The Qing were hardly inactive in responding to the rebellion, but their reaction to a great extent involved relinquishing authority rather than securing it.

During the rebellion there were a few Qing initiatives, particularly regarding diplomacy. Chief among these was the establishment of the Zongli Yamen by Prince Gong, as, by establishing a modernised foreign office, diplomacy was streamlined and support secured from the West. Furthermore, the Maritime Customs Service was introduced, bringing in increased tariff income from Shanghai.^1

However, the key change brought about by the Qing was the empowerment of regional strongmen. Men like Zeng Guofan and his proteges Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang gained command of China's provincial armies, which were given increased prominence. Under their auspices there were new training regimens and the beginnings of the introduction of new technology. However, the idea that China was genuinely 'Westernising' is a bit of an overstatement – some semblance of Western ideas were retained (rather amusingly, this included phonetic transliterations of English command words) but there were no pretensions as to a general effort at modernising.^2 Crucially, during the war the likin tax was instituted. Collected through the militia system, which was controlled by the regional leaders, the likin tariffs placed power over revenues into the hands of the provincial heads and further weakened the central government's grasp.^3

Despite conservatism with regard to the armies it must be stated that the navy did modernise substantially. Although the Fuzhou Arsenal was destroyed in the Sino-French War in 1884, by the time of the Sino-Japanese War other arsenals like the one at Jiangnan were producing steel and ships domestically, and there were significant imports of foreign warships, with two German-built battleships (Dingyuan and Zhenyuan) being used at the Battle of the Yalu River against Japan in 1894.^4

Central government ended up becoming an auxiliary to local initiatives on matters of culture and ritual as well. The Board of Rites was so inundated with the need for commemoration efforts for war dead that it became a rubber stamp for local efforts. In addition, edicts issued by the Board of Rites asking people not to use memorials to war dead as recreational facilities suggest that there was a general disregard for Imperial commemorative schemes, and that attempts at reasserting central power were being thwarted even in terms of ritual and social services.^5

Notes, Sources and References

• ^1 Stephen R. Platt, Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War (2012) – Contains surprisingly little on the Taiping legacy (although what is there is still very good), but probably the best history of the later years of the Taiping that there is, covering the Taiping, Qing and Western governments.
• ^2 Richard J. Smith, Mercenaries and Mandarins: The Ever-Victorious Army in Nineteenth-Century China (1978) – later chapters discuss military reforms during the 'Tongzhi Restoration', but the book is mainly concerned with the EVA under Ward and Gordon.
• ^3 Philip A. Kuhn, Rebellion and its Enemies in Late Imperial China: Militarisation and Social Structure (1970) – definitely a great read in terms of getting to grips with Qing military policy before and after the Taiping.
• ^4 Tonio Andrade, The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History (2016) – This one is a much broader study of Chinese military history throughout the 2nd Millennium AD, and says little about the Taiping in and of themselves, but there is quite a bit on the Self-Strengthening Movement that is worth looking at.
• ^5 Tobie Meyer-Fong, What Remains: Coming to Terms with Civil War in 19th Century China (2013) – Primarily concerned with the people's response to the war when it was happening and what was done afterwards, but what references there are to the role of government really do show how severely damaged Qing authority had become.

Also worth reading are:

• Thomas H. Reilly, The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Religion and the Blasphemy of Empire (2004) – A work focussed on the origins and expression Taiping theology for the most part but which also discusses Qing religious policy in the wake of the Taiping.
• Zhang Hongxing, Studies in Late Qing Dynasty Battle Paintings, in Artibus Asiae, Vol. 60, No. 2 (2000), pp. 265-296 – quite an interesting look at the propaganda of imagery used by the Qing to commemorate their victories over not just the Taiping but also the Nian, Panthays and Dungans.