Yellow Turban Rebellion
Encyclopedia
The Yellow Turban Rebellion, also translated as Yellow Scarves Rebellion, was a peasant revolt that broke out in 184 AD in China during the reign of Emperor Ling
of the Han Dynasty
. The rebellion, which got its name from the colour of the scarves that the rebels wore on their heads, marked an important point in the history of Taoism
due to the rebels' association with secret Taoist
societies. The revolt was also used as the opening event in Luo Guanzhong
's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms
.
. The peasants were further oppressed by high taxes imposed in order to fund the construction of fortifications along the Silk Road
and garrisons against foreign infiltration and invasion. In this situation, landowners, landless peasants, and unemployed former-soldiers formed armed bands (around 170), and eventually private armies, setting the stage for armed conflict.
At the same time, the Han Dynasty central government was weakening internally. The power of the landowners had become a longstanding problem, but in the run-up to the rebellion, the court eunuch
s in particular gained considerably in influence over the emperor
, which they abused to enrich themselves. Ten of the most powerful eunuchs formed a group known as the Ten Attendants
, and the emperor referred to one of them (Zhang Rang
) as his "foster father". The government was widely regarded as corrupt and incapable and the famines and floods were seen as an indication that a decadent emperor had lost his mandate of heaven
.
Because of its plan for a new beginning, the Taoist sect of Zhang Jue (also known as Zhang Jiao) was to prove the Han Dynasty's most dangerous enemy. In preparation for his revolt, Zhang Jue sent disciples out to gain support and organize followers throughout north China. They were helped by local political discontent, and by droughts and plague among the people. The rebels even had allies in the imperial court, and they were able to make their preparations while government officials were either ignorant of their intentions or intimidated by their power.
Zhang Jue planned a rising throughout the empire, but before the call to arms had been issued the plan was betrayed, the rebel sympathizers in Luoyang
were arrested and executed, and the revolt in the provinces had to begin ahead of time, in the second month of 184. Despite the premature call and an inevitable lack of co-ordination, tens of thousands of men rose in rebellion, government offices were plundered and destroyed and the imperial armies were immediately forced onto the defensive.
and Zhang Liang
, who were born in Julu (present-day Pingxiang County
, Hebei
). The brothers had founded a Taoist
religious sect in present-day Shandong
. They were healers, usually accepting patients pro bono
who could not afford to pay them. The brothers saw the harshness of the world through their work with the peasants who were often abused by the local government, overburdened and hungry due to the heavy taxes that were levied upon them.
, who according to Zhang Jue had given him a sacred book called the Crucial Keys to the Way of Peace . Zhang Jue was said to be a sorcerer and styled himself as the "Great Teacher". The sect taught 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 Jue:
year, beginning of the new sexagenary cycle
, the sky would become yellow, and that under this new heaven the rule of the Han Dynasty would end and a new era of government begin. The characters jiazi became a symbol of the coming change and later, when the followers of Zhang Jue went to battle they wore a yellow cloth bound about their heads as a badge. From this there came the term Yellow Turbans.
Nearly all of the religious practices of the sect were communal activities (collective trances, fasts). A typical worship service consisted largely of music and chanting, the burning of incense, and sermons or anecdotes that could be given by any member of the congregation including women and those perceived as barbarians. Several Xiongnu
such as Yufuluo
are known to have at least lent their support to the sect and a number of scholars have theorized that Zhang Jue may have derived some of his teachings from shamanism
as he appeared as a mystical healer with a direct link to the heavens.
While many of the beliefs of the early Path of Supreme Peace have been lost, it is very likely that they had some relation to the Way of the Celestial Masters, considering Zhang Jue claimed to be a descendant of Zhang Daoling
. It is further worthy to note that many of the writings found in the 52 surviving chapters of the Taiping Jing
that are found in the Daozang
have a direct relationship to the Way of the Celestial Masters. Regardless, it is quite likely that any discrepancies found within the Way were suppressed by later Taoist sects.
