A Brief Modern Chinese History

The core of the Law lay in the regulation of land. One of the basic principles regarding land was that land must be equally shared by the people on a per capita basis, in contradiction to the feudal system of land ownership and the traditional Chinese desire to own land.

Apart from the free and equal allotment of land, the Law tried to create an egalitarian society by abolishing private property. The goal of the Law was to ensure that the poverty, exploitation and the feudal system that dominated Chinese peasants would be eliminated and that the small-peasant economy was well maintained. Not only did the Law epitomize a rural egalitarian utopia, it also showed that the Chinese peasants, who had suffered the shackles of feudalism generation after generation, wanted to try and free themselves and did so as soon as they realized their own worth and value. However, due to the long war, it was difficult to fully put the Law into effect. The Law did, however, play a great role in satisfying the peasants’ spiritual cravings and arousing the peasants’ revolutionary enthusiasm.

As time went by, the negative effects of the Heavenly Dynasty’s socio-economic policies became increasingly obvious. Many urban residents, particularly those who lived in Nanjing, were unhappy with the abolition of private property and those who remained loyal to Qing used this to their advantage. In the spring of 1854, those unhappy with the new regime attempted to secretly coordinate with the Qing army of the Southern Barracks, to the great astonishment of the leadership of the Taiping Army. Despite this, the Taiping-style public treasury did not cease operation until it could no longer survive. As regards the public treasury itself, it worked in the early stages of the rebellion, when the Taiping Army obtained a huge amount of money and grain in Nanjing. But, in the long term, the public treasury was unable to meet the needs of more than one million residents and soldiers. Take the free distribution of food, for example. When capturing Nanjing in March, 1853, all residents regardless of age and sex receive free and equal allotments of rice. Four months later, the distribution had to be based on a more accurate calculation. At the beginning of 1854, Nanjing’s grain reserves could only meet the public need for another four months and, by summer, only rice porridge was available for residents. Finally, in the fall, Nanjing, or the Heavenly Capital, ran out of grain. As a consequence, many had to go out of the city to look for food and some fled altogether.

The Taiping Army’s food supply mostly depended on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The primary goal of the western expedition was precisely the collection of grain. The program of abolishing the traditional tax caused great inconvenience to both the Heavenly Dynasty and the peasants. By 1854, the number of residents loyal to the Taiping Army decreased significantly. In some cases, the army was forced to coercively collect grain. This exacerbated the tensions between the Taiping authorities and the local residents. Even the Taiping Army’s sympathizers objected to the army’s behavior to the people. To maintain basic governance, every government in a class society must try to limit social conflicts by establishing a certain order. In the case of the Heavenly Dynasty, the abolition of tax was not sustainable. The Taiping authorities finally decided to restore the traditional taxation system in the early summer of 1854. This dramatic policy change implied that the Taiping leadership recognized the legitimacy of private ownership as a means of production (land, for example). As a result, the Heavenly Dynasty’s economy improved and the people’s trust in the Taiping authorities was restored. In addition to the tax reform, Yang, who, again, was second only to Hong, declared that traditional marriage and family structures would be restored. Life returned to normal. It was at this time that the Taiping Army wiped out Qing’s Southern and Northern Barracks, posing a serious threat to Nanjing.

The Aggressive Anglo-French Expedition Against China

After China was left bruised and battered by the Taiping Rebellion, Britain and France began the Second Opium War (1856–1860). Although the imperialist powers had already gained many privileges after signing the Nanjing Treaty, their appetite for wealth and power still seemed unquenchable. Britain wanted to legalize the opium trade through war, in the hope that their economic interests in China could be protected, and they would stop at nothing.

As early as the 1850s, the British government headed by Lord Palmerston (1784–1865) was planning a war against China. On September 29, 1850, Palmerston wrote that his government would soon launch new strikes and would occupy strategic positions in the lower parts of the Yangtze River, sealing off the Grand Canal. He said, “They [the Chinese] care little for words and they must not only see the Stick but actually feel it on their Shoulders before they yield to that only argument which to them brings conviction the argumentum Baculinum.”10 The following September, Palmerston inquired about the best time to cut off Beijing’s grain supply by disrupting transportation on the Grand Canal and the Yangtze River.

