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Last broadcast on Thu, 24 Feb 2011, 21:30 on BBC Radio 4 (see all broadcasts).
Synopsis
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Taiping Rebellion.
In 1850 a Chinese Christian convert, Hong Xiuquan, proclaimed himself leader of a new dynasty, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He and his followers marched against the ruling Qing dynasty, gathering huge support as they went. The ensuing civil war lasted fourteen years; around twenty million people lost their lives in a conflict which eventually involved European as well as Chinese soldiers.
The Taiping Rebellion was arguably the most important event to befall China in the 19th century. Chinese nationalists and communists alike have been profoundly influenced by it, and historians believe it shaped modern China in the same way as the First World War shaped modern Europe.
Rana Mitter
Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford
Frances Wood
Head of the Chinese Section at the British Library
Julia Lovell
Lecturer in Chinese History at Birkbeck, University of London.
Producer: Thomas Morris.
FURTHER READING
Jonathan Spence, 'God’s Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1996)
Philip A. Kuhn, 'Rebellion and Its Enemies in Late Imperial China' (Harvard University Press, 1980)
Rudolf Wagner, 'Reenacting the Heavenly Vision: The Role of Religion in the Taiping Rebellion' (Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 1982)
S. Y. Teng, 'The Taiping Rebellion and the Western Powers: A Comprehensive Survey' (Oxford: Clarendon, 1971)
Broadcasts
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Thu 24 Feb 201109:00
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Thu 24 Feb 201121:30
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