, near Zhang Jue's home territory of Julu and his base in Wei Commandery. A second major rising took place in Guangyang and Zhuo commanderies in You Province, in the neighborhood of present-day Beijing
. The third center of rebellion was in the three commanderies of Yingchuan, Runan and Nanyang. This force had evidently been intended to co-operate with the traitors inside Luoyang
in the attempt to seize the capital, but even without that support, the rebels in this region were a major threat.
In the first weeks of the uprising, the government of Emperor Ling
was chiefly concerned with finding and executing the traitors at the capital and with the immediate defense of the city. General-in-Chief He Jin
, the half-brother of Empress He
, was placed in charge of putting the rebellion down in the capital. In the third month, when these preparations had been made, three armies were sent out to deal with the rebellion. One was sent east against Zhang Jue. The other two, commanded by Huangfu Song
and by Zhu Jun, were sent against the rebels in Yingchuan, Runan and Nanyang. Zhu recommended Sun Jian
's appointment to call up troops and join his forces. With such widespread rebellion to deal with, the imperial commanders were anxious to gain any reinforcements that they could, and the territory of the lower Yangtze River
, not directly affected by Zhang Jue's movement, was close enough to be a convenient source of recruits for the imperial army. Sun Jian rallied his troops, and he marched to join Zhu Jun's army with a thousand men under his command. The fighting against the rebels of Yingchuan, Runan and Nanyang was frequently fierce, with varying success.
In the third month of 184, soon after the rebellion had broken out, the rebel leader Zhang Mancheng
defeated and killed the Grand Administrator of Nanyang, and in the fourth month, at the beginning of summer, the imperial army under Zhu Jun was defeated by Bo Cai
in Yingchuan, while the Grand Administrator of Runan was defeated by another force of rebels.
In the middle of 184, however, the tide turned. In the fifth month Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun combined their armies to defeat Bo Cai, and in the sixth month they destroyed the rebels of Runan at the Battle at Xihua in Henan. Then the two generals went separate ways, Huangfu to join in the attack on the rebels north of the Yellow River, and Zhu to deal with the rebels of Nanyang. By this time, a new Grand Administrator had defeated Zhang Mancheng and killed him. In that campaign, however, the rebels were able to capture the capital of the commandery, Wan, and took refuge there.
For the next several months, the core of the campaign was the fighting in and around Wan, until the place was finally stormed and the defenders massacred in the eleventh month, midwinter at the beginning of 185. The capture of Wan was the last great defeat of the rebels. Their forces in the North China Plain
had been destroyed in the field by the imperial armies during the summer, their strongholds were besieged and captured, and the three Zhang brothers were dead. The remaining, scattered rebels were pursued by commandery and county forces in various mopping-up operations, and in the twelfth month of the Chinese year, mid-February of 185, the government issued a proclamation of celebration, changing the era name
to Zhongping (中平), or "pacification achieved."
The rebels were defeated in February 185, but only two months later, the rebellion broke out again. In 185, it spread to the Taihang Mountains
on the western border of Hebei
and in 186 it reached Shaanxi
, Hebei, and Liaoning
, in 188 it reached Shanxi
. In the same year, a second independent uprising took place in Sichuan
, but it was not coordinated with the Yellow Turban Rebellion in other parts of the country.
In 192, the warlord Cao Cao
was able to gain the submission of a rebel army after they marched into Yan Province. The rebels eventually ceased to pose a military challenge by 205.
While the rebellion was eventually defeated, the military leaders and local administrators gained self-governing powers in the process. This hastened the collapse of the Han Dynasty in 220. After Emperor Ling of Han
died in 189, a power struggle between He Jin
and the eunuchs ensued in which He Jin was assassinated on September 22, 189. He Jin's chief ally Yuan Shao
retaliated by setting the palace on fire and slaughtering the eunuchs. Finally, the warlord Dong Zhuo
was able to gain control over the underage heir to the throne which he used as a legitimation for occupying the capital, which was ransacked on the occasion. Because of his cruelty, Dong was murdered in 192, setting the stage for Cao Cao
's rise to power.
