The Yellow Chao Rebellion

A great peasant revolt lasted for about 10 years (875-884) in China at the end of the Tang Dynasty. From the 9th century onwards, the Tang Dynasty weakened its bureaucratic control due to factional strife between the Niu and Li factions, and the eunuch class took advantage of this strife to seize real power with the backing of military force, while the local feudal governors mobilized the central forces to strive for independence. Emperor Xianzong's hardline military policy against the feudal governors led to a chronic revenue shortage, and exploitation by taxation and the monopoly of salt and tea intensified. Wealthy merchants and local lords accumulated land, and became privileged merchants for the government, or officers, soldiers, and lower-ranking officials of the feudal governors, thus avoiding exploitation by the state. Meanwhile, small and medium-sized peasants fell into poverty and became tenant farmers and agricultural laborers for the emerging landlord class, or became refugees and bandits. In particular, as salt and tea became more expensive due to increases in monopoly taxes, clandes of illegal salt and tea merchants known as the salt thieves and tea thieves appeared, of which the largest of them were the river thieves, who operated north and south on either side of the Yangtze River.

Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao were both salt bandits from Shandong. Huang Chao was a scholar and was often given the rank of Jinshi but failed to pass, and he was said to have resented the rule of the aristocratic bureaucrats. The rebellions of Qiu Fu and Pang Xun occurred one after another, and the young Xizong was supported by a eunuch, causing unrest in the world. Furthermore, farmers who were in dire straits due to famine turned into bandits and rose up in various places. Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao rebelled under these circumstances, and together with the people who competed to join them, they became exiles and quickly raided more than 10 prefectures in Shandong, fostering a powerful trend of overthrowing the lower classes. After the death of Wang Xianzhi, Huang Chao was defeated by the Tang Dynasty army and retreated from Fujian to Guangzhou, from where he went north to avoid endemic diseases. He called himself the Great General of Heavenly Balance, so he must have idealized a world of equality among small farmers. In 880, he captured the capitals of Luoyang and Chang'an together with the remnants of Wang Xianzhi, established a country and named it Daqi, calling it the Jin Tong era, but he lacked financial foundations and the ability and experience of governance. He was defeated by the village defense forces of the landlord class and the elite cavalry troops of Li Keyong of the Turkic Shatuo tribe employed by the Tang Dynasty, and with the defection of the powerful general Zhu Wen, he retreated from Chang'an, ran east, and was defeated and killed near Mount Tai in Shandong. The Huang Chao Rebellion was the biggest opportunity for the downfall of the Tang Dynasty and the collapse of the rule of the Chinese aristocrats and bureaucrats. After submitting to the Tang Dynasty, Zhu Wen immediately played an active role in defeating Huang Chao, was given the name of Quanzhong, and personally destroyed the Tang Dynasty and founded the Later Liang Dynasty, the first of the Five Dynasties.

[Shuichi Matsui]

"Hori Binichi, 'The Huang Chao Rebellion: A Study on the Period of Change at the End of the Tang Dynasty'" (Bulletin of the Institute for Oriental Culture, Vol. 13, 1957, Institute for Oriental Culture)" ▽ "Matsui Shuichi, 'Popular Rebellions at the End of the Tang Dynasty and the State of the Five Dynasties'" (Iwanami Lecture Series, World History 6, Ancient History 6, 1971, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "Tanigawa Michio and Mori Masao (eds.), 'History of Popular Rebellions in China 1, Qin to Tang' (Heibonsha, Toyo Bunko)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、唐末約10年（875～884）にわたる農民大反乱。唐朝は9世紀以後、牛・李(り)両派の党争でその官僚支配を弱め、宦官(かんがん)層がこの党争を利して軍事力を背景に実権を握り、地方藩鎮(はんちん)は中央勢力を動かして自立に努めた。憲宗の武力による対藩鎮強硬策から、歳入不足は恒常化し、賦税や塩、茶の専売による収奪が激しくなり、富商や土豪は土地を集積し、政府の特権商人や藩鎮の将校、軍人、下級役人になって国家の収奪を免れた。他方、中小の農民は窮乏し、新興の地主層の下で小作人、農業労働者となり、また流民化して群盗となった。とくに専売税の増加で塩、茶が高価になると、塩賊、茶賊とよばれた闇の塩、茶の商人団が現れ、なかでも揚子江(ようすこう)を挟んで南北に活動した江賊がもっとも大規模であった。

　王仙芝(おうせんし)、黄巣はいずれも山東の塩賊で、黄巣は読書人でしばしば進士にあげられたが及第できず、貴族官僚支配に反感をもっていたという。裘甫(きゅうほ)、龐勛(ほうくん)の乱が相次ぎ、年少の僖宗(きそう)が宦官に擁立されて世情が動揺し、さらに飢饉(ききん)で窮迫した農民が群盗化して各地に蜂起(ほうき)した。この情勢下に反乱した王仙芝、黄巣らは、争って参加する民衆とともに流賊化してたちまち山東10余州を寇掠(こうりゃく)し、強大な下克上的風潮を醸成した。王仙芝の死後、一時、唐朝軍に敗れて福建から広州に退き、ここから風土病を避けて北上し、黄巣は自ら天補平均（均平）大将軍と称したというから、均平な小農民の世界を理想としていたのであろう。彼は王仙芝の残党をもあわせて880年洛陽(らくよう)、長安両都を陥れ、国を建てて大斉と号し、年号を金統と称したが、財政基盤を欠き、統治の能力、経験も乏しかった。地主層による郷村防衛軍や、唐朝の召用した突厥(とっけつ)沙陀(さだ)族の李克用(りこくよう)の精鋭な騎馬軍の攻撃に敗れ、有力部将朱温の寝返りもあり、長安から退却、東走して山東の泰山付近で敗死した。黄巣の乱は唐の滅亡、中国の貴族官僚支配の崩壊の最大の契機となった。唐朝に降った朱温はただちに黄巣討滅に活躍し、全忠の名を賜り、直接唐を滅ぼして五代の最初の王朝である後梁(こうりょう)を創建した。

［松井秀一］

『堀敏一「黄巣の叛乱――唐末変革期の一考察」（『東洋文化研究所紀要』第13冊所収・1957・東洋文化研究所）』▽『松井秀一著『唐末の民衆叛乱と五代の形勢』（『岩波講座　世界歴史6　古代6』所収・1971・岩波書店）』▽『谷川道雄・森正夫編『中国民衆叛乱史1　秦～唐』（平凡社・東洋文庫）』

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