As early as 142 CE, the people's disgust with their government found expression in the Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion (also known as the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice, so called because anyone wishing to join had to donate five pecks of rice) led by the Taoist visionary Zhang Jiao.
At the same time he was proclaiming his Great Peace, he was mobilizing the people for armed conflict to demand that peace through military action, knowing the government would not grant it willingly, and he was right.
The Yellow Turban Rebellion took place in China during 184 CE. when bands of roaming peasants came together to fight poverty and landlessness caused by epidemics & flooding of Yellow River.
The rebellion, which got its name from the color of the cloths that the rebels wore on their heads, marked an important point in the history of Taoism due to the rebels' association with secret Taoist societies. They believed yellow headdresses association with the “earth” element, would succeed the red “fire” element that represented Han rule.
Zhang Jiao at that time began preparing the rebellion with the slogan that "the bluegray Heaven (i.e.the Han dynasty) is dead, the Yellow Heaven (i.e. the Taiping dynasty) will be established".
Zhang formed a theocratic state in the Hanzhong Valley in defiance of the government, claiming the emperor had lost the Mandate of Heaven and Zhang and his followers were, in effect, seceding from China.
To suppress the uprising, which erupted in eastern and central China, the Han conscripted huge armies at great cost, but their efforts were hampered by inefficiency and corruption, and the uprising of the Yellow Turbans lasted more than 20 years.
The Yellow Turban Uprising was a rebellion that contributed to the end of the Later Han dynasty (25-220 CE) and the rise of several warlords that would eventually divide the empire among them.
Yellow Turban Rebellion in China
