The White Lotus Religion in China was largely a Buddhist sect which incorporated some elements of Daoism (Taoism) and other native religions of China. It arose very early, perhaps going back to the twelfth century. The problem of identifying this religion's history is a matter of which groups are included. Most groups identified with the White Lotus Religion did not call themselves by that title. One must also distinguish between the White Lotus societies that were political and nationalistic militias having as little connection with the religion. The Irish Republican Army (I.R.A.) in Northern Ireland is supposedly Catholic but it hard to detect any element of Christianity in their actions and behavior.
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After centuries of persecution the White Lotus religion changed. It shifted from being meditative to being messianic. It began looking toward the arrival of someone who would save them from their persecution. Any talk of a new leader coming was likely to make the authorities considerably more apprehensive about the sect and increase their persecution.
Finally, in 1796, open rebellion by the White Lotus sects against the Qing government broke out. The rebellion continued for eight years, until 1804. The government put down the rebellion but it was not able to exterminate the sects and the White Lotus Movement. The White Lotus religion continued well into the nineteenth century.
In 1842, an offshoot of the White Lotus Movement, called the Nien, rose up in rebellion in Shandong, Henan and Jiangsu provinces. The leaders chose this time to rebel because the Qing government was pre-occupied with the Taiping Rebellion in south central China. The Nien Rebellion lasted until 1868, but after 1864 it was doomed. In 1863 the stronghold of the rebellion, Chih-ho, was taken and its leader, Chang Loxing, was killed. The Nien Rebellion picked up remnants of the Taiping Rebellion after the Taipings were defeated in 1864, but with the defeat of the Taipings the government could bring the full strength of its army against the Niens. In 1868, the Nien Rebellion was contained.
The groups (Righteous and Harmonious Fists of the Boxer Rebellion of 1900) might have had some affiliation with the militia groups associated in name with the White Lotus religious groups of the past but there is little evidence of an association with the White Lotus religious groups of the past.
The Falun Gong sect of present-day China fits into the scheme of the White Lotus religious groups and the government unjustified persecution of Falun Gong parallels the historic actions of the Qing Empire.
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The White Lotus Rebellion, (1796–1804), was a large-scale uprising in the mountainous regions of central Chinathat contributed to the decline of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12). The White Lotus society (Bailianjiao) was a religious cult already in existence in the Nan (Southern) Song dynasty (1127–1279). When the Manchu tribes of Manchuria (now Northeast China) conquered China some 500 years later in the 17th century and proclaimed the Qing dynasty, the White Lotus members dedicated themselves to the overthrow of the alien Manchu and to the return of the previous Ming dynasty (1368–1644). In the late 18th century, in response to famine, crowded conditions, and harassment from petty government officials, White Lotus leaders in central China began a rebellion; they promised their followers that there would be the return of the Buddha and the end of suffering.
The White Lotus (Pai-lien chiao) sectarianism appealed to Chinese, most notably to women and to the poor, who found solace in worship of the Eternal Mother who was to gather all her children at the millennium into one family. The doctrine of the White Lotus includes an alleged forecast to the advent of the Buddha.
The first signs of the White Lotus society came during the late 13th century. Mongol rule over China, known also by its dynastic name, the Yuan era, prompted small, yet popular demonstrations against foreign rule. The White Lotus Society organized these protests into wide- spread dissent. The Mongols considered the White Lotus society a religious sect and banned its existence, forcing its members to go underground. Now a secret society, the White Lotus became an instrument of national morale and religious doctrine.
