words per minute
27
josephkd
00:00
Speed
Taiping Rebellion, radical political and religious upheaval that was probably the most important event in China in the 19th century. It lasted for some 14 years (1850-64), ravaged 17 provinces, took an estimated 20 million lives, and irrevocably altered the Qing dynasty (1644-1911/12). The rebellion began under the leadership of Hong Xiuquan (1814-64), a disappointed civil service examination candidate who, influenced by Christian teachings, had a series of visions and believed himself to be the son of God, the younger brother of Jesus Christ, sent to reform China. A friend of Hong's, Feng Yunshan, utilized Hong's ideas to organize a new religious group, the God Worshippers' Society (Bai Shangdi Hui), which he formed among the impoverished peasants of Guangxi province. In 1847 Hong joined Feng and the God Worshippers, and three years later he led them in rebellion. On January 1, 1851, he proclaimed his new dynasty, the Taiping Tianguo ("Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace"), and assumed the title of Tianwang, or "Heavenly King." Their credo - to share property in common attracted many famine-stricken peasants, workers, and miners, as did their propaganda against the foreign Manchu rulers of China. Taiping ranks swelled, and they increased from a ragged band of several thousand to more than one million totally disciplined and fanatically zealous soldiers, organized into separate men's and women's divisions. Sweeping north through the fertile valley of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang), they reached the great eastern city of Nanjing. After capturing the city on March 10, 1853, the Taipings halted. They renamed the city Tianjing ("Heavenly Capital") and dispatched a northern expedition to capture the Qing capital at Beijing. That failed, but another expedition into the upper Yangtze valley scored many victories. Meanwhile, Yang Xiuqing, the Taiping minister of state, attempted to usurp much of the Tianwang's power, and, as a result, Yang and thousands of his followers were slain. Wei Changhui, the general who had killed Yang, then began to grow haughty, and Hong had him murdered as well. Another Taiping general, Shi Dakai, began to fear for his life, and he abandoned Hong, taking with him many of the Taiping followers.