Rebels in Bringing About Social Reform in China?
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1850-1864 saw the worlds most deadly civil war in history: the Taiping Rebellion, in which at least 20 million died in the battle against the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty. Led by Hung Hsiu-chuan, the Taiping rebels aimed to overthrow their Manchu leaders who were becoming increasingly unpopular due to the growth of discontent in the Chinese population: they were branded by the Taipings as “demons fighting against the true God”. While the Taiping rebels ultimately failed, their attempts signalled a change in Chinese opinion and belief and were to influence later upheavals against the Chinese government.
Social discontent in China had stimulated from a number of factors, including economic problems. An increase in population resulted in many concerns, one being that there was a huge decrease in per capita cultivation. The sharing of land was not equal: 50% of land was owned by rich families and 60-90% of families had no land at all. The effects of the Opium War also impacted economic issues: as opium trafficking became unrestricted there was a 100% rise in exchanged rates, which consequently reduced a mans income virtually by half. With income lowering and unemployment rising, quality of life in China fell dramatically. Other issues included the degradation of the military and a number of natural disasters which exaggerated poverty and created resentment towards the government. Disasters such as the famine of Kwangsi in 1849 and severe drought in Horan in 1847 affected millions and a lack of government relief was taken as neglect. “In disgust and desperation, the suffering masses were easily swayed to join a rebellion or uprising.”
The goals of the Taiping rebels were to reform various aspects of society, with a focus put on the equality of all people. The dispute against both the Confucian ruling class and alien rule of the Manchus saw the Taipings fighting for the abolishment of private property and land: agricultural land would be owned by the people so that the people could produce just enough for themselves. The position of women was to be challenged, signalling a departure from women being subordinate to men in forbidding the sale of women in marriage or prostitution and making monogamy obligatory. Other reforms included temperance, calendar, literacy and modern infrastructural improvements. The Taiping rebels were heavily influenced by religion, Hung Hsiu-chuan himself believing that he was the brother of Jesus Christ. Taiping Christianity half-borrowed and half-recreated for Chinese purposes a full repertoire of prayers, hymns, and rituals, and preached the brotherhood and sisterhood of all mankind under the fatherhood of the one true and only God. In accepting the Ten Commandments