Despite the negativity portrayed in Luo Guanzhong
's historical novel Romance of Three Kingdoms, being a large scale rebellion against corrupted authority, several peasant uprisings in China were patterned after the Yellow Turban Rebellion or claimed to be its spiritual successors.
video game series.
Emperor Ling of Han
Emperor Ling of Han, trad. ch. 漢靈帝;, sim. ch. 汉灵帝, py. hàn líng dì, wg. Han Ling-ti, was an emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty. He was a great-great-grandson of Emperor Zhang. The Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out during Emperor Ling's reign.Emperor Ling's reign saw yet another repetition of...
of the Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
. The rebellion, which got its name from the colour of the scarves that the rebels wore on their heads, marked an important point in the history of Taoism
History of Taoism
The history of Taoism stretches throughout Chinese history. Originating in prehistoric China, it has exerted a powerful influence over Chinese culture throughout the ages. Taoism evolved in response to changing times, its doctrine and associated practices revised and refined. The acceptance of...
due to the rebels' association with secret Taoist
Taoism
Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...
societies. The revolt was also used as the opening event in Luo Guanzhong
Luo Guanzhong
Luo Ben , better known by his style name Luo Guanzhong , was a Chinese writer of the early Ming Dynasty period of Chinese history. He was also known as Huhai Sanren...
's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, written by Luo Guanzhong in the 14th century, is a Chinese historical novel based on the events in the turbulent years near the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history, starting in 169 and ending with the reunification of the land in...
.
Causes
A major cause of the 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 exploited the labor surplus to amass large fortunes. The situation was further aggravated by smaller floods along the lower course of the Yellow RiverYellow River
The Yellow River or Huang He, formerly known as the Hwang Ho, is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into...
. The peasants were further oppressed by high taxes imposed in order to fund the construction of fortifications along the Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
and garrisons against foreign infiltration and invasion. In this situation, landowners, landless peasants, and unemployed former-soldiers formed armed bands (around 170), and eventually private armies, setting the stage for armed conflict.
At the same time, the Han Dynasty central government was weakening internally. The power of the landowners had become a longstanding problem, but in the run-up to the rebellion, the court eunuch
Eunuch
A eunuch is a person born male most commonly castrated, typically early enough in his life for this change to have major hormonal consequences...
s in particular gained considerably in influence over the emperor
Emperor of China
The Emperor of China refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning between the founding of Qin Dynasty of China, united by the King of Qin in 221 BCE, and the fall of Yuan Shikai's Empire of China in 1916. When referred to as the Son of Heaven , a title that predates the Qin unification, the...
, which they abused to enrich themselves. Ten of the most powerful eunuchs formed a group known as the Ten Attendants
Ten Attendants
The Ten Attendants were a group of eunuchs from the Eunuch Faction of the Han Imperial Court in China...
, and the emperor referred to one of them (Zhang Rang
Zhang Rang
Zhang Rang was a eunuch of the late Han Dynasty, who served Emperor Ling of Han; he was also the leader of the Ten regular attendants , a group of court eunuchs who held great influence in the Han imperial court...
) as his "foster father". The government was widely regarded as corrupt and incapable and the famines and floods were seen as an indication that a decadent emperor had lost his mandate of heaven
Mandate of Heaven
The Mandate of Heaven is a traditional Chinese philosophical concept concerning the legitimacy of rulers. It is similar to the European concept of the divine right of kings, in that both sought to legitimaze rule from divine approval; however, unlike the divine right of kings, the Mandate of...
.
Because of its plan for a new beginning, the Taoist sect of Zhang Jue (also known as Zhang Jiao) was to prove the Han Dynasty's most dangerous enemy. In preparation for his revolt, Zhang Jue sent disciples out to gain support and organize followers throughout north China. They were helped by local political discontent, and by droughts and plague among the people. The rebels even had allies in the imperial court, and they were able to make their preparations while government officials were either ignorant of their intentions or intimidated by their power.
