The Taiping Rebellion

One of the worst tragedies during the Qing was the Taiping Rebellion. It began when a man repeatedly failed the imperial exam, had a religious crisis, turned toward Christianity, and came to believe he was Jesus’s brother sent to change China and free Han Chinese from Manchu rulers.

The war became incredibly destructive. Many people died not only in battles, but also from famine and disease as farms and cities were destroyed. Most modern estimates put the death toll around 20–30 million people—one of the deadliest civil wars in history.