The foreign powers made unreasonable demands to revise existing treaties, which led to war. Britain, the United States and others wanted to grab more privileges by amending the relevant treaties. As early as May, 1853, the British ambassador to China suggested that both sides revise the Nanjing Treaty. Britain demanded that all Chinese cities and ports must be opened to the British. At this time, the Taiping Army was advancing toward Tianjin, a city very close to the imperial capital. In these pressing circumstances, the revision of the treaties was laid aside. In July, the United States said that if Qing would revise the treaties, the foreign powers would in exchange cooperate to suppress the rebellion. The Qing government was suspicious about America’s motives and rejected their proposal. It should be pointed out that Britain’s demand for revising the Nanjing Treaty was totally unfounded, because this treaty was not commercial but political; the most-favored-nation clause could not be included in a revision of the signed treaty.

In 1854, Britain, France and the United States all demanded that the existing treaties be revised. The Qing government refused and instead opened up all of China, legalized the opium trade, increased tax exemptions, granted foreign diplomats permanent residence in Beijing and so on.

The United States, in 1855, appointed Peter Parker, a missionary, the Chargé D’affaires and required that he obtain permanent residence in Beijing and unlimited freedom for Americans to trade and travel throughout China. They said that in order to maximize their interests, the powers must drastically revise the existing treaties and get tough with China.11 He visited London and Paris, where the colonial diplomats reached an agreement. In August, as Parker was about to leave for Beijing and force the Chinese government to amend the treaties, his British counterpart asserted that without seeing the military might of the powers, China would not make significant concessions.12 Convinced by this, Parker gave up the trip. When the Sino-American Wangxia Treaty expired in 1856, Britain, France and the United States attempted to get Qing to revise the treaties in accordance with their demands. The Qing government again refused, making war, once again, inevitable.

The Crimean War ended in March, 1856. Russia lost to France and Britain. Britain then decided to send its warships to China. The adversaries of the Crimean battlefield now became comrades in the partition of China.

The Arrow was a commercial ship registered in Hong Kong. In October, 1856, the Guangdong navy searched this ship and arrested several pirates. The British consul in Guangzhou, at the British ambassador’s request, then alleged that the ship was owned by Britain and that the Chinese sailors had insulted the British national flag. He demanded an apology and the immediate release of those who had been arrested. The governor of Guangdong first wrote a letter to the British, angered at their statements. He later decided to send those arrested to the British consulate. The British army in late August began bombarding the city of Guangzhou; and, by the next spring, the Palmerston government began to frantically clamor for war against China. The opposition in Parliament questioned Palmerston and set a motion of non-confidence against him. An angered Palmerston asked for a new election. Parliament was reshuffled and finally enacted a bill of war. The British army commanded by James Bruce, Earl of Elgin, was sent to China. At the same time, the Palmerston government invited its French counterpart to join this aggressive expedition. France accepted Britain’s invitation in exchange for approval to expand into Vietnam and for support for an imprescriptible, privileged French Catholicism in China. Some French troops led by the Baron Gros joined the British.

The British and French began to arrive in Hong Kong in October, 1857. One month later, they were joined by the Americans and Russians. By the end of 1857, more than 5,600 British and French soldiers were stationed at the estuary of the Pearl River. Soon the British and the French joined forces and stormed into Guangzhou where they captured the governor. Later, this governor was sent to Calcutta, India, where he died in prison. The invaders set up a puppet regime in Guangzhou. They then headed north and pointed their guns at Beijing. In May, 1858, they took the strategic Dagu garrison, greatly threatening Tianjin. At this point, the Russians and Americans started to mediate and the Qing government was forced to hold peace talks. In the first half of June, Qing signed the Tianjin Treaty with Russia and the United States, which stipulated that both sides should demarcate a border as soon as possible. This laid the foundation for Tsarist Russia’s large-scale territorial seizures in China. In late June, the treaties involving China, Britain and France were signed; they stipulated that foreign diplomats should be given permanent residence in Beijing, that ten more treaty ports should be created, that custom duties be further reduced, and that China pay 4,000,000 silver dollars to Britain and 2,000,000 silver dollars to France in war reparations. Then, in November, the powers forced China to sign an additional treaty legalizing the opium trade and stipulating that the China’s customs should be guided by Britain. Emperor Xianfeng had no choice but to approve all of these treaties.

