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107-658: Although it was raised specifically to address problems in Hunan, the Army formed the core of the new Qing military establishment, and as such, forever weakened the Manchu influence within the military ( Eight Banners ). This devolution of centralized command is commonly pointed to as a major reason for the eventual downfall of the Qing and the emergence of regional warlordism in China during

214-504: A gūsa (banner, Chinese : 旗 ; pinyin : qí , Mongolian : Хошуу ), with a total of 60 companies, or 18,000 men. The actual sizes often varied substantially from these standards. Initially, the banner armies were primarily made up of individuals from the various Manchu tribes. As new populations were incorporated into the empire, the armies were expanded to accommodate troops of different ethnicities. The banner armies would eventually encompass three principal ethnic components :

321-524: A Manchu banner in the reign of the Kangxi emperor . The transfer of families from Han Banners or Bondservant status ( Booi Aha ) to Manchu Banners, switching their ethnicity from Han to Manchu was called Taiqi ( 抬旗 ) in Chinese. They would be transferred to the "upper three" Manchu Banners. It was a policy of the Qing to transfer to immediate families (the brothers, father) of the mother of an Emperor into

428-514: A Qing tributary instead. Initially, Han troops were incorporated into the existing Manchu Banners. When Hong Taiji captured Yongping in 1629, a contingent of artillerymen surrendered to him. In 1631, these troops were organized into the so-called Old Han Army under the Han commander Tong Yangxing. These artillery units were used decisively to defeat Ming general Zu Dashou 's forces at the siege of Dalinghe that same year. In 1636, Hong Taiji proclaimed

535-462: A Scots missionary who served in Manchuria in the 19th century, wrote of the bannermen, "Their claim to be military men is based on their descent rather than on their skill in arms; and their pay is given them because of their fathers' prowess, and not at all from any hopes of their efficiency as soldiers. Their soldierly qualities are included in the accomplishments of idleness, riding, and the use of

642-433: A battalion, and ten battalions a banner. Four banners were originally created: Yellow, White, Red, and Blue, each named after the color of its flag. By 1614, the number of companies had grown to around 400. In 1615, the number of banners was doubled through the creation of "bordered" banners. The troops of each of the original four banners would be split between a plain and a bordered banner. The bordered variant of each flag

749-729: A cousin of Hong, joined the Taiping Rebellion in Nanjing, and was given considerable power by Hong. He developed an ambitious plan to expand the kingdom's boundaries. In 1860, the Taiping rebels were successful in taking Hangzhou and Suzhou to the east, but failed to take Shanghai, which marked the beginning of the decline of the Kingdom. An attempt to take Shanghai in August 1860 was initially successful but finally repulsed by

856-509: A disastrous defeat in the First Opium War , while the Chinese economy was severely impacted by a trade imbalance caused by the large-scale and illicit importation of opium. Banditry became more common, and numerous secret societies and self-defence units formed, all of which led to an increase in small-scale warfare. Protestant missions in China began working from Portuguese Macao , Pazhou , and Guangzhou . Their household staff and

963-509: A few days after his death Qing forces took control of Nanjing. His body was buried and was later exhumed by Zeng to verify his death, and cremated. Hong's ashes were later blasted out of a cannon in order to ensure that his remains have no resting place as eternal punishment for the uprising. Four months before the fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Hong Xiuquan abdicated in favour of Hong Tianguifu , his eldest son, who

1070-439: A force of Chinese troops and European officers under the command of Frederick Townsend Ward . This army would later become the " Ever Victorious Army ", led by Charles "Chinese" Gordon , and would be instrumental in the defeat of the Taiping rebels. Imperial forces were reorganised under the command of Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang , and the Qing government's re-conquest began in earnest. By early 1864, Qing control in most areas

1177-671: A former charcoal and firewood salesman of Guangxi , who claimed to act as a voice of the Supreme Emperor. Feng Yunshan formed the God Worshipping Society in Guangxi after a missionary journey there in 1844 to spread Hong's ideas. In 1847, Hong became the leader of the secret society. The Taiping faith, inspired by missionary Christianity, says one historian, "developed into a dynamic new Chinese religion... Taiping Christianity". Hong presented this religion as

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1284-662: A leader in the Li Yonghe rebellion in Sichuan. In the later years of the Taiping Rebellion, the territory was divided among many, for a time into the dozens, of provincial rulers called princes, depending on the whims of Hong. Within the land that it controlled, the Taiping Heavenly Army established totalitarian, theocratic, and highly militarised rule. In 1the Gan Prince Hong Rengan, with

1391-523: A minority, which conquered the Central Plain for the Qing. Hong Taiji recognized that Han defectors were needed by the Qing in order to assist in the conquest of the Ming, explaining to other Manchus why he needed to treat the Ming defector General Hung Ch'eng-ch'ou leniently. The Qing showed in propaganda targeted towards the Ming military that the Qing valued military skills to get them to defect to

1498-682: A poem refers to the soldiers carrying out massacres in Fujian as "barbarian", both Han Green Standard Army and Han Bannermen were involved in the fighting for the Qing side and carried out the worst slaughter. 400,000 Green Standard Army soldiers were used against the Three Feudatories besides 200,000 Bannermen. In the Revolt of the Three Feudatories Manchu Generals and Bannermen were initially put to shame by

1605-475: A rampage, burning 40,000 Manchus to death within the city. They first killed all the Manchu men, and then the Manchu women and Manchu children were burned to ashes. At its height, the Heavenly Kingdom controlled south China, centred on the fertile Yangtze River Valley. Control of the river meant that the Taiping could easily supply their capital. From there, the Taiping rebels sent armies west into