A revolution, inspired by the White Lotus society, took shape in 1352 around Guangzhou. A Buddhist monk and former boy beggar, Zhu Yuanzhang, (Chu Yan-chang) threw off his vestments and joined the rebellion. His exceptional intelligence took him to the head of a rebel army; he won people to his side by forbidding his soldiers to pillage, in observance of White Lotus religious beliefs. By 1355, the rebellion had spread through much of China. In 1356, Zhu Yuanzhang captured Nanjing and made it his capital. It was here that he won the help of Confucian scholars who issued pronouncements for him and performed rituals in his claim of the Mandate of Heaven, the first step toward establishing new dynastic rule. Meanwhile the Mongols were fighting among themselves, inhibiting their ability to suppress the rebellion. In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang extended his rule to Guangzhou - the same year that the Mongol ruler, Toghan Temur, fled to Karakorum. Zhu Yuanzhang and his army entered the former Mongol capital, Beijing, and in 1371 his army moved through Sichuan. By 1387, after more than thirty years of war, Zhu Yuanzhang had liberated all of China. Having attained the Mandate of Heaven and the status of Emperor, he took the title Hong-wu and founded a new dynasty - the Ming.
The Ming dynasty derives its name from the White Lotus messianic figures of Big and Little Ming Wang (Brilliant Kings), who were thought to have been sent by Buddha Maitreya to the world to restore peace and order.
The White Lotus reemerged in the late 18th century in the form of an inspired Chinese movement to overthrow the Ching dynasty, led by Wang Lun, a master of martial arts and herbal medicine. The movements arose in the mountainous region that separates Sichuan province from Hubei and Shaanxi provinces in central China as tax protests. The White Lotus led impoverished settlers into the movements, promising personal salvation in return for their loyalty. Beginning as tax protests, the eventual rebellion gained growing support and sympathy from many citizens. The rebellion grew in number and power and eventually, into a serious concern for the government.
Ho-shen, a corrupt general, was sent by the Emperor Qianlong (Ch'ien-lung) (reigned: 1711 - 1799) to quell the uprising. Surprisingly, the ill-organized rebels managed to defeat the presumably inadequate and inefficient imperial forces. Ho-shen had been known to embezzle funds and resources earmarked for the defeat of the White Lotus- and thus accounted for his defeat. Upon assuming effective power in 1799, Emperor Jiaqing (Chia Châing) (reigned:1796 -1820) disposed of Ho-shen and gave support to the efforts of more vigorous Manchu commanders as a way of restoring discipline and morale.
A systematic program of pacification followed in which the populace was resettled in hundreds of villages in stockades organized into militia. In its last stage, the Qing suppression policy combined pursuit and extermination of rebel guerrilla bands with a program of amnesty for deserters. The rebellion came to an end in 1804. A decree from the Emperor Tao Kuang admitted, "…it was extortion by local officials that goaded the people into rebellion.
Using the arrest of sectarian members as a threat, local officials and police extorted money from people. Actual participation in sect activities had no impact on an arrest; whether or not monetary demands were met, however, did.
The end of the White Lotus Rebellion in 1804 also brought an end to the myth of military invincibility of the Manchu, perhaps contributing to the greater frequency of rebellions in the 19th century.
The White Lotus would again make an appearance in the 1890's. A branch sect called the I Ho Châuan (Fists in the Name of Harmony and Justice) began a serious anti-foreigner rebellion in response to the humiliations suffered by China at the hands of European and American powers. The Europeans would later call this band of rebels the Boxers.
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Although the rebellion continued for nine years, it never became an organized attempt to establish a new dynasty. Rather, it consisted of uncoordinated roving bands using hit-and-run guerrilla tactics. Vast sums of money earmarked for the campaign against the rebels, however, were embezzled by the imperial favorite Heshen and his friends. Not until the Qianlong emperor died in 1799 was Heshen removed and the war really prosecuted. By that time, however, the regular government forces were too ridden with corruption to be of any use. The dynasty had to resort to a strategy of removing all food supplies from the countryside and collecting the peasants into a series of armed stockades. In the stockades they were organized into local militia defense corps. Some of these militia groups were further trained as attack armies to seek out the rebels, whose forces were thinned by offers of amnesty to the rank and file and of rewards for the capture of the leaders. By 1804, the area was again placed under imperial control by the local militia. An independent military force, the militia proved difficult to disband, and frequently it turned against the dynasty in the early 20th century.
