This source starts of by explaining what the Taiping rebellion was and who it involved. It then goes into some of the effects of the Taiping rebellion and what had to be done in the short term and long term in order to restore China to where it had somewhat been before. This is the part that I want to focus on. Meyer-Fong (2015) states that "residents of captured or recaptured cities were systematically massacred" toward the end of the rebellion. "In the short term, the dead had to be buried and honored. Cities and towns had to be restored in order to be re-inhabited." "At the local level, the end of the Taiping Civil War had transformative, often (but not always) ruinous, effects on individual lives. It also inevitably bent the underlying structures of state and society and reconfigured the relationship between the center and provinces."
Knowing the effects of the rebellion is extremely important for us to know. We already know that around twenty million people died within the fourteen years. The part that says "residents of captured or recaptured cities were systematically massacred" occurred toward the end of the rebellion where both sides needed to win each battle somehow, so this led to the massacre of thousands of civilians. The fact Meyer-Fong use the word "massacre" makes this sentence stand out more than others. These people weren't just killed, they were brutally murdered with no means of defense to help them. They were helpless and they were murdered due to differences in beliefs and ideas; they were a means to an end. Following and throughout the rebellion, all these twenty million people would have had to have been buried somewhere, so they would have had to find the room to lay them to rest. This sounds a lot easier than you would initially think. We saw during the Covid-19 pandemic that trenches had to be dug in some areas in order to be able to bury all of the people that lost their lives, and I would except that something similar would have had to have been done for the people of China. Many cities and towns were also ruined during the rebellion which meant they had to be rebuilt and restored to allow people to live their again. This would have cost thousands which isn't good for a country that has just been in civil war. The individuals that lived during this time would have been greatly affected whether they lost a loved one during the rebellion, their home, their jobs and so much more. In the long run, the relationship between the people of China and the different societies that are found throughout would have had to have been rebuilt and the trust would have had to be gained again. This would have taken many years, and it probably came from the next generation, the ones who weren't very involved/ were too young during the rebellion. The political state of the country would also have needed to be fixed which once again would have taken a very long time. All of this is extremely important for us to know because we spoke a lot about why the rebellion started and what the Taiping's wanted from China but we didn't speak much about the people. Millions of innocent people were affected by this rebellion, twenty million people lost their lives. These people just wanted to live a happy peaceful life but this was ruined by civil war. We still see this happening in today's society, and we need to realize that the biggest effect of all of these civil wars are the people that are affected by the violence. These are the people that need to be more spoken about.