Nian uprising

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The Nian uprising ( Chinese  捻軍 起義  /  捻军 起义 , Pinyin Niǎnjūn qǐyì , W.-G. Nien-chün ch'i-yi , English Nien Rebellion ; Western historians mostly use the old Wade-Giles transcription "Nien" , instead of Hanyu Pinyin "Nian") was a major armed uprising in northeastern China from 1853/55 to 1868, at the time of the Taiping Uprising (1851–1864) in southern China. It failed to overthrow the Qing Dynasty , but the uprising caused great loss of life and severe economic damage. In the long term, it was one of the causes of the collapse of Manchu rule.

The emergence of the Nian organization

The Nian were recruited from the survivors of the White Lotus Rebellion (1796–1804) at the beginning of the 19th century , even if they were not actually the successors of this sect (i.e. no religious component). After the suppression of the rebellion, bandit incidents occurred in the area north of the Huai River between Henan , Anhui and Jiangsu by dismissed soldiers and surviving insurgents, encouraged by responsible local officials and caused by the relatively underdevelopment of the area (famines due to floods and drought). According to an official report from 1814, gangs of up to a hundred men organized themselves and lived off looting, extortion and salt smuggling. They were called Nianzi (Nien-tzu) or Nian .

By means of gambling and marriage, they soon established connections with the local communities, including the authorities ( “The village was safe and the family that Nian members had” ). By 1850 entire communities were dependent on the economic success of the Nian bandit activities. Many members of the organization led double lives .

In the early 1850s the character of the bandit groups changed. The flood of 1851 brought ruin and famine to their regions, and August 1855 finally the devastating change of course of the Yellow River . To make matters worse, the Taiping army appeared in early 1853 , which meant that the Nian leaders had to take over the local defense of their communities (village associations with stone walls and firearms). During these years the feeling of unity and political awareness arose. Zhang Lexing (1811–1863), an uneducated salt smuggler, was able to unite eighteen leaders in 1852, whereupon government troops attacked him, the union broke up again and had to be reformed in 1855/6. In practice it was a seasonally active military organization (initially 5 "banners" with around 20,000 men each, including cavalry) of numerous robber communities with great internal autonomy of the gang chiefs.

Zhang Lexing

In the mid-1850s there were about 30 top people and the "Lord of the Alliance" was Zhang Lexing, who described himself as the "Great Han King with the Mandate of Heaven". Despite his title, only a few of the top people followed him, and from 1856–1862 he was mostly outside work and therefore unable to control effectively. Zhang Lexing, unlike most of the Nian leaders, was able to conquer and hold cities. Allied with the Taiping, he supported them militarily and was also supported, but did not accept any instructions. In 1861, Zhang Lexing got the title of king " Wu-Wang " from the Taiping ruler .

Nian propaganda

The little Nian propaganda that has survived was directed against corruption and injustice, but showed no hatred of the Manchu or the religious thinking of the White Lotus. The bandit Tao Chih, to whom temples were dedicated, was worshiped. In the end, however, the Nian adopted the symbolism of the White Lotus sect, Taiping and other established currents in order to get support or to be able to cooperate with other rebels. Above all, Zhang Lexing and Kung Te allied with the Taiping around 1858 and this alliance secured the Taiping residence in Nanjing to the north.

The Nian War, Phase 1

Combating the Nian proved difficult, failing in the 1850s and early 1860s due to divided and inappropriate leadership. Under Zeng Guofan (in Henan) and under Yuan Jiasan (in Anhui), the administration initially tried to mobilize the resources of the neighboring ("earth wall") communities against the Nian, but the troops set up in this way were quickly defeated, so that one stood up had to leave regular troops. In addition, these self-defense communities formed against Nian and Taiping soon turned against the local government, demanded (especially in Shandong) a reduction in taxes and stormed prisons, so that their political value was also limited.