Zhang Jue planned a rising throughout the empire, but before the call to arms had been issued the plan was betrayed, the rebel sympathizers in Luoyang
Luoyang
Luoyang is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province of Central China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang to the south, Sanmenxia to the west, Jiyuan to the north, and Jiaozuo to the northeast.Situated on the central plain of...
were arrested and executed, and the revolt in the provinces had to begin ahead of time, in the second month of 184. Despite the premature call and an inevitable lack of co-ordination, tens of thousands of men rose in rebellion, government offices were plundered and destroyed and the imperial armies were immediately forced onto the defensive.
Founders
The rebellion was led by Zhang Jue (also referred to as Zhang Jiao, known to his followers as the "General of Heaven") and his two younger brothers Zhang BaoZhang Bao (Yellow Turban)
Zhang Bao was a Yellow Turban rebel leader during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. He was a younger brother of Zhang Jiao and older brother of Zhang Liang, the other two key leaders of the rebellion...
and Zhang Liang
Zhang Liang (Yellow Turban)
Zhang Liang was a Yellow Turban rebel leader during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. He was a younger brother of Zhang Jiao and Zhang Bao, the other two key leaders of the rebellion. He was said to be an able general. It is said that Zhang Liang is the grandson of Zhang Daoling...
, who were born in Julu (present-day Pingxiang County
Pingxiang County
Pingxiang County is a county of Xingtai Prefecture, Hebei Province, China. In the Han Dynasty, Pingxiang County was known as Julu County , the birthplace of Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang.-Administrative Divisions:Towns:...
, Hebei
Hebei
' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...
). The brothers had founded a Taoist
Taoism
Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...
religious sect in present-day Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
. They were healers, usually accepting patients pro bono
Pro bono
Pro bono publico is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms...
who could not afford to pay them. The brothers saw the harshness of the world through their work with the peasants who were often abused by the local government, overburdened and hungry due to the heavy taxes that were levied upon them.
Taoist sect
The rebels were the first but not last followers of the Way of Supreme Peace and venerated the deity Huang-LaoHuang-Lao
Huang-Lao or Huanglao was the most influential Chinese school of thought in the early 2nd-century BCE Han Dynasty, and is generally interpreted as encompassing Daoism and Legalism...
, who according to Zhang Jue had given him a sacred book called the Crucial Keys to the Way of Peace . Zhang Jue was said to be a sorcerer and styled himself as the "Great Teacher". The sect taught 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 Jue:
"The firmamentSince all the three brothers were healers, they spread it easily by telling their patients to spread it amongst the peasants.FirmamentThe firmament is the vault or expanse of the sky. According to Genesis, God created the firmament to separate the oceans from other waters above.-Etymology:...
has perished, the Yellow Sky will soon rise; in this year of jiaziChinese calendarThe Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, incorporating elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar. It is not exclusive to China, but followed by many other Asian cultures as well...
, let there be prosperity in the world!"
(蒼天已死，黃天當立。歲在甲子，天下大吉。)
Religious practices
Zhang Jue used a form of Taoism to cure the sick by confession of sins and by faith healing. The religion and the politics of the Zhang brothers were based on belief in an apocalyptic change in the order of the world, and they told their followers that in the jiaziChinese calendar
The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, incorporating elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar. It is not exclusive to China, but followed by many other Asian cultures as well...
year, beginning of the new sexagenary cycle
Sexagenary cycle
The Chinese sexagenary cycle , also known as the Stems-and-Branches , is a cycle of sixty terms used for recording days or years. It appears, as a means of recording days, in the first Chinese written texts, the Shang dynasty oracle bones from the late second millennium BC. Its use to record years...
, the sky would become yellow, and that under this new heaven the rule of the Han Dynasty would end and a new era of government begin. The characters jiazi became a symbol of the coming change and later, when the followers of Zhang Jue went to battle they wore a yellow cloth bound about their heads as a badge. From this there came the term Yellow Turbans.
