The Taiping Rebellion and the Boxer Rebellion had similarities and differences. In the late 1830’s, Hong Xiuquan began gaining followers to help him build a “Kingdom of Great Peace.” Then during 1900, Boxers starting making their way towards Beijing.
In the late 1830’s, Hong Xiuquan started to gain followers to help him build a “Kingdom of Great Peace.” In the Kingdom, all the Chinese people would share China’s wealth and not a single person would live in poverty. The movement became known as the Taiping Rebellion, the Chinese word taiping came from the word “great peace.” By 1850, Xiuquan had a peasant army of one million people, over time the Taiping military gained control of massive territories in southeastern China. In 1853, Hong gained control of Nanjing and it became his capital, Hong eventually he retired from
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They included reorganizing the education system, strengthening the economy, modernizing the military, and streamlining the government. A lot of Qing officials interpreted the reforms as threats to their power, and Guangxu’s didn’t bring any change whatsoever. The widespread feeling of frustration erupted into violence, poor peasants and workers disliked the special treatment that was granted to foreigners; they also resented the Chinese Christians who adopted a foreign faith. To show their discontent, they created a secret organization called the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists they then became known as the Boxers. The campaign against Dowager Empress’s rule was called the Boxer Rebellion. Spring of 1900, the Boxers started making their way towards Beijing, shouting; “Death to the foreign devils.” They surrounded the European part of the city and kept it under siege for months. The Empress supported the Boxers actions, but did not back it up with military aid. Then in August, a force of 19 thousand men marched into Beijing and defeated the Boxers