KS3 / KS4 History - The Taiping Rebellion

This film is from the series The Story of China available on BBC Teach.

The Taiping Rebellion was mostly a revolt by poor, rural peasants against their rich landlords, inspired by the religious pamphlets of an American missionary.

Historian Michael Wood calls it the ‘worst war of the 19th Century’. He explores the background to the revolt - the defeat in the Opium War, and rural poverty.

Hong, the leader, spent years in the rural South of China preparing the peasants for rebellion. Initially very successful, Hong, with the support of an army of one hundred thousand, was installed as Emperor in Nanjing.

China then had two governments - one traditional, the Qing in Beijing, the other revolutionary, in Nanjing, where the Taiping rebels created a classless society where private property was abolished.

Finally, in 1864, aided by Britain and the other western powers, the Qing were able to re-conquer Nanjing, defeating the Taiping Rebellion and reuniting China.

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