Nearly all of the religious practices of the sect were communal activities (collective trances, fasts). A typical worship service consisted largely of music and chanting, the burning of incense, and sermons or anecdotes that could be given by any member of the congregation including women and those perceived as barbarians. Several Xiongnu
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
such as Yufuluo
Yufuluo
Yufuluo was a puppet Chanyu of the southern Xiongnu during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. In 188, he was appointed to the Chanyu position by the Chinese imperial court following a slaying of his father Qiangqu, also a Han puppet from ineligible succession line, and would later...
are known to have at least lent their support to the sect and a number of scholars have theorized that Zhang Jue may have derived some of his teachings from shamanism
Shamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
as he appeared as a mystical healer with a direct link to the heavens.
While many of the beliefs of the early Path of Supreme Peace have been lost, it is very likely that they had some relation to the Way of the Celestial Masters, considering Zhang Jue claimed to be a descendant of Zhang Daoling
Zhang Daoling
Zhang Ling , style name Fuhan , was an Eastern Han Dynasty Taoist hermit who founded the Way of the Celestial Masters sect of Taoism, which is also known as the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice....
. It is further worthy to note that many of the writings found in the 52 surviving chapters of the Taiping Jing
Taiping Jing
Taiping Jing is the name of several different Daoist texts. At least two works were known by this title:, Pinyin tiān guān lì bāo yuán tàipíng jīng, 12 Chapters, contents unknown, author: Gan Zhongke 甘忠可, Pinyin tàipíng qīng lǐng shū, 170 Chapters, only 57 of which survive via the Daozang,...
that are found in the Daozang
Daozang
Daozang , meaning "Treasury of Dao" or "Daoist Canon", consists of around 1400 texts that were collected circa C.E. 400...
have a direct relationship to the Way of the Celestial Masters. Regardless, it is quite likely that any discrepancies found within the Way were suppressed by later Taoist sects.
Military action
The rebels were mostly concentrated in three areas. The group led by Zhang Jue and his two brothers gained their support from the region just north of the Yellow RiverYellow River
The Yellow River or Huang He, formerly known as the Hwang Ho, is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into...
, near Zhang Jue's home territory of Julu and his base in Wei Commandery. A second major rising took place in Guangyang and Zhuo commanderies in You Province, in the neighborhood of present-day Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
. The third center of rebellion was in the three commanderies of Yingchuan, Runan and Nanyang. This force had evidently been intended to co-operate with the traitors inside Luoyang
Luoyang
Luoyang is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province of Central China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang to the south, Sanmenxia to the west, Jiyuan to the north, and Jiaozuo to the northeast.Situated on the central plain of...
in the attempt to seize the capital, but even without that support, the rebels in this region were a major threat.
In the first weeks of the uprising, the government of Emperor Ling
Emperor Ling of Han
Emperor Ling of Han, trad. ch. 漢靈帝;, sim. ch. 汉灵帝, py. hàn líng dì, wg. Han Ling-ti, was an emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty. He was a great-great-grandson of Emperor Zhang. The Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out during Emperor Ling's reign.Emperor Ling's reign saw yet another repetition of...
was chiefly concerned with finding and executing the traitors at the capital and with the immediate defense of the city. General-in-Chief He Jin
He Jin
He Jin was the elder half-brother of Empress He, consort to Emperor Ling of the late Eastern Han Dynasty in China. He shared power with his sister as regents in 189, following the death of Emperor Ling. In the ensuing struggle with the influential eunuch faction for power, He Jin was assassinated...
, the half-brother of Empress He
Empress He (Ling)
Empress He , personal name unknown, formally known as Empress Lingsi was an empress of the Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. She was Emperor Ling's second wife...