1712-524: A regular Green Standard soldier's salary of about 1.5 tael of silver per month. After the Taiping Rebellion was crushed, the Hunan armies petitioned to the Manchu Court to disband themselves, for fear of rumored rebellion against the Manchus as they had grown too powerful in the eyes of the Manchus. The Manchu Court only agreed to turn Peng Yulin's army into a navy. Zeng Guofan began disarming

1819-518: A revival and a restoration of the ancient classical faith in Shangdi. The sect's power grew in the late 1840s, initially suppressing groups of bandits and pirates, but persecution by Qing authorities spurred the movement into guerrilla activity, and then into civil war . In some Marxist historiography, the Taiping Rebellion is viewed as a proto-communist uprising. The Jintian Uprising began in 1850 in Guangxi. On 11 January 1851 (the 11th day of

1926-538: A series of small victories over the local Qing forces. The revolt rapidly spread northward. In March 1853, between 700,000 and 800,000 Taiping soldiers directed by commander-in-chief Yang Xiuqing took Nanjing, killing 30,000 Manchu civilians and bannermen . The city became the movement's capital and was renamed Tianjing ("Heavenly Capital"). By this point the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom encompassed much of prosperous south and central China, centered on

2033-439: A significant part of southern China during the middle of the 19th century, eventually expanding to a size of nearly 30 million people. The rebel kingdom announced social reforms and the replacement of Buddhism , Confucianism , Chinese folk religion , and Islam by his form of Christianity, holding that he was the second son of God and the younger brother of Jesus. The Taiping areas were besieged by Qing forces throughout most of

2140-640: A wife to the Han official Feng Quan, who had defected from the Ming to the Qing. The Manchu queue hairstyle was willingly adopted by Feng Quan before it was enforced on the Han population and Feng learned the Manchu language. To promote ethnic harmony, a 1648 decree from the Shunzhi Emperor allowed Han civilian men to marry Manchu women from the Banners with the permission of the Board of Revenue if they were registered daughters of officials or commoners or

2247-540: Is unclear. Tianpu Province, Jiangnan Province, and Sufu Province are all within present-day Jiangsu Province . Tianjing Province included the Taiping Prefecture , which borders Nanjing. Other provinces mentioned in Taiping Heavenly Kingdom sources are: Anhui , Jiangxi , Hubei , Zhejiang , Hunan , Fujian , Henan , Shandong (珊東), Guangxi , Guangdong , Yunnan , Sichuan , Guizhou , Shaanxi , Gansu , Zuili (罪隸), etc. However, most of them were under

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2354-781: The Battle of Shanhai Pass and secure Beijing for the Qing. The young Shunzhi Emperor was then enthroned in the Forbidden City . Ming defectors played a major role in the Qing conquest of the Central Plain . Ethnic Han generals who defected to the Qing were often given women from the imperial Aisin Gioro family in marriage while the ordinary soldiers who defected were given non-royal Manchu women as wives. The Qing differentiated between Han bannermen and ordinary Han civilians. Han bannermen were made out of ethnic Han who defected to

2461-661: The Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace (1851–1864), was a theocratic monarchy which sought to overthrow the Qing dynasty . The Heavenly Kingdom , or Heavenly Dynasty , was led by Hong Xiuquan . Its capital was at Tianjing , present-day Nanjing . The unsuccessful war it waged against the Qing is known as the Taiping Rebellion . A self-proclaimed younger brother of Jesus Christ and convert to Protestant Christianity , Hong Xiuquan led an army that controlled

2568-856: The Manchus , the Han , and the Mongols , and various smaller ethnic groups, such as the Xibe , the Daur , and the Evenks . When the Jurchens were reorganized by Nurhaci into the Eight Banners, many Manchu clans were artificially created as a group of unrelated people founded a new Manchu clan (mukun) using a geographic origin name such as a toponym for their hala (clan name). There were stories of Han migrating to

2675-689: The Nicene Creed and said Arius was correct. The Heavenly Kingdom maintained the concept of the imperial Chinese tributary system in mandating all of the "ten thousand nations in the world" to submit and make the annual tribute missions to the Heavenly Court. The Heavenly King proclaimed that he intended to establish a new dynasty of China. In its first year, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom minted coins that were 23 mm × 26 mm (0.91 in × 1.02 in) in diameter, weighing around 4.1 g (0.14 oz). The kingdom's name

2782-890: The Republic of China to be Manchu. Han Bannermen became an elite political class in Fengtian province in the late Qing period and into the Republican era. In addition to sending Han exiles convicted of crimes to Xinjiang to be slaves of Banner garrisons there, the Qing also practiced reverse exile, exiling Inner Asian (Mongol, Russian and Muslim criminals from Mongolia and Inner Asia) to China proper where they would serve as slaves in Han Banner garrisons in Guangzhou. Russians , Oirats and Muslims (Oros. Ulet. Hoise jergi weilengge niyalma) such as Yakov and Dmitri were exiled to

2889-518: The Xiang Army . Over time, the Eight Banners became synonymous with Manchu identity even as their military strength vanished. Initially, Nurhaci's forces were organized into small hunting parties of about a dozen men related by blood, marriage, clan, or place of residence, as was the typical Jurchen custom. In 1601, with the number of men under his command growing, Nurhaci reorganized his troops into companies of 300 households. Five companies made up

2996-594: The Yangtze river valley . They continued in their attempts to expand northward, and sent two armies to take the upper Yangtze, while another two attempted to take the new Imperial capital, Beijing . The western drive met with some success, but the Beijing attack failed. Zeng Guofan was tasked with limiting the rebel's attempts to take control of Hunan. In 1852, he was appointed by the Qing court as commissioner of militia organization for Central China. Zeng Guofan expanded

