什么是太平天国之乱

Taiping Rebellion

发生在中国，大规模反抗清朝的叛乱，蹂躏十七个省份，造成两千万人因此丧命，平乱之後，清朝政府已无力重新有效掌控国家。1840年代，饱受洪水与饥馑之苦的农民，使得叛乱的时机成熟，就在洪秀全的领导下发动叛乱。洪秀全心中的意像使他深信自己是耶稣的胞弟，并以将中国从满族统治底下解放出来，视为上天赋予他的责任。他宣扬在神之下，所有人要有如兄弟姊妹般的情谊，财产应该公有。其追随者富於战斗的信念，使他们团结成一支训练有素的军队，并扩充到超过百万的男男女女。（在太平天国的反叛军中，男女平等。）他们於1853年夺下南京，改名为天京（意为天国的首都）。太平军企图夺取北京，虽然失败，但一支远征长江上游河谷的部队却取得许多胜利。洪秀全过於偏重个人特色的基督教信仰，使得他疏离於西方传教士以及中国的学者士绅。由於缺乏士绅阶级的支持，太平军无力统治乡间，或有效支援他们占领的城市。太平军的领导阶层偏离最初的朴实，陷於权力斗争中，导致洪秀全缺乏有力的支助。1860年，太平军企图夺取上海，但遭英人领导的英美军队所击退。1862年，曾国藩率领的中国部队包围南京。到1864年，这座城市终於陷落，然而太平天国有近十万的部众宁愿赴死，也不愿被俘。各地方零星的抵抗持续到1868年。估计有超过两千万人在这场叛乱中丧生。亦请参阅Li Hongzhang、Nian Rebellion。

1850～1864年

Taiping Rebellion

Large-scale rebellion against the Qing dynasty in China that ravaged 17 provinces, took some 20 million lives, and left the Qing government unable to regain an effective hold over the country. The peasants, having suffered floods and famines in the late 1840s, were ripe for rebellion, which came under the leadership of Hong Xiuquan. Hong's visions convinced him he was the younger brother of Jesus, and he saw it as his duty to free China from Manchu rule. He preached the brotherhood and sisterhood of all people under God; property was to be held in common. His followers' militant faith unified a fiercely disciplined army that swelled to more than a million men and women (women were treated as equals by Taiping rebels). They captured Nanjing in 1853 and renamed it Tianjing (“Heavenly Capital”). Their attempts to capture Beijing failed, but an expedition into the Upper Chang (Yangtze) River valley scored many victories. Hong's idiosyncratic Christianity alienated both Western missionaries and the Chinese scholar-gentry. Without the gentry, the Taiping forces were unable to govern the countryside or supply their cities effectively. The leadership strayed from its original austerity and descended into power struggles that left Hong without competent help. In 1860 an attempt to take Shanghai was repelled by U.S.- and British-led forces, and by 1862 Chinese forces under Zeng Guofan had surrounded Nanjing. The city fell in 1864, but almost 100,000 of the Taiping followers preferred death to capture. Sporadic resistance continued elsewhere until 1868. More than 20 million people may have died in the rebellion. See also Li Hongzhang, Nian Rebellion.