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The History of China

#315 - Qing 46: Tripping Toward Taiping - Tribes, Triads, & Theology

The History of China

Chris Stewart

History

4.61.2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 December 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Great Qing begins to buckle under early 19th c. internal pressures. Unrest first erupts not at the imperial core but along its social and geographic margins. This time, we look at three of the early warning shocks: the Miao frontier rebellions, the rise of Triad networks across the southern coastal cities, & the formation of the apocalyptic White Lotus uprising.Time Period Covered:~1790s-1840s CEMajor Historical Figures:Qing Empire:Fu Nai, Qing magistrateHeshen, grand councilor under the Qianlong Emperor, (1750-1799) Miao People:Shi Sanbao, Miao rebel leader, (d. ~1796)Shi Liudeng, Miao rebel leader, (d. 1797)White Lotus Sect:Lin Shuangwen, Leader of the Tiandihui (Heaven and Earth Society), (1756–1788)Liu Song, White Lotus sect figure/leader, (banished~1775; active 1770s–1790s)Liu Zhishi, Disciple of Liu Song; charismatic White Lotus preacher, (active 1790s)Major Works Cited:Mann, Susan and Philip A. Kuhn. “Dynastic decline and the roots of rebellion” in The Cambridge History of China, Volume 10: Late Ch’ing, 1800–1911, Part 1.Naquin, Susan. "Millenarian Rebellion in China: The Eight Trigrams Uprising of 1813."Ownby, David. Brotherhoods and Secret Societies in Early and Mid-Qing China.Rowe, William. China's Last Empire: The Great Qing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.

0:09.8

Hello and welcome to the history of China.

0:17.1

Episode 315, tipping toward Taiping, tribes, triads, and theology.

0:26.9

In ancient times, people were few, and goods were plenty, and therefore no men quarreled.

0:35.2

But now, people are many, and goods are few.

0:39.3

And men must work hard for a meager return.

0:42.8

Hence, the people fall into strife.

0:46.9

Hanfei Zhe, the Five Vermin, third century BC.

0:53.0

A monk asked Dashui,

0:55.6

when the great Kalpa fire rages through

0:58.0

and the whole universe is destroyed,

1:00.9

is it destroyed or not?

1:04.2

Dashui said,

1:05.7

destroyed.

1:07.2

The monk said,

1:08.3

Then it goes along with that?

1:11.7

Dasui said, It goes along with that.

1:16.0

The Blue Cliff Record, 1125 C.E.

1:22.0

The vitality of our lands depends on wind and thunder.

1:26.9

It is a tragedy that 10,000 horses have all fallen silent.

1:30.3

I beg the Lord of Heaven to rouse himself once more, and, breaking every mold, send down men of talent.

1:39.3

Gong Zhezhan, the Ji-hai Kwa Trains, 1839.

...

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