, was placed in charge of putting the rebellion down in the capital. In the third month, when these preparations had been made, three armies were sent out to deal with the rebellion. One was sent east against Zhang Jue. The other two, commanded by Huangfu Song
Huangfu Song
Huangfu Song , style name Yizhen , was a military general of the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. He is best known for helping to suppress the Yellow Turban Rebellion and Liang Province Rebellion. He was one of three imperial commanders when the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, along...
and by Zhu Jun, were sent against the rebels in Yingchuan, Runan and Nanyang. Zhu recommended Sun Jian
Sun Jian
Sun Jian was a military general and warlord during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. He allied himself with Yuan Shu in 190 when warlords from eastern China formed a coalition to oust Dong Zhuo, a tyrannical warlord who held the puppet Emperor Xian in his power...
's appointment to call up troops and join his forces. With such widespread rebellion to deal with, the imperial commanders were anxious to gain any reinforcements that they could, and the territory of the lower Yangtze River
Yangtze River
The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
, not directly affected by Zhang Jue's movement, was close enough to be a convenient source of recruits for the imperial army. Sun Jian rallied his troops, and he marched to join Zhu Jun's army with a thousand men under his command. The fighting against the rebels of Yingchuan, Runan and Nanyang was frequently fierce, with varying success.
In the third month of 184, soon after the rebellion had broken out, the rebel leader Zhang Mancheng
Zhang Mancheng
Zhang Mancheng was a Yellow Turban rebel general during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. He killed Chu Gong, the prefect of Nanyang, and occupied the city. He was slain by Qin Jie, who succeeded Chu as prefect of Nanyang....
defeated and killed the Grand Administrator of Nanyang, and in the fourth month, at the beginning of summer, the imperial army under Zhu Jun was defeated by Bo Cai
Bo Cai
Bo Cai was a Yellow Turban rebel general during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. During the early stages of the rebellion, Bo defeated imperial forces led by Zhu Jun. During Zhu's defeat, he, along with Huangfu Song were driven back to Changshe...
in Yingchuan, while the Grand Administrator of Runan was defeated by another force of rebels.
In the middle of 184, however, the tide turned. In the fifth month Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun combined their armies to defeat Bo Cai, and in the sixth month they destroyed the rebels of Runan at the Battle at Xihua in Henan. Then the two generals went separate ways, Huangfu to join in the attack on the rebels north of the Yellow River, and Zhu to deal with the rebels of Nanyang. By this time, a new Grand Administrator had defeated Zhang Mancheng and killed him. In that campaign, however, the rebels were able to capture the capital of the commandery, Wan, and took refuge there.
For the next several months, the core of the campaign was the fighting in and around Wan, until the place was finally stormed and the defenders massacred in the eleventh month, midwinter at the beginning of 185. The capture of Wan was the last great defeat of the rebels. Their forces in the North China Plain
North China Plain
The North China Plain is based on the deposits of the Yellow River and is the largest alluvial plain of eastern Asia. The plain is bordered on the north by the Yanshan Mountains and on the west by the Taihang Mountains edge of the Shanxi plateau. To the south, it merges into the Yangtze Plain...
had been destroyed in the field by the imperial armies during the summer, their strongholds were besieged and captured, and the three Zhang brothers were dead. The remaining, scattered rebels were pursued by commandery and county forces in various mopping-up operations, and in the twelfth month of the Chinese year, mid-February of 185, the government issued a proclamation of celebration, changing the era name
Chinese era name
A Chinese era name is the regnal year, reign period, or regnal title used when traditionally numbering years in an emperor's reign and naming certain Chinese rulers . Some emperors have several era names, one after another, where each beginning of a new era resets the numbering of the year back...
to Zhongping (中平), or "pacification achieved."
The rebels were defeated in February 185, but only two months later, the rebellion broke out again. In 185, it spread to the Taihang Mountains
Taihang Mountains
The Taihang Mountains are a Chinese mountain range running down the eastern edge of the Loess Plateau in Henan, Shanxi and Hebei provinces. The range extends over 400 km from north to south and has an average elevation of 1,500 to 2,000 meters. The principal peak is Xiao Wutaishan...
on the western border of Hebei
Hebei
' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...
and in 186 it reached Shaanxi
Shaanxi
' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...
, Hebei, and Liaoning
Liaoning
' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the northeast of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "辽" , a name taken from the Liao River that flows through the province. "Níng" means "peace"...
