The Tai Chao-chuen Incident () was one of the three major rebellions in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

during the rule of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. The rebellion lasted from 1862 to about 1865. The incident was caused by the suppression of the

Tiandihui The Tiandihui, the Heaven and Earth Society, also called Hongmen (the Vast Family), is a Chinese fraternal organization and historically a secretive folk religious sect in the vein of the Ming loyalist White Lotus Sect, the Tiandihui's a ...

by the Qing government, and affected central Taiwan, spreading as far north as

Dajia Dajia District () is a coastal suburban district in Taichung, Taiwan. It is located on the northwestern corner of Taichung. The climate of the region is Sub-tropical, and the average temperature is roughly 24 degrees Celsius. In March 2012, it ...

and as far south as

Chiayi Chiayi (, Taigi POJ: ''Ka-gī''; ), officially known as Chiayi City, is a city located in the plains of southwestern Taiwan. Formerly called ''Kagee'' during the late Qing dynasty and ''Kagi'' during the Japanese era (), its historical name i ...

. Although the rebellion was led by Tai Chao-chuen (;

Taiwanese Hokkien Taiwanese Hokkien () (; Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-uân-uē''), also known as Taigi/Taigu (; Pe̍h-ōe-jī/Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-gí / Tâi-gú''), Taiwanese, Taiwanese Minnan, Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively by about 70% ...

: Tè Tiô-tshun), many rich and powerful people from all over Taiwan, like Lin Ri-cheng and Hung Tsung, were also involved. At this time, the Qing dynasty was facing the

Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It lasted fr ...

and therefore had little military force to spare to put down rebellion in Taiwan. In addition, many powerful local leaders participated in the rebellion, causing the Qing to initially rely on the militia of the Wufeng Lin and other clans. The rebellion was not brought under control until after the Qing had dispatched Ding Yuejian and Lin Wencha to suppress it in 1863, and did not end until 1865. Once the Qing had succeeded, the Lin clan of Wufeng emerged as the most powerful in central Taiwan. This would eventually lead to conflicts between the clan and the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

government after the end of Japanese rule.

Origin

Tai Chao-chuen was originally a landowner in Sichangli (四張犁; {{zh, poj=Sì-tiuⁿ-lê),

Changhua Changhua (Hokkien POJ: ''Chiong-hòa'' or ''Chiang-hòa''), officially known as Changhua City, is a county-administered city and the county seat of Changhua County in Taiwan Province of the Republic of China. For many centuries the site was h ...

(present-day

Beitun District Beitun District (; lit: northern camp) is a district in Taichung, Taiwan. Located in the northern part of the city, it is a half mountainous, half urban area. Though Beitun District used to be considered part of the countryside, the new Taiyuan ...

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Taiw ...

). At one point he was an assistant to the military governor of central and northern Taiwan, though he lost it after being blackmailed by a high-ranking official. He succeeded his elder brother Tai Wan-guei as the head of his clan, and its associated Lord of the Land Society and Eight Trigram Society. He expanded these societies and converted them into branches of the

while winning official approval by helping the government capture bandits, thereby expanding the power of the Tai clan. Because of the rapid expansion of Tai Chao-chuen's power and rumors of his follower's lawlessness, the government decided to act against Tai Chao-chuen. On 3 April 1862, the Taiwan Military Director Kong Zhaoci arrived in Changhua, executed Hong Shi, the leader of the Eight Trigram Society, and then summoned former Changhua County magistrate and then-Tamsui Prefecture magistrate Qiu Yuejing to discuss mopping up anti-government forces. Consequently, Qiu Yuejin led 600 soldiers, in addition to supporting forces of 400 each led by Lin Dianguo and Lin Richeng, to destroy the Tiandihui. However, on April 15, just as the government forces were going to battle with several thousand members of Tiandihui at Dadun, Lin Richeng defected and killed Qiu Yuejian. Lin Dianguo, seeing that the situation was not favorable, retreated to Azhaowu Village (present-day

Wufeng District Wufeng District () is a suburban district in southern Taichung, Taiwan. It is the location of Taiwan Provincial Consultative Council. Wufeng is a mainly agricultural town. It was heavily damaged by the Jiji earthquake on 21 September 1999, whic ...

Taichung City Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Taiw ...

Origin

See also