Anti-Qing Sentiment

27.1.5: Anti-Qing Sentiment

In the mid-19th century, China’s Qing Dynasty suffered a series of natural disasters, economic problems, and defeats at the hands of the Western powers, which weakened the central imperial authority and led to a rapid development of anti-Qing movements.

Learning Objective

Paraphrase the reasons for rising Anti-Qing sentiment in China

Key Points

  • In the mid-19th century, China’s Qing Dynasty suffered a series of natural disasters, economic problems, and defeats at the hands of the Western powers. The terms of the treaties that ended the lost First Opium War undermined the traditional mechanisms of foreign relations and methods of controlled trade practiced by China for centuries. Shortly after the treaties were signed, internal rebellions began to threaten the Chinese state and its foreign trade.
  • The government, led by ethnic Manchus, was seen by many Han Chinese as ineffective and corrupt. Anti-Manchu sentiment was strongest in southern China among the Hakka community, a Han Chinese subgroup. The Qing dynasty was blamed for transforming China from the world’s premiere power to a poor, backwards country. In the broadest sense, an anti-Qing activist was anyone who engaged in anti-Manchu direct action.
  • While the Taiping Rebellion was not the first mass expression of the anti-Qing sentiment, it turned into a long civil war that cost millions of lives. It lasted from 1850 to 1864 and was fought between the Qing dynasty and the millenarian movement of the Heavenly Kingdom of Peace. It was the largest war in China since the Qing conquest in 1644 and ranks as one of the bloodiest wars in human history, the bloodiest civil war, and the largest conflict of the 19th century.
  • A string of civil disturbances followed, including the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars, Nian Rebellion, Dungan Revolt, and Panthay Rebellion. All rebellions were ultimately put down, but at enormous cost and with millions dead, seriously weakening the central imperial authority and introducing changes in the military that would further undermine the influence of the Qing dynasty.
  • In response to calamities within the empire and threats from imperialism, some reformist movements emerged, but were undermined by corrupt officials, cynicism, and quarrels within the imperial family. The anti-Qing sentiment only strengthened as the internal chaos and foreign influences grew.

Key Terms

Nian Rebellion
An armed uprising in northern China from 1851 to 1868, concurrent with the Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864) in South China. The rebellion failed to topple the Qing dynasty, but caused the immense economic devastation and loss of life that became one of the major long-term factors in the collapse of the Qing regime in the early 20th century.
Taiping Rebellion
A civil war in China (1850-1864) between the established Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the millenarian movement of the Heavenly Kingdom of Peace. It began in the southern province of Guangxi when local officials launched a campaign of persecution against a millenarian sect known as the God Worshipping Society led by Hong Xiuquan, who believed himself the younger brother of Jesus Christ. The war ranks as one of the bloodiest wars in human history, the bloodiest civil war, and the largest conflict of the 19th century.
First Opium War
An 1839–1842 war between the United Kingdom and the Qing dynasty over their conflicting viewpoints on diplomatic relations, trade, and the administration of justice for foreign nationals in China.
Panthay Rebellion
An 1856-1873 rebellion of the Muslim Hui people and other non-Muslim ethnic minorities against the Manchu rulers in southwestern Yunnan Province, China, as part of a wave of Hui-led multi-ethnic unrest. It started after massacres of Hui perpetrated by the Manchu authorities.
Dungan Revolt
A mainly ethnic and religious war fought in 19th-century western China, mostly during the reign of the Tongzhi Emperor (r. 1861–75) of the Qing dynasty. The term sometimes includes the Panthay Rebellion in Yunnan, which occurred during the same period. The 1862-1877 revolt arose over a pricing dispute involving bamboo poles, when a Han merchant selling to a Hui did not receive the amount demanded for the goods.
Punti-Hakka Clan Wars
The conflict between the Hakka and Punti (Cantonese people) in Guangdong, China, between 1855 and 1867. The wars were particularly fierce around the Pearl River Delta, especially in Taishan of the Sze Yup counties. They resulted in roughly a million dead with many more fleeing for their lives.
millenarianism
The belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a major impending societal transformation. It is a concept or theme that exists in many cultures and religions.

