Stephen Platt on the Taiping Rebellion

Hellena Kalinda introduces the event hosted by the Luce Foundation, expressing pleasure in hosting National Committee gatherings and mentioning the connection with Steve Platt, a public intellectual fellow supported by the foundation. Jan Baris, vice president of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, welcomes the audience and mentions the absence of their president, Steve Orleans, who is on a trip. She highlights Steve Platt's connection with the National Committee, his gratitude towards it in his book, and the importance of the public intellectuals program in promoting informed discourse on China.

Jan Baris discusses the book's focus, its attempt to bridge academic and popular literature, and its success in receiving media attention. She emphasizes the public intellectuals program's role in engaging with media to provide balanced information about China. Baris gives a brief insight into Steve Platt's biography and the book's graceful writing, touching on the challenging period it covers and Platt’s ability to maintain sanity while narrating disturbing historical events.

Steve Platt delves into the historical context of the Taiping Rebellion, mentioning his research motivations and the complex figure of Zeng Guofan, a key general in suppressing the rebellion. He discusses the controversial legacy of Zeng, the fluctuating perceptions of him in Chinese history, and his profound impact on subsequent leaders like Sun Yat-sen and Mao Zedong. Platt explores Zeng's strategic brilliance, moral conflicts, and the racial tensions inherent in the rebellion.

Platt addresses the foreign support for the Qing Dynasty during the Taiping Rebellion, particularly by the British, French, and Americans, despite Zeng Guofan's anti-foreign sentiments. He contrasts this with the Taiping's openness to foreign relations under Hong Rengan, highlighting the complex and counterintuitive nature of foreign intervention in the conflict and its long-term effects on Chinese history.

The narrative shifts to the changing perceptions of the Taiping Rebellion in the West, where initial sympathy turned into antagonism due to failed diplomacy and military skirmishes. Platt discusses the impact of the U.S. Civil War on British neutrality and the eventual direct intervention by the British and French in China, driven by economic and strategic interests, rather than support for the Qing's moral legitimacy.

Platt elaborates on the economic factors influencing British policy towards China, like the cotton trade disruption caused by the U.S. Civil War. He also mentions the role of media, particularly The Times of London, in shaping public opinion towards the Taiping and the Qing, reflecting on the transition from neutrality to active intervention in the conflict.

In the concluding remarks, Platt discusses the broader implications of foreign intervention in the Taiping Rebellion, questioning whether it delayed a necessary political and social transformation in China. He reflects on the moral considerations of such intervention and the lasting effects of these historical events on China's national identity and development.