When the Taiping Rebellion saw some nominally Christian rebels attempt to overthrow the Qing Emperor, the western powers eventually sided with the central government. But given that the Taiping shared a faith with the west why didn't they help them to establish a Christian China? To find out watch this short and simple animated history documentary.

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The Taiping Rebellion saw an attempt by Chinese rebels to overthrow the imperial government there and replace it with a semi-Christian theocratic state.

This came during a time of high tensions and great distrust between the Chinese government and the Western powers.

In spite of this distrust, and also the fact that the Western powers and the rebels shared a religion, the Europeans and Americans sided against the rebels.

Why did the Christian Westerners side against the Christian rebels during the Taiping Rebellion?

So in 1850, in order to clamp down on religious dissent, the central Chinese government opted to purge Christians across the country.

These purges were mostly aimed at the growing group of Christians called the Society of God Worshippers.

This soon led to violence, after which the God Worshippers were in open rebellion.

These Christians were led by a man called Hongjie Tuan, and he was determined to establish a new China, the heavenly kingdom of great peace, which he would do by force.

At first, like most rebellions in China, the Western powers just ignored it.

But as the influence of the Taiping rebels grew and they


Speaker 0: The Taiping Rebellion saw an attempt by Chinese rebels to overthrow the imperial government there and replace it with a semi-Christian theocratic state. This came during a time of high tensions and great distrust between the Chinese government and the Western powers. In spite of this distrust, and also the fact that the Western powers and the rebels shared a religion, the Europeans and Americans sided against the rebels. Which raises the question, why? Why did the Christian Westerners side against the Christian rebels during the Taiping Rebellion?

So in 1850, in order to clamp down on religious dissent, the central Chinese government opted to purge Christians across the country. These purges were mostly aimed at the growing group of Christians called the Society of God Worshippers. This soon led to violence, after which the God Worshippers were in open rebellion. These Christians were led by a man called Hongjie Tuan, and he was determined to establish a new China, the heavenly kingdom of great peace, which he would do by force. At first, like most rebellions in China, the Western powers just ignored it.

But as the influence of the Taiping rebels grew and they

See all History Matters transcripts on Youtube

Why didn't the western powers support the Christian Taiping Rebels? (Short Animated Documentary)