Rebels With a Cause 叹息！这些揭竿起义者却以失败告终
Chen Sheng 陈胜
Born in the third century BCE, Chen Sheng was a military captain under the tyrannical second emperor of the Qin dynasty (221 - 206 BCE). In 209 BCE, Chen and his comrade Wu Guang (吴广) were ordered to lead 900 soldiers to Yuyang county (present-day Miyun district, Beijing) to help defend the northern border against the Xiongnu, but they were delayed by storms. By Qin law, commanders who missed their deadline were put to death.
With nothing to lose, Chen and Wu raised their banner at Dazexiang township in the first armed rebellion against an imperial dynasty in Chinese history. They were joined by others who felt oppressed by the Qin regime, and their ranks swelled to 10,000 men within a few months. Chen declared himself “King of the Rising Chu.” However, in less than a year, their forces was defeated by Qin soldiers, and Chen was assassinated by his own men.
王侯将相宁有种乎？
Zhang Jiao 张角
Zhang Jiao was the leader of the Yellow Turban Rebellion in 184, the first religiously motivated rebellion in Chinese history. Claiming to be a Daoist sorcerer, Zhang called himself the “Great Teacher (大贤良师).” He started the rebellion with his brothers Zhang Bao (张宝) and Zhang Liang (张梁) in response to burdensome taxes, rampant corruption, and famine and floods during the Eastern Han dynasty (25 - 220)—which Zhang said were signs that the emperor had lost the Mandate of Heaven. The Yellow Turban rebels, named after the headgear they wore in battle, won some impressive victories at first, but their organization fell apart after Zhang Jiao died of illness in the fall of 184, and the rebels were quashed by the imperial army.
Huang Chao 黄巢
In 881, Huang’s troops captured the capital Chang’an (modern-day Xi’an), forcing Emperor Xizong of Tang to flee. Huang proclaimed himself the “Qi Emperor,” but was defeated by the Tang army in 883 and forced to desert Chang’an. After suffering several more defeats, Huang was assassinated by his nephew Lin Yan. Still, his rebellion had severely weakened the Tang dynasty, which perished in 907.
Born to a poor family in 1606, Li held jobs in a wine shop, a blacksmith’s shop, a farm, and the state courier system. According to folklore, in 1630, Li was put on public display in an iron collar and shackles for his failure to repay loans to a usurious magistrate. Local peasants sympathized with him, so they tore apart Li’s shackles and help him kill the magistrate and flee the town.
In 1633, Li joined a rebel army led by Gao Yingxiang (高迎祥), who was nicknamed the “Dashing King (闯王).” After Gao’s death, Li inherited the title and the army. Within three years, he rallied more than 30,000 men and executed many prominent government officials, which made him a folk hero to those struggling under famine and corruption in the late Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644).
Li advocated “dividing land equally and abolishing the grain taxes payment system,” which made him popular among peasants. The song “Kill the cattle and sheep, prepare the wine/ Opening the city gate to welcome the Dashing King/ When he comes, no need to tithe grain (杀牛羊，备酒浆，开了城门迎闯王，闯王来时不纳粮食)” was widely known at that time.
In 1644, Li’s army sacked the Ming capital, Beijing, and the Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide. Li proclaimed himself emperor of the new Shun dynasty. Just one month later, though, he was defeated at the Battle of Shanhai Pass by the combined forces of the ex-Ming general Wu Sangui and his new Manchu allies. Li fled to Xi’an, and allegedly died in 1645 on Mount Jiugong in Hubei province.
Born in 1814, Hong Xiuquan was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty, possibly the most influential peasant uprising in world history. When Hong was in his early 20s, he heard a foreign missionary preach in Guangzhou, and it left an impression on him.
As a young man, Hong sat the imperial civil service exam several times, but failed each time. After his fifth failure in 1843, Hong burned all the Confucian books in his house, and began preaching about Christianity to his community. By 1850, he had amassed over 10,000 followers. In 1851, the Qing government cracked down on Hong’s movement, so he started the Jintian Uprising in Guangxi in response. The same year, he declared the founding of the “Heavenly Kingdom of Transcendent Peace,” a rebel state based on heterodox Christian doctrines. In 1853, Hong’s army took the city of Nanjing and claimed it as their capital, renaming it Tianjing (天京), the “Heavenly Capital.”
Hong implemented many reforms in his Heavenly Kingdom: He created an elaborate civil bureaucracy, reformed the calendar, outlawed opium use, and forbade polygamy (although Hong and other leaders kept scores of concubines). He also enforced rigid moral and religious codes and suppressed trade, leading to discontent.
All images from VCG