3103-465: The 1821 census. Despite Qing attempts to differentiate adopted Han Chinese from normal Manchu bannermen the differences between them became hazy. These adopted Han Chinese bondservants who managed to get themselves onto Manchu banner roles were called kaihu ren (開戶人) in Chinese and dangse faksalaha urse in Manchu. Normal Manchus were called jingkini Manjusa. Commoner Manchu bannermen who were not nobility were called irgen which meant common, in contrast to

3210-518: The 1870s. The Xiang Army also had a small naval army. Headquarters were located in Qimen County , Anhui from 1853 to 1861. After recovering Anqing , then capital of Anhui in September 1861, the headquarters was moved there because of its proximity to Nanjing. The Hunan army's official Ying (battalion) consisted of 5 officers 500 soldiers and when the administration and carriers are added

3317-471: The Banners which previously were reserved for Jurchen Manchus. Han Chinese foster-son and separate register bannermen made up 800 out of 1,600 soldiers of the Mongol Banners and Manchu Banners of Hangzhou in 1740 which was nearly 50%. Han Chinese foster-son made up 220 out of 1,600 unsalaried troops at Jingzhou in 1747 and an assortment of Han Chinese separate-register, Mongol, and Manchu bannermen were

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3424-641: The Bible. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was based on Hong Xiuquan's syncretism with Christianity , which differed from mainstream Christian prayers, rituals, and holidays. The libraries of the Buddhist monasteries were destroyed, almost completely in the case of the Yangtze delta. Temples of Daoism , Confucianism, and other traditional beliefs were often converted to churches, schools or hospitals or defaced. In letters to missionary Joseph Edkins , Hong rejected

3531-654: The Eight Banners and Green Standard troops proved unable to put down the Taiping Rebellion and Nian Rebellion on their own. Regional officials like Zeng Guofan were instructed to raise their own forces from the civilian population, leading to the creation of the Xiang Army and the Huai Army , among others. Along with the Ever Victorious Army of Frederick Townsend Ward , it was these warlord armies (known as yongying ) who finally succeeded in restoring Qing control in this turbulent period. John Ross ,

3638-518: The Eight Banners functioned as armies, but the banner system was also the basic organizational framework of all of Manchu society. Created in the early 17th century by Nurhaci , the banner armies played an instrumental role in his unification of the fragmented Jurchen people (who would later be renamed the "Manchu" under Nurhaci's son Hong Taiji ) and in the Qing dynasty's conquest of the Ming dynasty . As Mongol and Han forces were incorporated into

3745-628: The First Class) Yiyong ( 毅勇侯 ) (Yiyong: 毅 = Endurance 勇 = Courage) . Almost immediately after the capture of Nanking, Zeng disbanded the 120,000 soldiers under his command, although Zuo kept his forces intact. After the fall of the Taiping , from 1864 to 1890, over half of the viceroys in China were Xiang Army leaders. In 1860, the power of the Xiang Army was unsurpassed, totalling almost 360,000 soldiers. The large main group

3852-591: The Flank King ). Of the original rulers, the West King and South King were killed in combat in 1852. The East King was murdered by the North King during a coup in 1856, and the North King himself was subsequently killed. The Kings' names were: The later leaders of the movement were 'Princes': Other princes include: Leaders of concurrent rebellions were similarly granted the title of King, such Lan Chaozhu,

3959-664: The Green Standard Army, made out of defected Ming soldiers. Koxinga's rattan shield troops became famous for fighting and defeating the Dutch in Taiwan . After the surrender of Koxinga's former followers on Taiwan , Koxinga's grandson Zheng Keshuang and his troops were incorporated into the Eight Banners. His rattan shield soldiers (Tengpaiying) 藤牌营 were used against the Russian Cossacks at Albazin . Under

4066-619: The Han Banners. After Hong Taiji's death, Dorgon , commander of the Solid White Banner, became regent. He quickly purged his rivals and took control over Hong Taiji's Solid Blue Banner. By 1644, an estimated two million people were living in the Eight Banners system. That year, rebels led by Li Zicheng captured Beijing and the last emperor of the Ming dynasty, Chongzhen , committed suicide. Dorgon and his bannermen joined forces with Ming defector Wu Sangui to defeat Li at

4173-514: The Han Green Standard Army under Wang Jinbao and Zhao Liangdong in 1680, with Manchus only participating in dealing with logistics and provisions. 400,000 Green Standard Army soldiers and 150,000 Bannermen served on the Qing side during the war. 213 Han Banner companies, and 527 companies of Mongol and Manchu Banners were mobilized by the Qing during the revolt. The Qing forces were crushed by Wu from 1673 to 1674. The Qing had

4280-585: The Han banner garrison in Guangzhou. In the 1780s, after the Jahriyya revolt in Gansu started by Zhang Wenqing (張文慶) was defeated, Muslims like Ma Jinlu (馬進祿) were exiled to the Han Banner garrison in Guangzhou to become slaves to Han Banner officers. The Qing code regulating Mongols in Mongolia sentenced Mongol criminals to exile and to become slaves to Han bannermen in Han Banner garrisons in China proper. At

4387-416: The Hunan army possessed approximately 60,000 soldiers all being Hunanese with later recruitment being expanded beyond Hunan it was reported the army numbered 200 Ying or 137,600 soldiers. One of Zeng Guofan's priorities for the Xiang Army was finance, understanding that good pay was crucial for battlefield morale. As a result, a Xiang Army soldier's salary was four tael of silver every month, compared to

