Qing China · 1850-1864

The Taiping Rebellion

A failed exam candidate who believes he is the younger brother of Jesus founds a "Heavenly Kingdom" and conquers much of southern China. Students follow one of the deadliest wars in history and ask why so many people followed Hong Xiuquan.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
13–16
On the map
3 steps, AD 1850 to AD 1877
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

A failed exam candidate who believes he is the younger brother of Jesus founds a "Heavenly Kingdom" and conquers much of southern China. Students follow one of the deadliest wars in history and ask why so many people followed Hong Xiuquan.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain who Hong Xiuquan was and what the Taiping wanted.
  • Trace the Taiping advance from Guangxi to Nanjing on the map.
  • Explain why the rebellion was so deadly and how it weakened the Qing dynasty.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1850

Qing China

Open the map in 1850 and zoom out over China. Find the Yangtze River and the great cities along it. Why would whoever held the Yangtze control much of China?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1855

The Yangtze war

Zoom in on the Yangtze between Wuhan and Nanjing. The Taiping and the Qing fought over these river cities for more than ten years. Why did armies fight so hard for river cities?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1877

Drought and hunger

Turn on Weather of History and move to 1877. A great drought struck North China soon after the war. How would war and famine together weaken a dynasty?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Hong Xiuquan failed the imperial exams several times. How might that have shaped his anger at the Qing?
  2. The Taiping banned opium and foot-binding and promised to share land. Why would those ideas attract poor farmers?
  3. The Taiping mixed Christian ideas with Chinese traditions. Why did Western governments end up helping the Qing instead?
  4. Most deaths in the war came from hunger and disease rather than battle. Why?
  5. The Qing survived thanks to new regional armies led by local leaders. What danger could such armies bring later?
4

Game round

10 min

Play Qin Shi Huang in Rule History, the ruler who first united China in 221 BC. Discuss: the Qing faced the same old question of how to hold a huge country together. Which of Qin Shi Huang's methods would have helped or hurt the Qing in 1850?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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