, in 188 it reached Shanxi
Shanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
. In the same year, a second independent uprising took place in Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
, but it was not coordinated with the Yellow Turban Rebellion in other parts of the country.
In 192, the warlord Cao Cao
Cao Cao
Cao Cao was a warlord and the penultimate chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty who rose to great power during the dynasty's final years. As one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms period, he laid the foundations for what was to become the state of Cao Wei and was posthumously titled...
was able to gain the submission of a rebel army after they marched into Yan Province. The rebels eventually ceased to pose a military challenge by 205.
Aftermath and impact
The Han armies had gained a glorious victory, and it was a remarkable achievement that they removed so quickly the threat of Zhang Jue's rebellion. The cost, however, was very high. Over wide areas the offices of the government had been destroyed, magistrates had been killed, and whole districts were cut off from the writ of the central government. The enemy had been slaughtered in the hundreds and thousands, many innocent people had been left homeless or destitute by the wars, and the economy and society over great parts of this most populous region of the empire were left in ruins and without resources. Unrest remained and bandits appeared in every district; the government, in no position to put down all the lesser disturbances, was forced to patch up the situation as best it could. A long period of consolidation was needed to restore some measure of peace and prosperity, but that breathing space was not given.While the rebellion was eventually defeated, the military leaders and local administrators gained self-governing powers in the process. This hastened the collapse of the Han Dynasty in 220. After Emperor Ling of Han
Emperor Ling of Han
Emperor Ling of Han, trad. ch. 漢靈帝;, sim. ch. 汉灵帝, py. hàn líng dì, wg. Han Ling-ti, was an emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty. He was a great-great-grandson of Emperor Zhang. The Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out during Emperor Ling's reign.Emperor Ling's reign saw yet another repetition of...
died in 189, a power struggle between He Jin
He Jin
He Jin was the elder half-brother of Empress He, consort to Emperor Ling of the late Eastern Han Dynasty in China. He shared power with his sister as regents in 189, following the death of Emperor Ling. In the ensuing struggle with the influential eunuch faction for power, He Jin was assassinated...
and the eunuchs ensued in which He Jin was assassinated on September 22, 189. He Jin's chief ally Yuan Shao
Yuan Shao
Yuan Shao was a warlord during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. He occupied the northern territories of China during the civil war that occurred towards the end of the Han Dynasty and the beginning of the Three Kingdoms era...
retaliated by setting the palace on fire and slaughtering the eunuchs. Finally, the warlord Dong Zhuo
Dong Zhuo
Dong Zhuo was a politician and warlord during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. He seized control of the capital city Luoyang in 189 when it was in a state of turmoil following the death of Emperor Ling and a clash between the eunuch faction and some court officials led by...
was able to gain control over the underage heir to the throne which he used as a legitimation for occupying the capital, which was ransacked on the occasion. Because of his cruelty, Dong was murdered in 192, setting the stage for Cao Cao
Cao Cao
Cao Cao was a warlord and the penultimate chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty who rose to great power during the dynasty's final years. As one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms period, he laid the foundations for what was to become the state of Cao Wei and was posthumously titled...
's rise to power.
Despite the negativity portrayed in Luo Guanzhong
Luo Guanzhong
Luo Ben , better known by his style name Luo Guanzhong , was a Chinese writer of the early Ming Dynasty period of Chinese history. He was also known as Huhai Sanren...
's historical novel Romance of Three Kingdoms, being a large scale rebellion against corrupted authority, several peasant uprisings in China were patterned after the Yellow Turban Rebellion or claimed to be its spiritual successors.
Modern references
The Yellow Turban Rebellion is usually featured as the first stage of every playable character's story mode in all seven installments of Koei's Dynasty WarriorsDynasty Warriors
is a series of tactical action video games created by Omega Force and Koei. The award-winning series is a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, based loosely around the Chinese classical novel of the same name. The first game titled Dynasty Warriors,...
video game series.