China's Black Death Event: How the Taiping Rebellion Changed Everything

In 1851, the Taiping Rebellion broke out. Over the next 14 years, a total war annihilated China's people, its society, and its economy. An estimated 20 million people died, making it one of the worst wars in world history.
War is cruel. Civil wars and wars of religion more so. But the 150 years since the Taiping Civil War sanitized its cruelty.
In this video, I want to illustrate just how deeply this war affected China. It is one of the defining events of the 19th century for China's economy, demography, and government.
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[@tomhalla426]

This was also the era of significant Chinese immigration to the US. My grandfather was a refugee from the Porfiriato in Mexico, so foreign wars and civil wars have had quite an effect on the US.

[@AnyDayNow360]

Since no one has said it; "why don't we start more civil wars to cull the human riff raff?" 😂 Seriously, thank you for sharing this and I hope more people get a chance to view this. A book called "Ghost of Gold Mountain" by Gordan Chang who mentioned the Taipeng Rebellion is what led me to your channel after a YT search. I am not disappointed by either material.

[@hailexiao2770]

The American south would have been economically better off had Reconstruction auction been made permanent, ie Taiping style land reforms redistributing land to black and poor white tenant farmers instead of forcing them into share cropping.

[@perfectlycontent64]

I'd love to see you revisit this topic.

[@jmansfield8554]

Let me just add another ‘thank you’ for this video. What a great introductory primer for a complex event which ultimately shaped world history, especially in the Americas. Thank you for helping us understand this a bit better. You are so good at framing things I can’t help but wonder if you trained as a carpenter.

[@sarcasmo57]

Fascinating. And you are right about KZbin comments.

[@cpt_bill366]

(from a US POV) Thank you for sharing your knowledge on this rarely discussed topic for English speakers. I lost count of how many times school thought me about the westward expansion of the US, but apparently China having existed forever only seems to have a history once European powers started their spheres of influence there. I even took an elective course on Asian history in highschool, but there is only so much you can cover in a semester, and of course there are other countries besides China included there. I don't have the devotion to study these things in-depth anymore, but I love when someone sums it up on KZbin in an educated and unbiased way. Never stop learning.

[@whiteingale]

Same in Russia. China is mentioned almost nowhere after the mongols. Just said “they fought back” although J might be overexaggerating but its true its inpossible to write all of chinese history in one book for international students.

[@astralseaslug546]

Finally found a video about this that doesn't focus on the "oh so wacky" aspect of the Heavenly Kingdom

[@nvaravind5394]

Great video thanks

[@sthk1998]

Was this basically the repeat of the Yellow Turban rebellion setting the stage for Three Kingdoms?

[@farfartony751]

Thank you. One had no idea.

[@alcyonecrucis]

Excellent video

[@edwardwong654]

I only learned about the Taiping Rebellion about 10 years ago. But I have become increasingly interested in the event. Some have said that the Vietnamese Tay Son Rebellion was a precursor to the Taiping but I disagree for the most part.

[@brianzhou326]

good video :)

[@hobog]

Wonder if Taiping rebellion could have happened without genocide, dissociating social class from ethnicity. Also without killing landlord class people

[@alexhubble]

KZbin is quite the thing. I have learned soo much history I knew nothing about. And I have learned there's so much more!

I wonder if you should compare the Taiping Rebellion perhaps to (Central) Europe's 30 Years War rather than the Black Death?

[@manchu-qu9mw]

Tragic. Sad, like the civil war of Spain.

[@RonJohn63]

9:40 - 10:12 The American Civil War and the Taiping Rebellion were fundamentally different: one wanted to *retain* a peasant society, while the other wanted to *overthrow* the peasant society. South China prospered for the same reason that the US North prospered: no peasants.

[@colinsushiboy745]

Was watching a chinese drama where they made the Taipei rebellion commanders seem like good people. They killled no citizens and even gave them rice

[@eastcoastsailingcenter7768]

There a couple of movies on this .

[@jmansfield8554]

Links or at least titles please. I’ll google ‘em myself!

[@treystewart731]

​@@jmansfield8554 The 2007 Jet Li movie "The Warlords" is probably the most well-known one. There is also a Chinese drama series called "The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" as well, although be aware it currently does not have any English subtitles nor a dub.

[@misterhill5598]

Learning about Taiping heavenly kingdom as well as reading through many prominent Hakka Bio, a pattern emerged. Hakka are very proud Chinese. They highly value the collective. Most are selfless. Their instinct is to protect the Chinese culture and to protect others. More often than not, their ambition is for the greater good of society, not personal gain. Once their mind is set on an ideal, they are driven to get there. Example: Sun Yat-sen, Lee Kuan Yew, Deng Xiaoping. These 3 great Hakka worked tirelessly for their country until they die. The Taiping (Peace) heavenly kingdom story is tragic. The Hakka saw the Manchu as destroyer of Chinese (Han) culture. They rised up to defend their culture and to drive away the Manchu. It is very sad their leader was misguided, leading to great tragedy.

