The Nian Rebel Army

On Qiushan’s peak is the remains of once-imposing defensive ramparts. Who built them? Who manned them? The story of these stones is the story of the Nian Army.

This tale describes a small group of anti-establishment rebels who harnessed popular discontent to become a serious threat to the ruling Qing. The Nian’s objective was to replace the Qing (who were not Han Chinese, but originally from Manchuria) with the Ming, whom the Qing had overthrown to take power in 1644.

The summit of Qiushan rose to prominence when legendary general Li Hongzhang stored western-designed firearms and cannon on it. These weapons would later be used in Nian attacks throughout Shandong. Expeditions in Shandong were the high watermark of the Nian’s success. In 1868, Qing and Western forces crushed the Nian in the battle of Chiping before routing Zhang Hongyu (the rebels’ leader) as he crossed the Hai river. With the Nian field armies gone, the Qing besieged Qiushan’s peak to starve out any remaining insurgents.

The story has one more twist; in the final days of the rebellion, a hoard of treasure vanished never to be seen again. According to the locals, the precious cargo is somewhere on Qiushan’s slopes, waiting to be found. To this day, the mountain’s slopes are combed by aspiring Indiana Jones’, each hoping to make the discovery of a lifetime. 

The Nian Army

According to local lore, the walls protecting the top of Qiushan date back to the Nian Rebellion of 1851. Much like the more widely known Taipings and Red Turbans, the Nian rebels were driven by a desire to haul themselves from the seemingly unending poverty which had engulfed rural areas following the mid-nineteenth century decline of the Qing dynasty.

Prior to 1851, banditry was widespread in Shandong but it took the leadership of a Northern Anhui landlord called Zhang Luoxing to bring the disparate groups together. At the rebellion’s peak, the Nian Army could field up to 50,000 highly mobile, well-armed men who could retire to the safety of heavily fortified villages and barracks in order to evade their Qing pursuers. 

The rebellion suffered a serious setback in 1860 when its leader, Zhang Luoxing, was cornered and slain by the Mongol prince Senggelinqin. However, the rebellion not only continues but showed the Qing it was still a force to be reckoned with by ambushing and killing Senggelinqin five years later, in 1865. Later Zeng Guofan, fresh from victory over the Taipings, was unable to make headway against the Nian rebels’ organized resistance. Finally, Zeng’s protégé, Li Hongzhang, implemented a war of attrition to end the rebellion in 1868.

The Nian made two major incursions into Eastern Shandong, in September 1861 and July 1866. In 1861, the Nian, aided by poor weather, crushed local government forces near Penglai, killing 800 soldiers. However the rebels were unable to capitalize on their isolated victories by taking any major towns and were eventually forced to retreat when an assault on Yantai’s port ran into resistance from British and French warships.The 1866 invasion, aimed at securing resources for the army, was grander in scale but similar in result. Two unsuccessful attacks on Yantai found the port defended stoutly by 500 Qing troops augmented by British and French forces and government forces rushed from Tianjin,. When the Qing mounted an offensive, Li Hongzhang tried to use forts to surround and destroy the Nian army. However, after several failed breakout attempts, the Nian avoided defeat at the hands of the Qing by escaping over the Weihe at low tide. The rebels’ defiance cost the provincial governor, Ding Baozhen, his position due to tactical differences with Li Hongzhang and failure to co-ordinate Qing activities.

The crumbling walls on top of Qiushan stand as a silent witness to a turbulent period in Chinese history. 

Nian Army Map