List of Rebellions in China - Yellow Turban Rebellion

Yellow Turban Rebellion

The Yellow Turban Rebellion, sometimes also translated as the Yellow Scarves Rebellion, (simplified Chinese: 黄巾之乱; traditional Chinese: 黃巾之亂; pinyin: Huáng Jīn Zhī Luàn) was a 184 CE peasant rebellion against Emperor Lingdi of the Han Dynasty of China. It is named for the color of the scarves which the rebels wore around their heads. The rebels were associated with secret Taiping Taoist societies and the rebellion marked an important point in the history of Taoism. The rebellion is the opening event in the Chinese literary classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

A major cause of the Yellow Turban Rebellion was an agrarian crisis, in which famine forced many farmers and former military settlers in the north to seek employment in the south, where large landowners took advantage of the labor surplus and amassed large fortunes. The situation was further aggravated by smaller floods along the lower course of the Yellow River. Further pressure was added on the peasants by high taxes imposed on them in order to build fortifications along the Silk Road and garrisons against foreign infiltrations and invasions. From 170 CE on, landlords and peasants formed irregular armed bands, setting the stage for class conflict.

At the same time, the Han Dynasty showed internal weakness. The power of the landowners had been a problem for a long time already (s. Wang Mang), but in the run-up to the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the court eunuchs in particular gained considerably in influence on the emperor, which they abused to enrich themselves. Ten of the most powerful eunuchs formed a group known as The Ten Regular Attendants and the emperor referred to one of them (Zhang Rang) as his "foster father". Consequently, the government was widely regarded as corrupt and incapable and against this backdrop, the famines and floods were seen as an indication that a decadent emperor had lost his mandate of heaven.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion was led by Zhang Jiao (who is referred to as Zhang Jue in the Robert Moss' English translation of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms) and his two younger brothers Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, who were born in the Ju Lu district of the Ye Prefecture. The brothers had founded a taoist religious sect in Shandong Province. They considered themselves followers of the "Way of Supreme Peace" (Tai Ping Dao) and venerated the deity Huang-Lao, who according to Zhang Jiao had given him a sacred book called the Crucial Keys to the Way of Peace (Tai Ping Yao Shu). Zhang Jiao was said to be a sorcerer and styled himself as the "Great Teacher". The sect propagated the principles of equal rights of all peoples and equal distribution of land; when the rebellion was proclaimed, the sixteen-word slogan was created by Zhang Jiao: 苍天已死，黄天当立，岁在甲子，天下大吉 ("The Blue Sky (ie. the Han Dynasty) has perished, the Yellow Sky (ie. the rebellion) will soon rise; in this year of Jia Zi, let there be prosperity in the world!")