YANG HSIU-CH'ING

died Sept. 2/3, 1856, Nanking Pinyin Yang Xiuqing organizer and commander in chief of the Taiping Rebellion, the politicalreligious uprising that occupied most of South China between 1850 and 1864. A dealer in firewood, Yang joined the Taiping band shortly before the rebellion broke out and quickly rose to a high position. In 1851, when the supreme Taiping leader, Hung Hsiu-ch'an (181464), proclaimed his own dynasty and gave himself the title of T'ien-wang, or Heavenly King, he made Yang commander in chief of the armed forces with the title of Tung-wang, or Eastern King. Yang organized the Taiping army and also developed a massive system to spy on the Taiping followers. Hung Hsiu-ch'an had formed the Taipings after a series of visions in which it was revealed to him that he was the younger son of God, sent down to earth to save China. Yang proceeded to buttress his own position by imitating Hung. He went into a series of trances, in which he claimed to speak as the mouthpiece of the Lord, an accomplishment confirmed by his seeming ability to reveal traitors to the Taiping cause and confront them with the details of their treason. Under Yang's direction, the Taipings advanced northward until in 1853 they took the large east central city of Nanking and made it their capital. Taiping armies continued north in an effort to take the Imperial capital at Peking. Meanwhile, Hung turned his attention increasingly to his harem and to religious affairs. He made Yang his prime minister, with authority to organize the Taiping administration. Gradually, Yang also usurped Hung's prerogatives as Heavenly King, and the resentful Hung ordered Yang's execution. Not only was Yang put to death, but his entire family and thousands of his adherents were destroyed. After this coup d'etat Taiping leaders grew increasingly suspicious of one another, and the Taiping cause began to collapse.