The Nian did not act uniformly. While Zhang Lexing and Kung Te, in alliance with the Taiping, were trying to conquer the cities of the Huai region and northern Anhui, other Nian leaders carried out raids on Henan. In 1859 they were 30 miles from Kaifeng and in 1861 they approached Luoyang . In 1860 the Nian broke into Shandong and threatened Jinan . In Anhui, Henan and Shandong , their activities led to organizations of different origins and motivations instigating rebellions, which the administration also had to fight down.

Examples of such surveys are:

  • In the Huai area, Miao Peilin built his own organization in 1856/7 and for this purpose brought together numerous ("earth wall") communities in an alliance. He was initially on the side of the government against the Nian and Taiping, but also changed sides as needed.
  • In Shandong, the "Changqianghui" formed, a society of bandits and local leaders who had previously fought the Nian. It comprised 50–60,000 men before it was defeated in 1861. A certain Liu Chan-k'ao was recognized as the leader.
  • In addition, the "Chou sect" under Song Jipeng formed around 1853 in Shandong, bringing together numerous military gangs. Song Jipeng gave himself the title of ruler and was defeated in 1861, but escaped and rebelled again because he was not offered a post in the administration. In 1862 he is said to have commanded 100,000 men.
  • In addition - also in Shandong - there was a rebellion of a White Lotus offshoot under Chang Shan-chi (1861). Chang is said to have commanded 50,000 men and also gave himself the title of ruler. He defeated a Qing army, but could be outmaneuvered by mobilizing one of his subordinates, Song Jingshi (宋景 诗) against him. After his death and that of his successor Ch'eng Wu-ku, the sect gave up (on favorable terms).
  • In 1860 there were massive tax refusals in Shandong. Liu Te-p'ei, among others, opposed the government with this motivation and in 1862 rebelled with a few thousand men in Sichuan . He also gave himself the title of ruler.

In view of the serious crisis, additional troops were finally sent to Shandong under the general and Mongol prince Senggerinchin (Chinese: Senggelinqin ), who had already stopped the Taiping army advancing on Beijing. After a first defeat against the Nian at Jining in 1860, Senggerinchin succeeded in fighting various revolt centers: in 1862 he was able to defeat the Nian at Bozhou and then in 1863 at Zhihe (today Guoyang , Anhui). Liu Yuyuan, a well-known Nian leader, fell in the battle and several others surrendered. In late March 1863, Zhang Lexing was also caught and executed.

The prince was then ordered to Shandong, where he was equally successful in fighting the rebel Liu Te-p'ei, the Chou sect of Song Jipeng and Song Jingshi. All three hotspots were eliminated and their leaders died or disappeared. In December 1863, Senggerinchin was still able to defeat Miao Peilin in Anhui (with the support of several provincial armies), with Miao falling in battle.

The Nian War, Phase 2

The next phase of the war was marked by modified conditions. The Nian gave up their seasonal warfare and instead sought to establish a regular army with constant readiness, focused leadership and a strong cavalry. To what extent the participation of a small Taiping army (surviving the end of the Taiping Uprising in 1864) under Lai Wenguang (the " Tsun-Wang ") contributed to this rethinking is controversial. Furthermore, the Nian, now under the leadership of Zhang Zongyu (Zhang Lexing's nephew), Ren Zhu and Lai Wenguang, left their base in Anhui and moved around with their relatives, male and female ( South Henan , Hubei , Shandong, etc.) ).

Prince Senggerinchin pursued the Nian to Hubei and was finally encircled and killed near Caozhou (today: Heze ) in May 1865 . The defeat is attributed to both the increasing strength of the Nian cavalry and the lack of cooperation between the prince and his Chinese partners. It was a disaster for Beijing.

