Taiping Rebellion

Epic card · No. 9465

The Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) was a civil war in late imperial China fought between the ruling Qing dynasty and the rebelling Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It was the deadliest civil war in history and the second-deadliest conflict in history overall. Estimates of the war's death toll range from 20–30 million, around 5–10% of the total Chinese population at the time, to 73–100 million, around 25% of the population. The Rebellion is widely considered to be the most important event in 19th-century Chinese history, and although the kingdom was defeated, the victory came at a great cost to the Qing dynasty's economy and political stability. The uprising was led by Hong Xiuquan, an ethnic Hakka who, after a series of visions, proclaimed himself to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ. Hong sought the religious conversion of the Han people to his syncretic version of Christianity, as well as the political overthrow of the Qing dynasty, and a general transformation of the mechanisms of state...

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