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China, A Little History, Part 10

Nationalist Republic

Statue of Sun Yat-sen, Father of the Nation, at the Presidential Palace in Nanjing. Presidential Palace, Nanjing, China, Asia.
Statue of Sun Yat-sen, Father of the Nation, at the Presidential Palace in Nanjing.

You say you want a revolution?  After the disastrous 19th century, the Chinese people did.  The Qing Dynasty realized it had no choice but to reform and modernize.  Unfortunately for them, there was nothing less modern than China’s 2,000-year-old imperial system.  (And in an era of nationalism, it didn’t help them in the least that they weren’t ethnically Chinese.)  Over a period of many years, the people began to rise up and revolt throughout the vast [Read more…]

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China, A Little History, Part 6

Taiping Rebellion

The building that eventually became the Presidential Palace in Nanjing was built on the ruins of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's palace, which was destroyed when Nanjing was retaken by the Qing Dynasty. Presidential Palace, Nanjing, China, Asia.
The building that eventually became the Presidential Palace in Nanjing was built on the ruins of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s palace, which was destroyed when Nanjing was retaken by the Qing Dyansty.

The Taiping Rebellion?  What the hell is that?  In school I learned about the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion.  But I’m quite certain I’d never heard of the Taiping Rebellion.  Would you believe it was the bloodiest conflict of the 19th century and the bloodiest civil war in history at likely well over 20 million dead?  Battle deaths were actually less than half a million.  The remainder died from famine and plague directly related to the war.  (Plus there was the matter of thousands of civilians executed by the victors for suspicion of loyalty to the rebels.) [Read more…]