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I just finished reading Paul Michaud's monograph The Yellow Turbans. I think it's rather sad that we are unable to know more about them. I got a copy of the monograph from my professor as I asked him for more information about the Yellow Turbans unfortunately there is no information as to when this was originally published. The monograph challenged some of the traditionally held beliefs about the movement, that it was in response to economic conditions, that it was a Taoist movement, and that it brought about the end of the Han.
Michaud seemed to strongly go against any speculation in his interpretations. He relied purely on the sources available which he states, rightly I believe, are too small to draw many of the above conclusions. He gives quite a convincing argument about economic and political conditions at the time of the rebellion. He points out that the economic conditions were much worse decades earlier and so can not be solely to blame. He argues that the political instability of the time, the court being in the control of the eunuchs, led to destabilisation in the empire which made it much easier and more likely to have a revolt.
His second argument I found to be not as strong. He argued that there was little, or no, Taoist influence in the Yellow Turbans religious teachings. He disclaimed previous arguments about their relationship with the Tai Ping Ching Ling Shu. However his arguments that their healing practices with "talisman water" were very weak, as the Buddhist scripture he was referring to was not translated into Chinese till a century after the uprising. I think it is far more likely that the Yellow Turbans were following indigenous Chinese religion than Buddhism which barely existed in China at that time. I think likewise that his arguments for them not being a Taoist religion because later Taoists did not include them as such, while perhaps being strictly true, doesn't offer evidence one way or the other as to what the Yellow Turbans themselves took as there influences.
His last argument was fairly sound, the idea that they contributed to the start of the downfall but were no means the sole cause. The only criticism I would have of his conclusion here is that he seemed to give a very uncritical analysis of the information provided in the official histories, believing what it said about the events and who was to blame, without questioning who or why they were being written. Of course due to a lack of any other sources available these offer the only textual evidence about the events.
An interesting little article, which made me miss the video game.
Michaud seemed to strongly go against any speculation in his interpretations. He relied purely on the sources available which he states, rightly I believe, are too small to draw many of the above conclusions. He gives quite a convincing argument about economic and political conditions at the time of the rebellion. He points out that the economic conditions were much worse decades earlier and so can not be solely to blame. He argues that the political instability of the time, the court being in the control of the eunuchs, led to destabilisation in the empire which made it much easier and more likely to have a revolt.
His second argument I found to be not as strong. He argued that there was little, or no, Taoist influence in the Yellow Turbans religious teachings. He disclaimed previous arguments about their relationship with the Tai Ping Ching Ling Shu. However his arguments that their healing practices with "talisman water" were very weak, as the Buddhist scripture he was referring to was not translated into Chinese till a century after the uprising. I think it is far more likely that the Yellow Turbans were following indigenous Chinese religion than Buddhism which barely existed in China at that time. I think likewise that his arguments for them not being a Taoist religion because later Taoists did not include them as such, while perhaps being strictly true, doesn't offer evidence one way or the other as to what the Yellow Turbans themselves took as there influences.
His last argument was fairly sound, the idea that they contributed to the start of the downfall but were no means the sole cause. The only criticism I would have of his conclusion here is that he seemed to give a very uncritical analysis of the information provided in the official histories, believing what it said about the events and who was to blame, without questioning who or why they were being written. Of course due to a lack of any other sources available these offer the only textual evidence about the events.
An interesting little article, which made me miss the video game.