Essay On The Taiping Rebellion

Throughout history, the Taiping Rebellion has become known as the most important radical political and religious event in the 19th century (Britannica). Around 1850, Hong Xiuquan became the leader of the rebellion whose goal was to promote the ideals of anti-manchuism and especially Christianity. Even though the Taiping rebellion is one of the bloodiest movements in Chinese history, there was a positive outcome. One of Hong’s goals, which became a success, was the advancement of women’s rights. The goal of this paper is to explore the effects that the Taiping rebellion had on women 's rights in the mid to late nineteenth century. In the early nineteenth century, women of the Qing dynasty were considered property of the male and played a small role in society. It became standard practice for women to bind their feet with the hopes of marrying well. It was common for these same women to spend their days locked inside their house. Women were disgraced if they worked outside of their home because it was assumed that they lacked morals. Only respectable women would stay in the confines of her house to spin and weave cloth. By staying inside women remained a virgin which increased their chances …show more content…
With these laws, less women were being abused and mistreated. Along with concubines, prostitution was also eliminated and became punishable by death (Genahr, 1905). With the laws in place, women could no longer be property of men and instead appreciated. Women were able to gain respect from men and the society. Another major ideal that Hong enforced during the Taiping movement was no foot binding (Foot-binding; Two Sides of the Question, 1895). As the Taiping conquered other provinces, they enforced their ideals to create a larger movement. This new practice, normal feet, was to show that they were rebels of the Qing