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4494-582: The Jurchens and assimilating into Manchu Jurchen society and Nikan Wailan may have been an example of this. The Manchu Cuigiya 崔佳氏 clan claimed that a Han Chinese founded their clan. The Tohoro 托和啰 ( Duanfang 's clan) claimed Han Chinese origin. The Han Chinese Banner Tong 佟 clan of Fushun in Liaoning falsely claimed to be related to the Jurchen Manchu Tunggiya 佟佳 clan of Jilin , using this false claim to get themselves transferred to

4601-532: The Kangxi and Qianlong emperors, the Eight Banners participated in a series of military campaigns to subdue Ming loyalists and neighboring states. In the Qianlong Emperor's celebrated Ten Great Campaigns , the banner armies fought alongside troops of the Green Standard Army, expanding the Qing empire to its greatest territorial extent. Though partly successful, the campaigns were a heavy financial burden on

4708-635: The Manchu Banners due to her status as the mother of an Emperor and their surname was change from Wei 魏 to Weigiya 魏佳. The Qing said that "Manchu and Han are one house" 滿漢一家 and said that the difference was "not between Manchu and Han, but instead between Bannerman and civilian" 不分滿漢，但問旗民 or 但問旗民，不問滿漢. Select groups of Han Chinese bannermen were mass transferred into Manchu Banners by the Qing, changing their ethnicity from Han Chinese to Manchu. Han Chinese bannermen of Tai Nikan 台尼堪 (watchpost Chinese) and Fusi Nikan 撫順尼堪 (Fushun Chinese) backgrounds into

4815-511: The Manchu Eight Banners ( Manchu : ᠮᠠᠨᠵᡠ ᡤᡡᠰᠠ , manju gūsa ; Chinese : 八旗滿洲 ; pinyin : bāqí mǎnzhōu ; Mongolian : Манжийн Найман хошуу ). Although still called the "Eight Banners" in name, there were now effectively twenty-four banner armies, eight for each of the three main ethnic groups (Manchu, Mongol, and Han). Among the Banners gunpowder weapons, such as muskets and artillery, were specifically wielded by

4922-724: The Manchu banners in 1740 by order of the Qing Qianlong emperor . It was between 1618-1629 when the Han Chinese from Liaodong who later became the Fushun Nikan and Tai Nikan defected to the Jurchens (Manchus). These Han Chinese origin Manchu clans continue to use their original Han surnames and are marked as of Han origin on Qing lists of Manchu clans . Manchu families adopted Han Chinese sons from families of bondservant Booi Aha (baoyi) origin and they served in Manchu company registers as detached household Manchus and

5029-537: The Manchu nobility o the "Eight Great Houses" who held noble titles. Jiang Xingzhou 姜興舟, a Han bannerman lieutenant from the Bordered Yellow Banner married a Muslim woman in Mukden during Qianlong's late reign. He fled his position due to fear of being punished for being a bannerman marrying a commoner woman. He was sentenced to death for leaving his official post but the sentence was commuted and he

5136-447: The Manchus took over governing, they could no longer satisfy the material needs of soldiers by garnishing and distributing booty; instead, a salary system was instituted, ranks standardized, and the Eight Banners became a sort of hereditary military caste, though with a strong ethnic inflection. Banner soldiers took up permanent positions, either as defenders of the capital, Beijing, where roughly half of them lived with their families, or in

5243-610: The Mongols were separated into the Mongol Eight Banners ( Manchu : ᠮᠣᠩᡤᠣ ᡤᡡᠰᠠ , monggo gūsa ; Chinese : 八旗蒙古 ; pinyin : bāqí ménggǔ ; Mongolian : Монгол найман хошуу ). Under Hong Taiji , the banner armies participated in two invasions of Joseon in the Korean Peninsula first in 1627 and again in 1636. As a consequence, Joseon was forced to end its relationship with the Ming and become

5350-401: The Qing conquest of the Ming. The Han transfrontismen abandoned their Han names and identities and Nurhaci's secretary Dahai might have been one of them. There were not enough ethnic Manchus to conquer the Central Plain, so they relied on defeating and absorbing Mongols, and more importantly, adding Han to the Eight Banners. The Qing had to create an entire "Jiu Han jun" (Old Han Army) due to

5457-596: The Qing foremost used defected Han troops to fight as the vanguard during their conquest of the Central Plain. The Liaodong Han military frontiersmen were prone to mixing and acculturating with (non-Han) tribesmen. The Mongol officer Mangui served in the Ming military and fought the Manchus, dying in battle against a Manchu raid. The Manchus accepted and assimilated Han soldiers who defected. Liaodong Han transfrontiersmen soldiers acculturated to Manchu culture and used Manchu names. Manchus lived in cities with walls surrounded by villages and adopted Han-style agriculture before

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5564-414: The Qing imperial court found this out in 1729. Manchu Bannermen who needed money helped falsify registration for Han Chinese servants being adopted into the Manchu banners and Manchu families who lacked sons were allowed to adopt their servant's sons or servants themselves. The Manchu families were paid to adopt Han Chinese sons from bondservant families by those families. The Qing Imperial Guard captain Batu

5671-431: The Qing treasury, and exposed weaknesses in the Qing military. Many bannermen lost their lives in the Burma campaign , often as the result of tropical diseases, to which they had little resistance. Although the banners were instrumental in the transition from Ming to Qing in the 17th century, they began to fall behind rising Western powers in the 18th century. By the 1730s, the traditional martial spirit had been lost, as

