The Taiping Rebellion

In Our Time: History

BBC

History

4.4 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2011

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Taiping Rebellion.In 1850 a Chinese Christian convert, Hong Xiuquan, proclaimed himself leader of a new dynasty, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He and his followers marched against the ruling Qing dynasty, gathering huge support as they went. The ensuing civil war lasted fourteen years; around twenty million people lost their lives in a conflict which eventually involved European as well as Chinese soldiers. The Taiping Rebellion was arguably the most important event to befall China in the 19th century. Chinese nationalists and communists alike have been profoundly influenced by it, and historians believe it shaped modern China in the same way as the First World War shaped modern Europe.Rana MitterProfessor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of OxfordFrances WoodHead of the Chinese Section at the British LibraryJulia LovellLecturer in Chinese History at Birkbeck, University of London.Producer: Thomas Morris.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for downloading the in our time podcast for more details about in our time and for our terms of use
0:05.4	Please go to bbc.co.uk forward slash radio for I hope you enjoy the program
0:12.3	Hello in 1843 a young man called Hong Shiyou Chun in the Southern Province of Guangdong in China
0:19.3	Failed his civil service examination for the fourth time. It was this failure which moved Hong to take up arms against the ruling
0:26.0	Qing dynasty and established the typing or heavenly kingdom inspired by Christian teachings and
0:33.0	Disillusioned by the miserable plight of the people Hong cast himself as a brother of Jesus Christ and vowed to purify the nation
0:40.7	The subsequent rebellion was to last for almost 14 years and struck a mortal blow right at the heart of the Qing Imperial forces
0:48.0	It's estimated that more than 20 million people lost their lives
0:52.2	Why was the typing rebellion so successful for so long and what did it ultimately achieved?
0:57.4	We'd need to discuss the typing rebellion are Rana Mitter professor of the history and politics of modern China at the University of Oxford
1:05.0	Francis Wood had of the Chinese section of the British Library and Julia Lovell lecture in Chinese history at Birkbeck College
1:11.7	University of London Rana
1:13.2	What was the political situation like in China for the Qing dynasty before the typing rebellion broke out in
1:19.8	1850 or so the middle of 19th century what's going on? Well, the Qing dynasty had been one of China's greatest and most flourishing
1:26.8	Dynasties but by the middle of the 19th century a whole variety of different factors were causing it to fall apart
1:33.6	For instance the British were bringing opium into the country and helping to break down a lot of the social norms of the country
1:39.8	Essentially by spreading a form of drug addiction within the country
1:43.0	Internally the country simply wasn't bringing enough taxes to keep the number of
1:47.2	Army armed forces and bureaucrats and other structural factors together
1:51.6	So essentially we're talking about a great empire that was slowly collapsing from within and being pushed from outside
1:57.8	And in this situation there was the right possibility of social turmoil
2:02.0	Two factors here one is they they were regarded as intruders even though they come in in 1644 taking over
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