East Asia · Empire, war and the modern states
Panthay Rebellion
1856–1873
The Panthay Rebellion (1856–1873), known in Chinese as the Du Wenxiu Rebellion, was a Muslim Hui-led multi-ethnic uprising against Qing rule in Yunnan. Its leader Du Wenxiu (1823–1872; styled Sulayman ibn Abd ar-Rahman, "Qa'id Jami al-Muslimin," called "Sultan" by Westerners), born in Yongchang to a Han family converted to Islam, established the independent state of Pingnan Guo ("Pacified Southern State") at Dali (captured 1856), leading both Hui and Han in his bureaucracy.
- Existed
- 1856–1873
- Shown on the map
- 1856–1872
- Peak area
- 412k km²
- Region
- East Asia
Overview
The Panthay Rebellion (1856–1873), known in Chinese as the Du Wenxiu Rebellion, was a Muslim Hui-led multi-ethnic uprising against Qing rule in Yunnan. Its leader Du Wenxiu (1823–1872; styled Sulayman ibn Abd ar-Rahman, "Qa'id Jami al-Muslimin," called "Sultan" by Westerners), born in Yongchang to a Han family converted to Islam, established the independent state of Pingnan Guo ("Pacified Southern State") at Dali (captured 1856), leading both Hui and Han in his bureaucracy. Directing his fury against Manchu rule rather than the Han, from 1860 to 1868 his forces captured or destroyed many towns and repeatedly attacked Kunming. After the Taiping's defeat freed Qing troops, governor-general Cen Yuying (aided by the Muslim defector Ma Rulong and French artillery experts) besieged Dali. Du sent his son Prince Hassan to appeal to Queen Victoria (1872), but Britain refused to intervene. Dali fell in January 1873; Du surrendered to spare his followers and was beheaded (his head reportedly sent to Beijing preserved in honey). Casualty estimates vary widely: Wikipedia's figures cite around 1,000,000 dead (combatants and civilians), while a 2023 study puts the toll near 2.98 million, noting that a large share died in a plague epidemic rather than in combat.
Common questions
- What was Panthay Rebellion?
- The Panthay Rebellion (1856–1873), known in Chinese as the Du Wenxiu Rebellion, was a Muslim Hui-led multi-ethnic uprising against Qing rule in Yunnan. Its leader Du Wenxiu (1823–1872; styled Sulayman ibn Abd ar-Rahman, "Qa'id Jami al-Muslimin," called "Sultan" by Westerners), born in Yongchang to a Han family converted to Islam, established the independent state of Pingnan Guo ("Pacified Southern State") at Dali (captured 1856), leading both Hui and Han in his bureaucracy.
- When did Panthay Rebellion exist?
- Panthay Rebellion existed 1856–1873. On this map it is drawn 1856–1872.
- How large was Panthay Rebellion?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Panthay Rebellion covered about 412,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia article for each polity as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, chinaknowledge.de, the World History Encyclopedia, museum and university sources, and the academic works it lists. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Panthay Rebellion en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthay_Rebellion
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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