5778-448: The Qing up to 1644 and joined the Eight Banners, giving them social and legal privileges in addition to being acculturated to Manchu culture. So many Han defected to the Qing and swelled up the ranks of the Eight Banners that ethnic Manchus became a minority within the Banners, making up only 16% in 1648, with Han bannermen dominating with 75% and Mongol bannermen making up the rest. It was this multi-ethnic force, in which Manchus were only

5885-414: The Qing, in order to help rule northern China. It was Green Standard Han troops who actively military governed China locally while Han Bannermen, Mongol Bannermen, and Manchu Bannermen who were only brought into emergency situations where there was sustained military resistance. Manchu Aisin Gioro princesses were also married to Han official's sons. The Manchu Prince Regent Dorgon gave a Manchu woman as

5992-406: The Qing, since the Ming civilian political system discriminated against the military. The three Liaodong Han Bannermen officers who played a massive role in the conquest of southern China from the Ming were Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming, and Kong Youde and they governed southern China autonomously as viceroys for the Qing after their conquests. Normally the Manchu Bannermen acted as reserve forces while

6099-408: The Qing. When Dorgon ordered Han civilians to vacate Beijing's inner city and move to the outskirts, he resettled the inner city with the Bannermen, including Han bannermen, later, some exceptions were made to allowing to reside in the inner city Han civilians who held government or commercial jobs. The Qing relied on the Green Standard soldiers, made out of defected Ming military forces who joined

6206-462: The Taiping Rebellion. In August 1871, the last Taiping rebel army, led by Shi Dakai 's commander Li Fuzhong ( 李福忠 ), was completely wiped out by the Qing forces in the border region of Hunan , Guizhou , and Guangxi. In the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, there were three levels of local government: province (省), commandery (郡), and county (縣). According to a regulation promulgated in 1861 (the eleventh year of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, 太平天囯辛酉十一年),

6313-409: The Taiping forces captured Nanjing, making it their capital and renaming it Tianjing ('heavenly capital'). Hong converted the office of the Viceroy of Liangjiang into his Palace of Heavenly King . Since Hong claimed he had been instructed in his dream to exterminate all Manchu "demons", the rebels they set out to kill the entire Manchu population. When Nanjing was occupied, the Taiping rebels went on

6420-464: The Three Feudatories Ten Great Campaigns First Opium War Second Opium War Taiping Rebellion Boxer Rebellion The Eight Banners (in Manchu : ᠵᠠᡴᡡᠨ ᡤᡡᠰᠠ jakūn gūsa , Chinese : 八旗 ; pinyin : bāqí ; Wade–Giles : pa -ch'i , Mongolian : ᠨᠠᠶᠢᠮᠠᠨ ᠬᠣᠰᠢᠭᠤ ) were administrative and military divisions under the Later Jin and Qing dynasties of China into which all Manchu households were placed. In war,

6527-469: The Western powers was coming and the Qing must buy the best Western cannons and gun carriages, and have the best Chinese craftsmen learn to build exact copies, teaching other craftsmen as well. Initially, the followers of Hong Xiuquan were called God Worshippers. Hong's faith was inspired by visions he reported in which the Shangdi, the Supreme Emperor, or "Jehovah", greeted him in Heaven. Hong had earlier been in contact with Protestant missionaries and read

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6634-494: The Xiang Army with the establishment of the Huai Army by Li Hongzhang , one of the most important commanders of the Xiang Army. In 1890, part of the Xiang Army incorporated into a gang and anti-government movement. When the Xinhai Revolution (Chinese Revolution) began in 1911, former comrades of Xiang Army turned against each other. The Republic of China was established on February 12, 1912. Eight Banners Qing conquest of Ming Qing invasion of Joseon Revolt of

6741-460: The Zhapu lieutenant general couldn't differentiate them from Jurchen Manchus in terms of military skills. Manchu Banners contained a lot of "false Manchus" who were from Han Chinese civilian families but were adopted by Manchu bannermen after the Yongzheng reign. The Jingkou and Jiangning Mongol banners and Manchu Banners had 1,795 adopted Han Chinese and the Beijing Mongol Banners and Manchu Banners had 2,400 adopted Han Chinese in statistics taken from

6848-833: The approval of his cousin the Heavenly King, advocated several new policies, including: While the Taiping rebels did not have the support of Western governments, they were relatively modernised in terms of weapons. An ever growing number of Western weapons dealers and black marketeers sold Western weapons such as modern muskets, rifles, and cannons to the rebels. As early as 1853, Taiping Tianguo soldiers had been using guns and ammunition sold by Westerners. Rifles and gunpowder were smuggled into China by English and American traders as "snuff and umbrellas". They were partially equipped with surplus equipment sold by various Western companies and military units' stores, both small arms and artillery. One shipment of weaponry from an American dealer in April 1862 already "well known for their dealings with rebels"

6955-446: The army founds ways of collecting funds from local landholders and merchants. His lieutenants recovered the capital, Changsha , and then Zeng led the recapture of Wuchang and Hanyang , near Hankow , and was rewarded for his success by being appointed vice-president of the Board of War . His Army was so successful that the Qing leaders quickly started using it in place of their own troops, turning it into an Imperial force rather than

7062-421: The better performance of the Han Green Standard Army , who fought better than them against the rebels and this was noted by the Kangxi Emperor, leading him to task Generals Sun Sike, Wang Jinbao, and Zhao Liangdong to lead Green Standard soldiers to crush the rebels. The Qing thought that Han were superior at battling other Han people and so used the Green Standard Army as the dominant and majority army in crushing