The next year, the British, French and American ambassadors travelled to China in their own fleets in order to sign the documents. On June 25, they launched an unexpected attack on the Dagu garrison. The defending force was commanded by the renowned Sengge Linqin, who destroyed ten enemy warships and annihilated more than four hundred enemy soldiers. The wounded British admiral and his American counterpart had to withdraw. For the first time, Qing had won a huge victory against the Western invaders.

Following the Dagu battle, China and the United States signed an agreement. Britain and France, on the other hand, were preparing for another war. They sent seventy-nine British warships and 20,000 or so British soldiers, together with forty French warships and 7,600 French soldiers. Colonial armies of this size had rarely been seen in world history. In April, 1860 the colonial troops successively captured Zhoushan (in present-day Zhejiang), Dalian (in Liaoning) and Zhifu (present-day Yantai, Shandong) and blocked the Bohai Gulf. One month later, the Russian and American envoys arrived. While officially mediating with the Chinese, in reality they were secretly helping the British and the French. In late August, the Americans and Russians occupied Tianjin. The Qing government agreed to start another round of peace talks; however, these failed due to the colonialists’ harsh requirements. At the Russian diplomats’ instigation, in early September the allied troops began attacking Beijing, which resulted in Qing’s defending forces, commanded by Sengge, finally being destroyed in late September. Emperor Xianfeng had to flee Rehe (present-day Chengde, Hebei). The British troops attacked Beijing in retaliation, looted and burnt Yuanmingyuan, the Old Summer Palace, which epitomized the brilliance of ancient Chinese art and culture. Today, one can see Yuanmingyuan’s broken stone pillars, which survived the attack carried out by the colonialists.

Intimated by the Western powers, Qing had to sign the Treaty of Beijing with Britain and France in late October. As part of the treaty, Tianjin was turned into a treaty port and a new piece of territory was added to Britain’s territory in Hong Kong, and more millions of silver dollars in war reparations were paid. After the Second Opium War, an imperialistic system was formally set up causing considerable damage to China’s sovereignty. The signing of the Treaty of Beijing marked the further decline of China.

Tsarist Russia: A Grabber of Chinese Lands

Russia intensified its efforts to grab land in the northeast and northwest of China after the First Opium War. In September, 1847, the Tsar appointed a general and diplomat as Governor General of East Siberia. The governor’s main duty was to seize China’s Heilong River. Two years later, the Russian navy invaded the river’s estuary and Kuyedao (Sakhalin). By 1853, Russia had expanded into the lower reaches of the Heilong River. At the beginning of 1854, the Tsar approved the Governor General’s decision to arm navigation along the Heilong River. In May, seventy Russian warships and 1,000 Russian soldiers crossed the Sino-Russian border and began to build garrisons in the lower reaches of the Heilong River. The next year, Tsarist Russia even started to transport armed settlers into the territory. In late 1856, the Tsar set up a new oblast (province) on the Heilong River’s lower reaches and Kuyedao.

In May, 1858, when China was facing Anglo-French aggression, the governor of East Siberia forced the Qing general supervising Aihui (present-day Heihe, Heilongjiang) to sign the Treaty of Aihui (Aigun). Under this treaty, Russia grabbed more than 600,000 square kilometers of Chinese territory north of the Heilong River and south of the Stanovoy Range. However, the Qing government disapproved of this treaty and punished the general of Aihui. Russia, however, took Hailanpao, the Chinese city on the north side of Heilongjiang, renamed it Blagoveshchensk and awarded the governor of East Siberia a noble title. Russia continued their expansion into the northwest China and the Tsar’s troops invaded the region east of Balkhash Lake as early as 1846. Then, in the 1850s, Russia crossed the Ili River and seized a huge piece of Chinese territory.

