Asia Blog: China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam

The Taipings set up in Nanjing after being on the run for some time. However, their techniques of wandering plundering and enrollment won’t work for a fixed empire. Hong Xiuquan then restores the examination system, but with testing on snippets of the Bible in translation. A number of things work against them:

1. Hong Xiuquan seems mentally ill—schizophrenic, perhaps. There was great competition to see who would succeed him.
2. A group of rebels who only knew rebellion now had to lead and settle.
3. The new examination system is ridiculous

Zeng Guofan is primarily responsible for suppressing the Taiping rebellion. After attaining the highest degree, he returns to the country to mourn his mother’s death. On the way, he passes through regions occupied by the Taiping, and realizes what a threat they are to the Confucian way of life. He requests official leave to organize local militias to meet the threat of the Taiping, called the Xiang army. They are well paid and well trained. By 1856 and through 1858, they retake considerable amount of Taiping territory.

Li Hongzhong and Zuo Zongtang have bases in the south and are his understudies. He instructs them to raise similar armies, which descend together on Nanjing at the same moment when the Taiping are collapsing, in 1864. By this time, Hong Xiuquan has died, and thousands of the Taiping soldiers commit mass suicide.

The final impact the Taipings have is:

1. Anti-Manchu sentiment to the political stage.
2. Increasing militarization of Chinese society
3. The Manchu and the Chinese elite manage to create a new form of legal tax. The elite extract this tax locally and use this tax to supplement local militias. Now, local people can collect taxes and build private armies.

The west didn’t get involved in the Taipings—so any history or rumor that they were defeated at the hands of the west is wrong. However, the west is involved in China at this time, already.

• Tribute System
• British East India Co.
  • 1761: 2.6e6 lbs tea to GB
  • 1783: 5.8e6 lbs tea
  • 1800: 23e6 lbs tea
• Opium Trade
• Lin Zexu

The early east-west trade worked by bringing trinkets or non-essentials as token gifts to the emperor, who returned gifts in like in a farce of trade called a “tribute system.” By the 19th century, the Jesuit missionaries are gone, and protestant missionaries have come. They believe they have access to everyone in China without having to appeal to the elite. This is hard because of the Chinese government’s restrictions on foreigners’ movements. Also, there’s a lot of competition between traditional Chinese sects and the Christians, who demand exclusivity.

The British emerge as the most powerful sea going traders. The British also decide that they must have their tea, and mostly from China. As they trade silver for tea, the value of silver goes down. Thus, the British decide to take Indian opium to China, progressively converting silver currency up to opium, and then up to tea, and up to more silver. There’s a great debate in China about how to handle this new opium trade. Eventually, the hardliners win out. Lin Zexu is made the new drug czar in Canton, and burns a large amount of opium as a message. A long letter is drafted to the King of England, and the Queen never sees it.

After this, the British incite small incidents with local traders to strengthen their local power by claiming assaults against their citizens. Beginning in the early 1800s, the British keep sending ships to maintain their opium trade. The Chinese navy cannot stand them, so they engage in dialogs. The British, who just want to sell opium, ask for more open borders, open ports, presence in the capital. And, the British always got more and more concessions. Finally, the Chinese realize that the Qing are too weak to keep out the British, who have technological and infrastructural advancements. Ultimately, the notion that science and technology cannot be separated comes to light.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 27th, 2006 at 5:44 am and is tagged with confucian way, chinese elite, taiping rebellion, death on the way, zeng guofan, mass suicide, final impact, private armies, hong xiuquan, political stage, chinese society, militarization, nanjing, militias, schizophrenic, snippets, 1864, way of life, rebels, sentiment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.

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