The White Lotus War : Rebellion and Suppression in Late Imperial China

The White Lotus War (1796-1804) in central China marked the end of the Qing dynasty's golden age and the fatal weakening of the imperial system itself. What started as a local rebellion grew into a serious political crisis, as the central government was no longer able to operate its military machine.Yingcong Dai's comprehensive investigation reveals that the White Lotus rebels would have remained a relatively minor threat, if not for the Qing's ill-managed response. Dai shows that the officials in charge of the suppression campaign were half-hearted about the fight and took advantage of the campaign to pursue personal gains. She challenges assumptions that the Qing relied upon local militias to exterminate the rebels, showing instead that the hiring of civilians became a pretext for misappropriation of war funds, resulting in the devastatingly high cost of the war. The mishandled demilitarization of the militiamen prolonged the hostilities when many of the dismissed troops turned into rebels themselves. The war's long-term impact presaged the beginning of the disintegration of the Qing in the mid-nineteenth century and eruptions of the Taiping Rebellion and other uprisings.__The White Lotus War__will interest students and scholars of late imperial and modern Chinese history, as well as history buffs interested in the warfare of the early modern world. "The White Lotus War examines the Qing dynasty's suppression campaign against the White Lotus Rebellion in central China at the turn of the nineteenth century, 1796-1805, marking the end of the Qing golden age and the start of dynastic decline. This study provides detailed accounts and in-depth analyses of the roots and dynamics of the Qing's failure to speedily put down the rebellion. Contrary to common belief in the gravity of the rebellion, it shows that the rebels were far from being able to seriously challenge the Qing and that the major reason the hostilities lasted so long was that the Qing military fought the war halfheartedly and took advantage of the campaign to pursue personal gains, which triggered strife between the throne and military and among military units. The White Lotus war represented a serious political crisis for the Qing, as its central government was no longer able to operate its military machine, which presaged the beginning of disintegration of Qing central power in the mid-nineteenth century. The White Lotus War challenges the assumption that the Qing relied upon local militias and fortification in the countryside to cut supplies and thereby exterminate the rebels. Rather, the Qing's hiring of hundreds of thousands of civilians to aid its operations became a pretext for generals and logistical leaders to misappropriate war funds, resulting in the high cost of the war. The mishandled demobilization of the militiamen then helped prolong the hostilities, when many dismissed troops turned into rebels themselves. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of late imperial and modern Chinese history, and of comparative empires and comparative warfare; the White Lotus war in China immediately preceded the Napoleonic wars in Europe"-- Provided by publisher A CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE The White Lotus War (1796–1804) in central China marked the end of the Qing dynasty's golden age and the fatal weakening of the imperial system itself. What started as a local rebellion grew into a serious political crisis, as the central government was no longer able to operate its military machine. Yingcong Dai's comprehensive investigation reveals that the White Lotus rebels would have remained a relatively minor threat, if not for the Qing's ill-managed response. Dai shows that the officials in charge of the suppression campaign were half-hearted about the fight and took advantage of the campaign to pursue personal gains. She challenges assumptions that the Qing relied upon local militias to exterminate the rebels, showing instead that the hiring of civilians became a pretext for misappropriation of war funds, resulting in the devastatingly high cost of the war. The mishandled demilitarization of the militiamen prolonged the hostilities when many of the dismissed troops turned into rebels themselves. The war's long-term impact presaged the beginning of the disintegration of the Qing in the mid-nineteenth century and eruptions of the Taiping Rebellion and other uprisings. The White Lotus War will interest students and scholars of late imperial and modern Chinese history, as well as history buffs interested in the warfare of the early modern world.

The White Lotus War (1796–1804) in central China marked the end of the Qing dynasty’s golden age and the fatal weakening of the imperial system itself. What started as a local rebellion grew into a serious political crisis, as the central government was no longer able to operate its military machine.

Yingcong Dai’s comprehensive investigation reveals that the White Lotus rebels would have remained a relatively minor threat, if not for the Qing’s ill-managed response. Dai shows that the officials in charge of the suppression campaign were half-hearted about the fight and took advantage of the campaign to pursue personal gains. She challenges assumptions that the Qing relied upon local militias to exterminate the rebels, showing instead that the hiring of civilians became a pretext for misappropriation of war funds, resulting in the devastatingly high cost of the war. The mishandled demilitarization of the militiamen prolonged the hostilities when many of the dismissed troops turned into rebels themselves. The war’s long-term impact presaged the beginning of the disintegration of the Qing in the mid-nineteenth century and eruptions of the Taiping Rebellion and other uprisings.

The White Lotus War will interest students and scholars of late imperial and modern Chinese history, as well as history buffs interested in the warfare of the early modern world.