After the signing of the Treaty of Beijing, which involved China, Britain and France, Russia threatened a huge attack against China while also promising to help Qing crack down on the Taiping Rebellion.13 Due to the circumstances, in November, 1860, the Sino-Russian Beijing Treaty was signed under pressure from the Russian Empire. As a consequence, 400,000 square kilometers of Chinese territory east of the Wusuli River was ceded to Russia. In regards to the western Sino-Russian border, this treaty imposed a Russia-drawn border on China. Starting in 1862, China and Russia started to negotiate about the northwestern border. Russians arbitrarily changed China’s original western border to Balkhash Lake. By doing so, huge pieces of Chinese territory could be stolen by Russia. In order to achieve its goal, Russia threatened to attack Kashiga’er (Kashgar) and Yili (Ili). Negotiations resumed in 1864 and Russia stationed its troops outside Tacheng (Tarbagatai), where both sides met. In October, Qing was forced to sign the Treaty of Tarbagatai (勘分西北界约记). China, again, lost another 440,000 square kilometers of land east and south of Balkhash Lake to Russia. In any review of the Second Opium War, it must be recognized that Tsarist Russia grabbed the lion’s share of land, more than 1,440,000 square kilometers of Chinese territory.

The Taiping Rebellion in Its Late Phase: Zeng Guofan and the Hunan Army

The Qing dynasty was in an extremely difficult situation. The Taiping rebels posed the greatest threat to the dynasty. The aggression coming from the colonialists could be solved by making concessions. Qing therefore preferred to expend his efforts on quelling the Taiping Rebellion. In order to annihilate the rebels as quickly as possible, the imperial court chose to depend on the traditional bureaucrats who would play a pivotal role in the large-scale war against the Taiping Army. As Qing’s regular armed forces, the Eight Banners and the Green Standard Army, had already proved weak in their fighting capability, the central government allowed some senior officials to organize local troops. Zeng Guofan, a native of Xiangxiang in Hunan, was praised for his work. Late in the reign of Daoguang, he reached the ministerial level in the imperial service. He organized Hunan militias into a powerful local armed force known as the Xiangjun, or the Hunan Army. Next to this new army, Qing’s regular army paled in comparison. Soldiers of the Xiangjun came from the same town. When recruiting, the Xiangjun officer encouraged men with family ties to join the same camp. Camp members proved very obedient to the head of the camp, their own townsman. The whole of the Xiangjun remained loyal to Zeng. The Xiangjun followed orthodox Confucian ideology, were well-disciplined and well-paid. For Qing, a dynasty in twilight, the Xiangjun were indispensable and irreplaceable. However, in the years prior to 1857, the Xiangjun lost many battles against the Taiping Army. The Xiangjun headquarters, for instance, were destroyed in March, 1856 and, one month later, one of the founding generals of the Xiangjun was killed. Later the Xiangjun grew more powerful and became one of the Taiping Army’s greatest enemies.

Something unexpected occurred in the leadership of the Nanjing-based Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace. In June, 1856, the Taiping Army destroyed the Qing army’s Southern Barracks, successfully reversing the setbacks suffered, but it was still unable to guarantee the political stability of the Taiping government. After establishing its capital in Nanjing, the government’s innovative style of politics was gradually wound up and, regrettably, it reverted to feudal relations. The original brotherhood, comprising the leaders and their top aides, was replaced by a rigid hierarchy headed by the monarch. In these conditions, the contradiction that had developed between Hong Xiuquan, the Heavenly King, and Yang Xiuqing, the East King, grew increasingly acute. Hong did everything possible, including practicing traditional rites and proclaiming conventional Confucianism, in order to strengthen his political supremacy. Despite these efforts, however, Hong was unable to prevent Yang from posing a challenge. According to the early devotional practice of the God-Worshipping Society, which laid the organizational foundation of the Taiping Rebellion, Yang had the ability to speak on behalf of God, and held many prestigious religious titles, thus making him religio-politically superior to almost all others. Many senior officials and generals, even Hong, the Heavenly King, were humiliated, bullied and punished by Yang. A significant number detested the imperious East King.14 The growing number of grievances finally brought about a serious internal conflict in August, 1856, when the Taiping Army crushed Qing’s Southern Barracks.

