
• This resulted in the deaths of millions & triggered another large-scale migration of Hakkas (Hakkas are known for their five historical large-scale migrations)

Mistakes made?

• The capture of NanJing is only half the success - instead of pushing the high-spirited troops towards BeiJing, the Qing capital while the "Qing demons" were still disorganized, the "Long Hairs" chose to defend its prize of NanJing
• The internal killings of Yang's & Wei's shook the kingdom's foundations
• The departure of Shi DaKai with nearly a million troops and countless logistics further weakened the kingdom
• Distrust of people of other clans & favoritism towards Hong's clansmen demoralized people & bred disssent
• Absurd conferment of status, power & luxury - there were at least 2700 "kings", the youngest being 2 years old
• Hong's strategy of diffusion of power & command through conferment & monitoring bred suspicion & dissent, contrary to the spirit of "heavenly peace"
• Conformity of people towards the system - reliance upon the leaders for decisions, but the leaders do make mistakes, however people continued to support for fear of systematic retribution

Lessons?

• Imagine the closest friends & comrades who together went through thick and thin plotting against, fighting & killing one another
• Imagine taking a rest & slowing down to savour the preliminary rewards when the finishing line is still a long way off & enemies are encroaching everywhere
• Imagine a praying mantis, preparing to spring on an insect, unaware of the crow watching from behind
• Imagine brawling without brains, warriors without logistics, conquering without governance, craftsmen without artists & technocrats