Yang Xiuqing

Yang Xiuqing (simplified Chinese: 杨秀清; traditional Chinese: 楊秀清; pinyin: Yáng Xiùqīng; Wade–Giles: Yang Hsiu-Ch'ing) (died September 2/3, 1856), was an organizer and commander-in-chief of the Taiping Rebellion.

Career

Yang was a firewood and charcoal seller in Guangxi before he joined the rebellion. In 1848 he converted to Christianity after reporting that he had experienced visions of God. In 1850, perhaps in service of his political ambitions, he began to claim that he could miraculously heal true believers. He was an early participant in the rebellion and rose quickly to prominence; in 1851, when Hong Xiuquan took the title of Heavenly King for himself, he made Yang, in spite of having no military knowledge or experience, commander-in-chief of the army. Yang was further named "East King", in keeping with three other leaders of the rebellion who were given titles as "kings" of the four-quarters of the Heavenly Kingdom. In 1851, Yang announced a vision in which it was revealed that there were traitors in the highest levels of the movement, and two years later that words of the Eastern King, that is, Yang himself, were divine. He devised an extensive network of spies to root out the intrigues of loyalists in the kingdom. By the 1850s Yang became the most powerful leader of the Taiping Rebellion.