7169-578: The bow and arrow, at which they practice on a few rare occasions each year." During the Boxer Rebellion , 1899–1901, the European powers recruited 10,000 Bannermen from the Metropolitan Banners into Wuwei Corps and gave them modernized training and weapons. One of these was the Hushenying . However, many Manchu Bannermen in Beijing supported the Boxers and shared their anti-foreign sentiment. The pro-Boxer Bannermen sustained heavy casualties and subsequently were driven into desperate poverty. Zhao Erfeng and Zhao Erxun were two important Han Bannermen in

7276-486: The city had been cleared of rebel forces in a series of battles starting in June 1863. The battle for the city itself started on March 14, 1864, when Zeng's forces attempted to force the city walls using ladders, but were beaten back. A second attempt used tunnels, but counter-digging and a second wall prevented a breakthrough. On July 3 the Xiang forces had their first victory, taking Dibao Castle . This position allowed them to dig new tunnels and pack them with explosives with

7383-414: The coast in order to deprive Koxinga's Ming loyalists of resources, this has led to a myth that it was because Manchus were "afraid of water". In Fujian, it was Han Bannermen who were the ones carrying out the fighting and killing for the Qing and this disproved the entirely irrelevant claim that alleged fear of the water on part of the Manchus had to do with the coastal evacuation and clearances. Even though

7490-403: The control of the Qing dynasty. The Heavenly King was the highest position in the Heavenly Kingdom. The sole people to hold this position were Hong Xiuquan and his son Hong Tianguifu: Ranked below the "King of Heaven" Hong Xiuquan, the territory was divided among provincial rulers called kings or princes; initially there were five – the Kings of the Four Cardinal Directions and

7597-576: The country were divided into 21 provinces, each with 11 commanderies, except for Jiangnan Province, which had 12 commanderies. However, this was planned for the establishment after the unification of the country, and the establishment during the revolution was not planned in this way. According to existing documents, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom established five new provinces: Tianjing Province (天京省), Jiangnan Province (江南省), Tianpu Province (天浦省), Sufu Province (蘇福省), and Guifu Province (貴福省). The boundaries of its territory are unknown. The location of Guifu Province

7704-568: The creation of the Qing dynasty. Between 1637 and 1642, the Old Han Army, mostly made up of Liaodong natives who had surrendered at Yongping, Fushun, Dalinghe, etc., were organized into the Han Eight Banners ( Manchu : ᠨᡳᡴᠠᠨ ᠴᠣᠣᡥᠠ nikan cooha or ᡠᠵᡝᠨ ᠴᠣᠣᡥᠠ ujen cooha ; Chinese : 八旗漢軍 ; pinyin : bāqí hànjūn ; Mongolian : Хятад найман хошуу ). The original Eight Banners were thereafter referred to as

7811-498: The defeat of the Ming dynasty, Qing emperors continued to rely on the Eight Banners in their subsequent military campaigns. After the Ten Great Campaigns of the mid-18th century the quality of the banner armies declined. Their failure to suppress the Taiping Rebellion of the mid-19th century ruined their reputation. By the late 19th century the task of defending the empire had largely fallen upon regional armies such as

7918-724: The first half of the twentieth century. The Xiang Army was one of two armies known as the Hunan Army. Another Hunan Army, called the Chu Army , was created by former Xiang commander Zuo Zongtang to fight in the Dungan Revolt (1862–1877) . Remnants of the Xiang Army which also fought in the war were then called the "Old Hunan Army". The Taiping rebellion started in December 1850 in Guangxi Province, growing after

8025-525: The first lunar month), incidentally Hong Xiuquan's birthday, Hong declared himself " Heavenly King " of a new dynasty, the "Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace". After minor clashes, the violence escalated into the uprising in February 1851, in which a 10,000-strong rebel army routed and defeated a smaller Qing force. Feng Yushan was to be the strategist of the rebellion and the administrator of the kingdom during its early days, until his death in 1852. In 1853,

8132-403: The growing Qing military establishment, the Mongol Eight Banners and Han Eight Banners were created alongside the original Manchu banners. The banner armies were considered the elite forces of the Qing military, while the remainder of imperial troops were incorporated into the vast Green Standard Army . Membership in the banners became hereditary, and bannermen were granted land and income. After

8239-428: The hands of Hong Xiuquan in the mid-1830s. Hong initially leafed through it without interest. After several failures during the examinations and a nervous breakdown, however, Hong told friends and family of a dream in which he was greeted by a golden-haired, bearded man and a younger man whom he addressed as "Elder Brother". He would also declare that he saw Confucius being punished by Hong's celestial father for leading

8346-468: The highest level, the eight banners were categorized according to two groupings. The three "upper" banners (both Yellow Banners and the Plain White Banner ) were under the nominal command of the emperor himself, whereas the five "lower" banners were commanded by others. The banners were also split into a "left wing" and a "right wing" according to how they would be arrayed in battle. In Beijing,

8453-412: The intention of destroying the city walls. A counterattack failed, and on July 19 the explosives were set off, collapsing a large portion of the wall. The city fell after a fierce three-day battle. The Xiang Army pillaged and robbed the city, killing 100,000 Taiping soldiers and civilians according to Zeng Guofan and setting it on fire. The city burned until July 26, 1864. Zeng was promoted to Marquess (of

8560-455: The killing of troops loyal to Yang, in an event known as the Tianjing incident . The internal schism significantly weakened Taiping forces. With their leader largely out of the picture, Taiping delegates tried to widen their popular support with the Chinese middle classes and forge alliances with European powers, but failed on both counts. The Europeans decided to stay neutral. Inside China,