[@Ephesians5-14]

Really interesting

[@misterhill5598]

@@Ephesians5-14 The Taiping rebellion leader was a religious extremist. He converted to Christianity early. He believed he is Jesus's little brother. He was on a quest to turn China into a kingdom of heaven on earth. The rebellion was also sparked by the ongoing land resource conflict between the Hakka and the Punti in Canton. This lead to millions of senseless death and suffering. This should serve as a lesson for us all. The Taiping rebellion leader was smart and charming. He was talented and hard working. But his heart was in the wrong place. And Christianity messed up his mind.

[@LoneWolf-wp9dn]

so lying communists just like their modern counterparts

[@misterhill5598]

@@LoneWolf-wp9dn LOL a scared weird little kid. How did Carl Marx define communism? How did Adam Smith define Capitalism? By your logic lying defines communist? So if you lie, then you are a communist. BTW, if all they do is lying, how did they get anything done? Get off the grass and keep walking....

[@LoneWolf-wp9dn]

@@misterhill5598 power hungry people lie... communists, fascists the worse... they fully accept bold lying as a tactic.. they say this in their literature... how did they get anything done? well the body count says it all doesnt it?

[@bluefly1]

Dude failed the civil service exam, and the rest is "history"😅

[@be12]

A "just so" story.

[@brokeheartwolf3733]

🙏🏻🦉

[@MeiinUK]

This isn't entirely true, cos it was the actual overseas' slavery and trade, which brought in a lot of money, which stopped them from killing each other as well. So.... By right, people could actually have their own currencies and whatnots. Something is just actually something to swap... so.... you can set your own ratios, and ways to live life.

[@kingofthend]

I for one believe the dude. He prolly was the younger brother of jesus christ and should have been emperor. The world would be a better place today and the Chinese paddlefish would not be extinct.

[@be12]

Lmao

[@macrick]

He and his 3 Kings were corrupted to the max. In the later years, he didn't even show his face nor led his cult. He was indulging his women and other other pleasures.

[@jmansfield8554]

@@macrickThat would make him no better or worse than the Ching emperor

[@SandyRiverBlue]

A prime example of how religiosity can destroy a country, when there are inequities inherent in systems of governance. I know it isn't popular to say, but China's suppression of unlicensed religions is probably one of the smartest things it is doing. How they go about enforcing that suppression, on the other hand is another subject entirely; arguably bereft of ethics and humanity of any kind.

[@uflux]

Religion doesn't cause war. It is used as an excuse for war. The causes of war are far more complex than that. Usually centered around greed. I.e I want what you have ( economic prosperity, access to resources and trade) That is humanism

[@SandyRiverBlue]

@@uflux I beg to differ, although I can't help but feel that we are agreeing in a way. All of religious history is against that assertion. Religion is man-made I'll agree to that, a tool if you will, that allows men to control others that otherwise are too free-willed to be controlled and commit those horrors that they would not otherwise be allowed to do. The horrors of the Inquisition (public fair-like executions for one) were done at the height of the Spanish Empire. The was more money, more stability, and food than there had ever been, and yet...Let's also look at Iran, a modern country that in a lot of ways is very progressive; universal healthcare, decent roads, jobs for women...add in a little religion and it turns an otherwise successful country into a warmongering dictatorship that can't help but shoot itself in the foot.

[@glint6070]

@@SandyRiverBlue Nazi germany was deeply atheist, so was Stalin's U.S.S.R, so was Mao's PRC; the idea that religion = tragedy, & all we need to do is get rid of it to avoid issues is ridiculous

[@jmansfield8554]

@@glint6070While I would agree that the communists are deeply atheistic that doesn’t appear to be the case with the nazis so much IMO. Perhaps someone who has really studied their government and ideology may have a better informed view, but to a layman such as myself it appears Shitler and his stooges were attempting some sort of soulless plastic pagan revival. At a minimum they vigorously employed pagan window dressing with repurposed rituals of various sorts and an abundance of ‘occult’ symbols. Consider their appropriation and subsequent ruination of the universal swastika as their standard.

[@in4ser]

@@glint6070 It's blind faith that's the common denominator. Ideologies are no more different than a secular religion. 20th centuries ideologies like Fascism, Communism and now Liberalism have all revealed themselves as self-destructive dead ends. The question is what replaces them? Hopefully pragmaticism so people learn to think for themselves does not repeat ad nauseum some "absolute truth." Entropy is the only absolute in this universe, but this revelation has created equally terrifying new visions by Accelerationists via Transhumanism and/or Neo-Feudalism, or their reactionary de-growth counterparts in Primitivism.

[@whiteingale]

4:46 gentlemen, can tou imagine how our or next generations will react to not owning property? 😂 we are not far off from 📉taiping madness.