Why do some peasants in China rebel?
Why did rebellions occur more often in certain areas, like the bandits of the Shantung marshes, the pirates off the Fukien coast, or the brigands of the Shensi hinterland?
Is there a link between past rebellions and the Communist Revolution? Did these past uprisings make it more conducive for the Communist revolution in those areas?
To answer these questions, Elizabeth J. Perry, in her book Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China 1845-1945 (published in 1980), studied one key area of China—Huai Pei/Huaibei, the site of countless rebellions.
In this area (spanning parts of northern Jiangsu, southern Shandong, eastern Henan, and northern Anhui), an area prone to floods (Yellow River), banditry, and poverty, the Nien rebellion of 1851-1868 and the Red Spears peasant-based self-defense movement of the 1910s to 1920s occurred. It was also a Communist area during the civil war.
LWH, 28 July 2025