8667-514: The late Qing. By the late 19th century, the Qing Dynasty began training and creating New Army units based on Western training, equipment and organization. Nevertheless, the banner system remained in existence until the fall of the Qing in 1912, and even beyond, with a rump organization continuing to function until 1924. At the end of the Qing dynasty, all members of the Eight Banners, regardless of their original ethnicity, were considered by

8774-591: The left wing occupied the eastern banner neighborhoods and the right wing occupied the western ones. The smallest unit in a banner army was the company, or niru ( Chinese : 佐領 ; pinyin : zuǒlǐng , Mongolian : Сум ), composed nominally of 300 soldiers and their families. The term niru means "arrow" in the Manchu language, and was originally the Manchu name for a hunting party, which would be armed with bows and arrows. 15 companies (4,500 men) made up one jalan ( Chinese : 參領 ; pinyin : cānlǐng ; Mongolian : Заланг ). 4 jalan constituted

8881-411: The local force as it had been raised. In 1860 Zeng was called on to use the Xiang Army to clear Anhui , and was appointed Viceroy of Liangjiang (两江总督, which consisted of the provinces of Jiangxi, Anhui, and Jiangsu). While Charles George Gordon and his " Ever-Victorious Army " were clearing the rebel heartland, Zeng took the opportunity to launch a campaign to retake Nanjing. The entire area around

8988-418: The massive number of Han soldiers who were absorbed into the Eight Banners by both capture and defection, Ming artillery was responsible for many victories against the Qing, so the Qing established an artillery corps made out of Han soldiers in 1641 and the swelling of Han numbers in the Eight Banners led in 1642 of all Eight Han Banners being created. It was defected Han armies which conquered southern China for

9095-533: The number reaches 688 men. With each battalion being divided into 4 shao (company) and a bodyguard, theoretically each ying was to possess 2 light mortars and 48 jingals with spears swords and matchlocks compromising the rest of the armament by 1864 foreign rifles equipped several squads per Ying. 2 to 10 battalions formed a brigade under a Brigadier General with 2 or more Brigadier Generals being able to form an army. The senior commanders often appointed their junior commanders from amongst relatives and friends. In 1856

9202-608: The old military rule before the Northern Song dynasty 's "Soldiers had no fixed commander, commander had no fixed soldiers" ( 兵無常帥，帥無常兵 ). This new military rule was the direct cause of the Warlord era . These Tuanlian were turned into the Yong Ying Xiang Army. To fund the army, Zeng convinced the Hunan governor to divert funds from the provincial network of commercial good toll collection stations. Eventually

9309-479: The people astray. Hong worked another six years as a tutor before his brother convinced him that Liang's tract was worth examination. When he read the tract he saw his long-past dream in terms of Christian symbolism: he was the younger brother of Jesus and had met God the Father, Shangdi . He now felt it was his duty to restore the faith in the native Han religion and overthrow the Qing. He was joined by Yang Xiuqing ,

9416-580: The permission of their banner company captain if they were unregistered commoners. It was only later in the dynasty that these policies allowing intermarriage were done away with. The decree was formulated by Dorgon. The Guangzhou massacre of Ming loyalist Han forces and civilians in 1650 by Qing forces, was entirely carried out by Han Bannermen led by Han generals Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao . The Qing sent Han Bannermen to fight against Koxinga 's Ming loyalists in Fujian. The Qing carried out massive depopulation policy clearances forcing people to evacuated

9523-493: The pre-existing tuanlian militia into an armed force with a total of 17,000 men, including thirteen battalions consisting of 6500 men and a navy of ten battalions consisting of 5000 men. It was given the name of Xiang Army, with Zeng Guofan as the Commander-in-chief , accepting orders from Zeng alone. The new rule was termed "Soldiers followed the general, soldiers belonged to the general"( 兵隨將轉，兵為將有 ), contrary to

9630-452: The printers they employed corrected and adapted the missionaries' message to reach the Chinese and they began to particularly frequent the prefectural and provincial examinations , where local scholars competed for the chance to rise to power in the imperial civil service. One of the native tracts, Liang Fa 's nine-part, 500-page tome called Good Words to Admonish the Age , found its way into

9737-583: The provinces, where some eighteen garrisons were established. The largest banner garrisons throughout most of the Qing dynasty were at Beijing , followed by Xi'an and Hangzhou . Sizable banner populations were also placed in Manchuria and at strategic points along the Great Wall , the Yangtze River and Grand Canal . Taiping Heavenly Kingdom The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom , or

9844-442: The rebellion faced resistance from the traditionalist middle class because of their hostility to Chinese customs and Confucian values. The land-owning upper class, unsettled by the Taiping rebels' peasant mannerisms and their policy of strict separation of the sexes, even for married couples, sided with the Qing forces and their Western allies. Many within the Kingdom who resisted were subject to torture. In 1859, Hong Rengan ,

9951-510: The rebellion. The Qing government defeated the rebellion with the eventual aid of French and British forces. During the 19th century, the Qing territories experienced a series of famines, natural disasters, economic problems and defeats at the hands of foreign powers; these events have come to be collectively known as China's century of humiliation . Farmers were heavily overtaxed, rents rose dramatically, and peasants started to desert their lands in droves. The Qing military had recently suffered

10058-437: The rebels instead of Bannermen. In northwestern China against Wang Fuchen, the Qing put Bannermen in the rear as reserves while they used Han Green Standard Army soldiers and Han Generals like Zhang Liangdong, Wang Jinbao, and Zhang Yong as the primary military forces, considering Han troops as better at fighting other Han people, and these Han generals achieved victory over the rebels. Sichuan and southern Shaanxi were retaken by

