The Nien Rebellion (Chinese: 捻軍起義; pinyin: niǎn jūn qǐ yì; Wade-Giles: nien-chün ch'i-yi Western historians have traditionally used the Wade-Giles transcription "Nien", rather than Hanyu Pinyin "Nian") was an epic armed uprising that took place in northern China from 1851 to 1868, contemporaneously with Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864) in South China. The rebellion failed to topple the Qing dynasty, but caused immense economic devastation and loss o...
more
The Nien Rebellion (Chinese: 捻軍起義; pinyin: niǎn jūn qǐ yì; Wade-Giles: nien-chün ch'i-yi Western historians have traditionally used the Wade-Giles transcription "Nien", rather than Hanyu Pinyin "Nian") was an epic armed uprising that took place in northern China from 1851 to 1868, contemporaneously with Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864) in South China. The rebellion failed to topple the Qing dynasty, but caused immense economic devastation and loss of life that became one of the major long-term factors in the collapse of the Qing regime.
Nian is a North Hua dialect meaning one seed one assistant (一股一夥). The Nian movement was formed in the late 1840s by Zhang Lexing, and by 1851 numbered approximately 40,000. Unlike the Taiping Rebellion movement though, the Nien initially had no clear goals or objectives aside from criticism of the Qing government. However, the Nien were provoked into taking direct action against the Imperial regime following a series of environmental disasters. In 1851,...
less