Just at that moment, Yang forced Hong to confer a much more prestigious title on him. Speaking with mysterious authority on behalf of God, Yang said that he should be given the title of Wansui, meaning Long Life, the grandest title that could be given by the supreme leader. Yang frequently used this special title to enforce obedience to himself, and this had a serious impact on Hong’s authority. As a result, Hong secretly summoned Shi Dakai, the Wing King, and Wei Changhui, the North King, to Nanjing. On the morning of September 2, 1856, Wei and his troops attacked the Mansion of the East King and killed Yang and his entire family. The situation in the following two months grew worse as Wei continued to indiscriminately kill innocent people. When arriving in Nanjing, Shi, who had just fought in Hubei, retaliated against Wei’s brutality and abuses. Infuriated, Wei attempted to murder Shi. When informed about this, Shi had to flee under cover of darkness. However, Shi’s family were all put to death. Five months later, Hong executed Wei and his adherents, putting an end to the carnage.

Shi was then summoned by the Heavenly King to help him. However, Shi soon grew disillusioned with Hong’s unfounded suspicions. In June, 1857, Shi soon decided to form his own army and left for Sichuan with 100,000 or 200,000 men. By departing, Shi left Nanjing in dire straits, and also signed his own death warrant. When leaving Nanjing, Shi was so disheartened that he even wanted to disband his troops. Later he was of slightly better cheer. Even so, his actions were still impetuous and aimless. Three years later, Shi retreated to Guangxi and many of his followers abandoned him. The core of Shi’s army finally (re-)joined the Taiping Army in Jiangxi. Shi had to organize a new army in Guangxi. In 1861, Shi and his new troops left Guangxi, hoping that they could capture Sichuan and create their own kingdom. However, Shi failed twice. Two years later, however, Shi entered Sichuan via Yunnan. In May, 1863, Shi was defeated by the Qing army at the Anshunchang ferry and then captured. One month later, Shi, at the age of 33, was executed in Chengdu.

The bloody events that took place in Nanjing fundamentally changed the situation. Before Nanjing, the Taiping Army had taken roughly the whole of Jiangxi and Anhui and parts of Hubei and Jiangsu, giving them a military advantage. After this, the Xiangjun captured Wuchang and Hanyang, two strategic cities, and made Hubei their central base. After Shi Dakai’s mistake, the Taiping troops in Jiangxi were completely destroyed one after the other. The strategic city of Jiujiang then fell into the hands of the enemy in May, 1858. During this battle, 17,000 soldiers’ lives were lost. However, in October, Qing recaptured Jiangxi as well as the strategic cities in northern and southern Anhui. The Qing army in Jiangsu rebuilt the destroyed Southern and Northern Barracks. The reconstructed Southern Barracks then intensified their attacks on Nanjing and in January, 1858, Qing’s troops approached Nanjing, the Heavenly Capital.

However, Qing had to expend its efforts on responding to the nationwide peasant uprisings and the Second Opium War, and this gave the Taiping Army some breathing room. Hong tried his best to rebuild the army by promoting young, capable generals. Among five of the leading young generals, Chen Yucheng, Li Xiucheng and Li Shixian were the most excellent and the leadership of the Taiping Army was reinvigorated.

One of Hong Xiuquan’s younger cousins, Hong Rengan 洪仁玕 (1822–1864), returned at this time. The younger Hong had been studying in Hong Kong, where he learned about Christian theology and Western sciences. In 1858, he was in Nanjing and when his elder cousin heard of this, he invited him to join the leadership of Taiping government. The younger Hong prepared a new political program known as New Governance (资政新篇) for the Taiping government. This four-part program focused on the reform of the system of manpower, the transformation of old customs and habits, the adoption of capitalist socio-economic policies, and the promotion of a legal system. The young Hong’s socio-economic program set the stage for what would lie ahead in the peasant revolution. In order to promote capitalist development, he suggested that the Taiping government publish newspapers, set up autonomous organizations, create modern industries and international trade. The New Governance was distinct from the 1853 Land Law of Heavenly Dynasty, which advocated for an egalitarian kingdom with a peasant economy. The 1859 New Governance, on the other hand, argued for a capitalist kingdom as the younger Hong realized that capitalism would most likely triumph over feudalism.15 After reading his younger cousin’s program, the elder Hong wrote very detailed instructions and comments agreeing with most of the younger Hong’s suggestions. Here lay the possibility of a fundamental transformation of the Taiping Rebellion. Unfortunately, due to the endless wars, the New Governance could not be put into practice. The younger Hong and his political program were not able to substantially influence the politics of the Heavenly Dynasty.