16. The Qing government became preoccupied with the Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion was an insurrection against the Qing government, led by a religious fanatic named Hong Xiuquan, who publicly proclaimed that he was the brother of Jesus Christ. Virtually ignored by western history, it was waged for fourteen years between the Taiping movement and the Qing Dynasty. It was one of the bloodiest wars of human history, with estimates of 30 to 70 million people killed before it was won by the Qing Dynasty in 1864. The Taiping Rebellion is believed by scholars to have distorted the perception of Christianity in China in ways which remain in the 21st century.
As the Qing government and military struggled to first contain and then defeat the rebellion, which arose in 1850 in the province of Guangxi, the British increased their demands upon the Qing. By 1854 the Taiping rebels threatened the Yangtze valley and controlled a significant portion of the country. Incidents of violence by Taiping supporters against British subjects were cited in London and elsewhere as a reason for British action in Chinese affairs. The British government led by Prime Minister William Gladstone was replaced with Prime Minister Lord Palmerston, who had been Foreign Secretary during the First Opium War.