Rewriting the Ningshan Mutiny: Changing Conceptions of Military Authority in the Early Nineteenth-Century Qing Empire

Abstract

The Ningshan mutiny, a revolt of recent recruits at the Ningshan Green Standard garrison in Shaanxi in 1806, provides a useful case for exploring changing conceptions of military authority in the early nineteenth-century Qing empire. Focusing on contrasting explanations for the mutiny from the immediate aftermath of the mutiny and the Daoguang reign (1821-1850), this article argues that the first half of the nineteenth century saw a growing embrace among statecraft thinkers, military officers, and the Qing court of what Max Weber referred to as charismatic authority. Rather than posing a threat to central control and military discipline, charismatic officers—including the former brigade general of Ningshan, Yang Fang—were viewed as a potential solution to the structural problems facing the Green Standards, the largely Han branch of the Qing military.