 

In the mid-19th century, China’s Qing Dynasty suffered a series of natural disasters, economic problems, and defeats at the hands of the Western powers. In particular, the humiliating defeat in 1842 by the British Empire in the First Opium War exposed the increasing weakness of the Imperial government and military. The terms of the treaties that ended the First Opium War undermined the traditional mechanisms of foreign relations and methods of controlled trade practiced by China for centuries. Shortly after the treaties were signed, internal rebellions began to threaten the Chinese state and its foreign trade.

The government, led by ethnic Manchus, was seen by many Han Chinese as ineffective and corrupt. Anti-Manchu sentiments were strongest in southern China among the Hakka community, a Han Chinese subgroup. The Qing dynasty was accused of destroying traditional Han culture by forcing Han to wear their hair in a queue in the Manchu style. It was blamed for suppressing Chinese science, causing China to be transformed from the world’s premiere power to a poor, backwards country. In the broadest sense, an anti-Qing activist was anyone who engaged in anti-Manchu direct action. This included people from many mainstream political movements and uprisings that developed throughout the second half of the 19th century.

 

Taiping Rebellion

While the Taiping Rebellion was not the first mass expression of the anti-Qing sentiment, it turned into a long-lasting civil war that cost millions of lives. In 1837, Hong Xiuquan, a Hakka from a poor mountain village, once again failed the imperial examination, which meant that he could not follow his dream of becoming a scholar-official in the civil service. He returned home, fell sick, and was bedridden for several days, during which he experienced mystical visions. In 1842, after more carefully reading a pamphlet he had received years before from a Protestant Christian missionary, Hong declared that he now understood that his vision meant that he was the younger brother of Jesus and that he had been sent to rid China of the “devils,” including the corrupt Qing government and Confucian teachings. It was his duty to spread his message and overthrow the Qing dynasty. In 1843, Hong and his followers founded the God Worshiping Society, a movement that combined elements of Christianity, Taoism, Confucianism, and indigenous millenarianism. Confucianism due to the efforts of the various Chinese dynastic imperial regimes. The movement at first grew by suppressing groups of bandits and pirates in southern China in the late 1840s. The later suppression by Qing authorities led it to evolve into guerrilla warfare and subsequently a widespread civil war.

Hostilities began on January 1, 1851 when the Qing Green Standard Army launched an attack against the God Worshiping Society at the town of Jintian, Guangxi. Hong declared himself the Heavenly King of the Heavenly Kingdom of Peace (or Taiping Heavenly Kingdom), from which the term Taipings has often been applied to them in the English language. For a decade, the Taiping occupied and fought across much of the mid and lower Yangzi valley, some of the wealthiest and most productive lands in the Qing empire. The Taiping nearly managed to capture the Qing capital of Beijing with a northern expedition launched in 1853. Qing imperial troops were ineffective in halting Taiping advances, focusing on a perpetually stalemated siege of Nanjing. In Hunan Province, a local irregular army, called the Xiang Army or Hunan Army, under the personal leadership of Zeng Guofan, became the main armed force fighting for the Qing against the Taiping. Zeng’s Xiang Army gradually turned back the Taiping advance in the western theater of the war.

In 1856, the Taiping were weakened after infighting following an attempted coup led by the East King, Yang Xiuqing. During this time, the Xiang Army managed to gradually retake much of Hubei and Jiangxi province. In 1860, the Taiping defeated the imperial forces that had been besieging Nanjing since 1853, eliminating imperial forces from the region and opening the way for a successful invasion of southern Jiangsu and Zhejiang province, the wealthiest region of the Qing Empire. While Taiping forces were preoccupied in Jiangsu, Zeng’s forces moved down the Yangzi River capturing Anqing in 1861. In 1862, the Xiang Army began directly sieging Nanjing and managed to hold firm despite numerous attempts by the Taiping Army to dislodge them with superior numbers. Hong died in 1864 and Nanjing fell shortly after that. The remains of the Taiping resistance were eventually defeated in 1866.

