Distinguished Taiping General: Hakka Shi Dakai

["Dixie" <Dixie@singnet.com.sg>]

Shih Ta-k'ai,

Pinyin SHI DAKAI (b. 1831, Kuei-hsien, Kwangsi province, China--d. June
1863, Ch'eng-tu, Szechwan province), one of the leaders of the Taiping
Rebellion, the widespread uprising that gripped South China between 1850
and 1864. The most literate of the Taipings, Shih was an avowed enemy of
the alien Ch'ing (Manchu) rulers of China. In the early part of the 20th
century, he came to be revered as a hero of the Chinese nationalist
rebellion against foreign domination. 

As one of the original five Taiping rebel leaders, Shih assumed the title
of i-wang ("assistant king"). In 1856, when the eastern king Yang
Hsiu-ch'ing attempted to usurp the throne of the supreme Taiping leader,
Hung Hsiu-ch'|an (1814-64), Shih plotted with the northern king Wei
Ch'ang-hui to kill Yang. The northern king killed not only Yang but
thousands of his adherents and relatives as well. When Shih objected to the
slaughter, the northern king plotted to kill him, but Shih discovered the
plot and escaped. Hung finally had the northern king executed and recalled
Shih to the capital, but Shih's immense popularity with the Taiping troops
aroused Hung's suspicion. 

Disgruntled, Shih split from the Taiping movement at the end of 1856,
taking with him a large personal following and some of the most able
Taiping commanders. Although the Ch'ing government offered him huge rewards
and high rank, he refused to surrender, chiding the Ch'ing officials for
their cooperation with foreign barbarians. Shih, who had hoped to establish
an independent kingdom in the western province of Szechwan, was unable to
win a popular base and was eventually caught and executed by government
forces.