10165-796: The remainder. Han Chinese secondary status bannermen made up 180 of 3,600 troop households in Ningxia while Han Chinese separate registers made up 380 out of 2,700 Manchu soldiers in Liangzhou. The result of these Han Manchus taking up military positions resulted in many Jurchen Manchus being deprived of their traditional positions as soldiers in the Banner armies, resulting in the Han Manchus supplanting Jurchen Manchus economic and social status.These Han Manchus were said to be good military troops and their skills at marching and archery were up to par so that

10272-467: The support of the majority of Han soldiers and Han elite against the Three Feudatories, since they refused to join Wu Sangui in the revolt, while the Eight Banners and Manchu officers fared poorly against Wu Sangui, so the Qing responded with using a massive army of more than 900,000 Han (non-Banner) instead of the Eight Banners, to fight and crush the Three Feudatories. Wu Sangui's forces were crushed by

10379-550: The upper reaches of the Yangtze, and north to capture Beijing , the capital of the Qing dynasty. The attempt to take Beijing failed. In 1853, Hong withdrew from active control of policies and administration, ruling exclusively by written proclamations often in religious language. Hong disagreed with Yang in certain matters of policy and became increasingly suspicious of Yang's ambitions, his extensive network of spies, and his declarations when "speaking as God". Yang and his family were put to death by Hong's followers in 1856, followed by

10486-574: The upper three Manchu Banners and having "giya" 佳 appended to the end of their surname to Manchufy it. It typically occurred in cases of intermarriage with the Qing Aisin Gioro Imperial family, and the close relatives (fathers and brothers) of the concubine or Empress would get promoted from the Han Banner to the Manchu Banner and become Manchu. The Han Bannerwoman Empress Xiaoyichun and her entire family were transferred to

10593-408: The well-paid Bannerman spent their time gambling and theatergoing. Subsidizing the 1.5 million men, women and children in the system was an expensive proposition, compounded by embezzlement and corruption. Destitution in the northeastern garrisons led many Manchu Bannermen to abandon their posts and in response the Qing government either sentenced them with penal slavery or death. In the 19th century,

10700-656: Was 14 years old then. Hong Tianguifu was unable to do anything to restore the kingdom, so the kingdom was quickly destroyed when Nanjing fell in July 1864 to Qing forces after vicious fighting in the streets. Most of the so-called princes were executed by Qing officials in Jinling Town ( 金陵城 ), Nanjing. Although the fall of Nanjing in 1864 marked the destruction of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, there were still several thousands of Taiping rebels continuing to resist Qing forces. It took seven years to finally put down all remnants of

10807-465: Was furious at the Manchus who adopted Han Chinese as their sons from slave and bondservant families in exchange for money and expressed his displeasure at them adopting Han Chinese instead of other Manchus. These Han Chinese who infiltrated the Manchu Banners by adoption were known as "secondary-status bannermen" and "false Manchus" or "separate-register Manchus", and there were eventually so many of these Han Chinese that they took over military positions in

10914-584: Was inscribed on the obverse and "Holy Treasure" ( Chinese : 聖寶 ) on the reverse; the kingdom also issued paper notes. With the collapse of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Qing dynasty launched waves of massacres against the Hakka, killing 30,000 Hakkas each day throughout China during the height of the Hakka massacres. Similar purges were taken while defeating the Red Turban Rebellion (1854–1856) . In Guangdong , Governor Ye Mingchen oversaw

11021-574: Was led by Zeng Guofan with 130,000 troops. The Qing regular army , the Green Standard Army , totaled about 2,300,000 (included the Xiang Army). Taiping Rebellion soldiers amounted to about 1,800,000 (including 300,000 local gang members who repeatedly changed sides). After 1864 a significant portion of the Army was disbanded on orders from Zeng. However at units under Zuo Zongtang continue to exist. They numbered around 120,000 by

11128-789: Was listed as 2,783 (percussion cap) muskets, 66 carbines, 4 rifles, and 895 field artillery guns, as well as carrying passports signed by the Loyal King. Almost two months later, a ship was stopped with 48 cases of muskets, and another ship with 5000 muskets. Mercenaries from the West also joined the Taiping forces, though most were motivated by opportunities for plunder during the rebellion rather than joining for ideological reasons. The Taiping forces constructed iron foundries where they were making heavy cannons, described by Westerners as vastly superior to Qing cannons. Just before his execution, Taiping Loyal King Li Xiucheng advised his enemies that war with

11235-434: Was not executed. In the late 19th century and early 1900s, intermarriage between Manchus and Han bannermen in the northeast increased as Manchu families were more willing to marry their daughters to sons from well off Han families to trade their ethnic status for higher financial status. From the time China was brought under the rule of the Qing dynasty, the banner soldiers became more professional and bureaucratized. Once

11342-550: Was to have a red border, except for the Bordered Red Banner, which had a white border instead. The banner armies expanded rapidly after a string of military victories under Nurhaci and his successors. Beginning in the late 1620s, the Jurchens incorporated allied and conquered Mongol tribes into the Eight Banner system. In 1635, Hong Taiji, son of Nurhaci, renamed his people from Jurchen to Manchu. That same year

11449-484: Was well established. With Qing forces beginning an attack on Nanjing, Hong declared that God would defend the city, but in June 1864, with Qing forces approaching, he died of food poisoning as the result of eating wild vegetables as the city began to run out of food. He was sick for twenty days before the Qing forces could take the city. Although Hong likely died of his illness, suicide by poison has also been suggested. Only

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