The Nian Rebellion was one of a series of mid-nineteenth rebellions against China’s Qing Dynasty. Bands of outlaws called nian were organized by Zhang Luoxing into a coherent revolutionary force, the Nian. Several attempts to subjugate the Nian failed, mostly because the government was more concerned with other foreign and domestic military challenges to its power. Once these other issues were resolved, however, the Nian Rebellion was crushed.
During the mid-nineteenth century, China was an empire in decline. Not only was the Manchu, or Qing, Dynasty (1644-1911) suffering from both internal corruption and a succession of weak emperors, but China was also suffering from a prolonged period of poor harvests, drought,
The weakness of the Manchu Dynasty had been graphically exhibited to the world by China’s defeat by the British in the First Opium War
The origin of the Nian Rebellion lay in the White Lotus
The Nian movement inherited much of the philosophy of the White Lotus movement, as well as its basic organizational structure. Units and their leaders were given names corresponding to colors and banners. Thus, the organization the Nian movement inherited from the White Lotus movement provided it with an inherently military structure. This was not coincidental, since the White Lotus philosophy had been a militaristic form of Buddhism. The Nian movement’s peculiar mixture of Buddhist philosophy
Li Hongzhang.
Although the Nian were referred to as “bandits” by the rulers in Beijing, to the local populace they represented an alternative to the ineffectual efforts of the central government to maintain order. Indeed, the power of the Nian was rooted in the peasants and minor gentry of the Yellow River Valley. Because of the demands of the central government for taxes and the lack of support it provided to solve local problems, most of the local people saw no benefit in supporting the Qing Dynasty and felt that the local government, represented by the Nian, presented a better alternative. Those local leaders who preferred to remain loyal to the Qing were conquered by the Nian during their rise to power.
Nian military power rested in two complementary elements: strongly fortified cities and fast-moving cavalry. Because their cities were protected against easy conquest by the Manchu, the soldiers of the Nian were free to range far from their homes on military campaigns. When the Manchu armies, nearly completely infantry, attempted to make contact with the largely cavalry Nian armies, the Nian armies simply outran the imperial forces.
When imperial forces attempted to invest a Nian city, the Nian, with their greater speed and mobility, could marshal their forces quickly to concentrate their power in that area. They would harass the imperial supply lines and isolated units, inflicting casualties in a typical guerrilla war until they could find an advantageous time and place to defeat the imperial force. By employing these tactics, the Nian were able to withstand any armies the Manchu, who were already hard-pressed to contain the Taiping Rebellion
As the war progressed, imperial generals finally realized that they needed to negate the advantages of the Nian if they were to have any hope of defeating them. They needed to increase the number of cavalry units within their armies, deny the Nian the security of their fortified cities, and finally bring the Nian to battle on the Manchus’ terms. The empire’s forces would then be able to destroy the Nian’s military and thus end the rebellion. Three imperial generals in succession developed and implemented this plan: Senggelinqin
The Manchu first developed a cavalry force that could match the Nian. They had also learned the value of modern European weaponry from their experience against the British in the First Opium
Perhaps the final blow to the Nian came with the defeat of the Taiping Rebellion
The Nian Rebellion was one of several local insurrections that plagued China in the middle of the nineteenth century. It was primarily a collaboration of the local leaders and population as a reaction to lackadaisical and oppressive policies of the Manchu central government coupled with the loss of face the Manchu suffered in the Opium Wars. Although the Nian Rebellion ultimately failed, it helped hasten the collapse of the Qing Dynasty by further weakening the support for the dynasty of the Chinese people.
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Chaing, Siang-tseh. The Nien Rebellion. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1954. Doctoral dissertation that provides a wealth of information on the Nian Rebellion, its causes, and its consequenes. -
Spence, Jonathan D. God’s Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996. Primarily a history of the Taiping Rebellion, this work’s interpretation of imperial policies and the interactions of the Nian and the Taiping are illuminating. -
Perry, Elizabeth J., ed. Chinese Perspectives on the Nien Rebellion. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1981. A collection of essays by Chinese scholars on the Nian Rebellion and its place in Chinese history. -
Graham, Gerald S. The China Station: War and Diplomacy, 1830-1860. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1978. An analysis of the interactions of China with England, this book provides insight into British actions and attitudes during the rebellion. -
Teng, Ssu-yü. The Nien Army and Their Guerrilla Warfare. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984, 1961. An analysis of the Nian with emphasis on their military tactics. -
Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. A refreshing late twentieth century look at China that places the rebellion in its larger historical and cultural context. -
Fairbanks, John King. China: A New History. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1992. A general history of China providing scope and background on the subject.
First Opium War
China’s Taiping Rebellion
Muslim Rebellions in China
Second Opium War
China’s Self-Strengthening Movement Arises
Cixi’s Coup Preserves Qing Dynasty Power
Scramble for Chinese Concessions Begins
Boxer Rebellion
Hong Xiuquan; Zeng Guofan.