A drawing of Hong Xiuquan as the Heavenly King, ca. 1860

A drawing of Hong Xiuquan as the Heavenly King, ca. 1860

The Taiping Rebellion was a total war. Almost every citizen of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was given military training and conscripted into the army to fight against Qing imperial forces. During this conflict, both sides tried to deprive each other of the resources needed to continue the war and it became standard practice to destroy agricultural areas, butcher the population of cities, and exact a brutal price from captured enemy lands to drastically weaken the opposition’s war effort.

The Taiping Rebellion was the largest war in China since the Qing conquest in 1644 and ranks as one of the bloodiest wars in human history, the bloodiest civil war, and the largest conflict of the 19th century, with estimates of war dead ranging from 20 to 100 million and millions more displaced.

 

Continuous Crisis

A string of civil disturbances followed the outbreak of Taiping Rebellion, many of which lasted for years and resulted in massive casualties. For instance, the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars pitted the Hakka against Punti (Cantonese people) in Guangdong between 1855 and 1867. The wars resulted in roughly a million dead with many more fleeing for their lives. The Nian Rebellion was an armed uprising that took place in northern China from 1851 to 1868, contemporaneously with the Taiping Rebellion in southern China. The rebellion caused immense economic devastation and loss of life that eventually became one of the major long-term factors in the collapse of the Qing regime in the early 20th century. The Dungan Revolt (1862–1877) was a mainly ethnic and religious war fought in western China. The revolt arose over a pricing dispute involving bamboo poles, when a Han merchant selling to a Hui did not receive the amount demanded for the goods. Up to 12 million Chinese Muslims were killed during the revolt as a result of anti-Hui massacres by Qing troops sent to suppress their revolt.Most civilian deaths were caused by war-induced faneil. The Panthay Rebellion (1856-1873; discussed sometimes as part of the Dungan Revolt) was a rebellion of the Muslim Hui people and other non-Muslim ethnic minorities against the Manchu rulers in southwestern Yunnan Province as part of a wave of Hui-led multi-ethnic unrest. It started after massacres of Hui perpetrated by the Manchu authorities.

All rebellions were ultimately put down, but at enormous cost and with millions dead, seriously weakening the central imperial authority. The military banner system that the Manchus had relied upon for so long failed. Banner forces were unable to suppress the rebels and the government called upon local officials in the provinces, who raised “New Armies” that successfully crushed the challenges to Qing authority. As a result of that and with China failing to rebuild a strong central army, many local officials became warlords who used military power to effectively rule independently in their provinces.

General Zeng Guofan, author unknown, scan from Jonathan Spence, In Search for Modern China, 1990.

General Zeng Guofan, author unknown, scan from Jonathan Spence, In Search for Modern China, 1990.

Zeng Guofan’s strategy to fight anti-Qing rebels was to rely on local gentry to raise a new type of military organization. This new force became known as the Xiang Army, a hybrid of local militia and a standing army. The army’s professional training was paid for out of regional coffers and funds its commanders – mostly members of the Chinese gentry – could muster. This model would eventually lead to the further weakening of the central authority over the military.

In response to calamities within the empire and threats from imperialism, the Self-Strengthening Movement emerged. This institutional reform in the second half of the 19th century aimed to modernize the empire, with prime emphasis on strengthening the military. However, the reform was undermined by corrupt officials, cynicism, and quarrels within the imperial family. The Guangxu Emperor and the reformists then launched a more comprehensive reform effort, the Hundred Days’ Reform (1898), but it was soon overturned by the conservatives under Empress Dowager Cixi in a military coup. The anti-Qing sentiment only strengthened as the internal chaos and foreign influences grew, finally leading to the Boxer Rebellion, a violent anti-foreign and anti-Christian uprising that was a turning point in the history of Imperial China.

Attributions