Senggerinchin's successor in office was Zeng Guofan , who worked out a new tactic until his resignation (in December 1866). He was Li Hongzhang assumed that alone commanded an army of 60,000 men and u. a. brought in four more steamships and soldiers trained by the British with modern weapons. At first, Zeng Guofan tried to be able to make a clear distinction between the government-loyal and the hostile communities. For this purpose, a spy network was set up, a register was created and the community leaders loyal to the government received certificates. Agents were also sent out to track down and catch hidden Nian activists. More decisive, however, was the military approach: here Zeng Guofan tried to find a blockade strategy. He occupied four strategic positions with his best troops and blocked the rivers in order to stop the Nian cavalry. However, they were repeatedly able to break through such lines of defense. A major advantage was that the Nian were not adequately armed with firearms, nor could they have access to modern armament. So in 1866 their attack on Shandong could be repulsed with cannons.

After the defeat in Shandong, the Nian came to a decision in October 1866: Zhang Zongyu moved to Shaanxi , i. H. far to the west, where he hoped to find a new base in the face of the Dungan uprisings , while Ren Zhu and Lai Wenguang tried to break through in Shandong and then tried to get to Sichuan via Hubei in 1867 . Thrown back while crossing the Han River , Ren and Lai returned to Shandong again and came to the Yantai (Chefoo) trading port . The American consul there described the Nian as disciplined: "They do not kill or injure as long as they meet no resistance." On the way back, they repeatedly failed because of Li Hongzhang's blockade of the Imperial Canal and were arrested in North Jiangsu and North Shandong (specifically on Mi River) defeated. Ren Zhu was murdered by one of his people. Lai Wenguang was captured and executed (January 1868).

The group under Zhang Zongyu attacked Xi'an in 1867 and was pushed back east across the Yellow River, where they came to Baoding , eighty miles from Beijing. Afterwards, Zhang Zongyu was encircled and defeated by the troops of Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang in the area between Tianjin , the Emperor's Canal and the Yellow River at enormous expense (as a precaution even the workers who carried out the fortification work were rewarded so as not to risk a rebellion) . Many Nian surrendered, and Zhang jumped into the Tuhai River and disappeared (July 1868).

Well-known Nian leaders

  • Zhang Lexing (Chang Lo-hsing) (1811–1863): Lord of the Alliance, was allied with Taiping and was killed in 1863
  • Kung Te: blind strategist, allied with the Taiping
  • Liu Yuyuan (Liu Yü-yüan or Liu the dog): allied with the White Lotus of East Henan, was killed in 1863
  • Li Chao-shou: provided military support for the Taiping in 1858 and then switched sides
  • Zhang Zongyu (Chang Tsung-yü), nephew of Zhang Lexing, Lord after 1863, disappeared in 1868
  • Ren Zhu (Jen Chu), number 2 after Zhang Zongyu, was murdered by a subordinate in 1867
  • Lai Wenguang (Lai Wen-kuang): a former Taiping king, united with the Nian in 1864 and was executed in 1868

literature

  • John K. Fairbank (Ed.): The Cambridge History of China. Volume 10: Late Ch'ing, 1800-1911. Part 1. Cambridge University Press, London et al. 1978, ISBN 0-521-21447-5 .
  • Siang-tseh Chiang: The Nien Rebellion. University of Washington Press, Seattle WA 1954.
  • David Ownby: Approximations of Chinese Bandits. Perverse Rebels, Romantic Heroes or Frustrated Bachelors? In: Susan Brownell, Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom: Chinese Masculinities - Femininities. A reader. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA et al. 2002, ISBN 0-520-21103-0 , pp. 226-250.
  • Elizabeth J. Perry: Rebels and Revolutionaries in Northern China, 1845-1945. California University Press, Stanford CA 1980, ISBN 0-8047-1055-4 .
  • Ssu-yü Têng: The Nien Army and Their Guerrilla Warfare. 1851–1868 (= Le monde d'outre-mer passé et présent. Series 1: Etudes. Vol. 13, ISSN  0077-0310 ). Mouton, Paris et al. 1961.
  • Chinese Historical Commission (ed.): Collection of materials on the Nian uprising. Shanghai 1961 (Chinese)
  • Fan Wenlan (ed.): Nianjun . Shanghai 1957 (Chinese)
  • Zhou Shicheng 周世澄: Huaijun pingnianji淮軍 平 捻 記

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