In her impressive new book, Dai Yingcong sets out to entirely change our understanding of the 1796 White Lotus rebellion. With regard to the conduct of the war, she largely succeeds.
In the first five chapters, Dai narrates the arc of rebellion and suppression. She meticulously reconstructs the course of the campaigns, thereby explaining why the state took nine years to suppress a weak, disorganized rebellion that was essentially defeated by 1800. Furthermore, according to Dai, the rebellion never actually presented a serious threat to the dynasty in the first place. Dai contends that contrary to previous understanding, Qing forces, in the first phase of the war, effectively eliminated the main rebel formations, but military and civilian war leaders prolonged the campaigns for personal gain. She charts how they achieved this, practically battle by battle; they slowed down or sped up the fighting to line their pockets. The generals thus...
