| Yellow Turban Rebellion |
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the rebels wore around their heads. The rebels were associated with secret Taiping Taoist societies and the rebellion marked an important point in the history of Taoism. The rebellion is the opening event in the Chinese Literary Classic '' Romance Of The Three Kingdoms ''. CAUSES A major cause of the Yellow Turban Rebellion was an agrarian crisis, in which famine forced many farmers and former military settlers in the north to seek employment in the south, where large landowners took advantage of the labor surplus and amassed large fortunes. The situation was further aggravated by smaller floods along the lower course of the Yellow River . Further pressure was added on the peasants by high taxes imposed on them in order to build fortifications along the Silk Road and garrisons against foreign infiltrations and invasions. In this situation, landless peasants banded together in gangs (around 170 AD) and the landowners set up militias, setting the stage for an armed conflict. At the same time, the Han Dynasty showed internal weakness. The power of the landowners had been a problem for a long time already (s. Wang Mang ), but in the run-up to the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the court Eunuch s in particular gained considerably in influence on the emperor, which they abused to enrich themselves. Ten of the most powerful eunuchs formed a group known as ''The Ten Regular Attendants'' and the emperor referred to one of them ( Zhang Rang ) as his "foster father". Consequently, the government was widely regarded as corrupt and incapable and against this backdrop, the famines and floods were seen as an indication that a decadent emperor had lost his Mandate Of Heaven . THE REBELS The Yellow Turban Rebellion was led by Zhang Jiao (who is referred to as Zhang Jue in the Moss Roberts ' English translation of the '' Romance Of The Three Kingdoms '') and his |
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