By Sue Carpenter


One of the most enduring pieces of oriental inspire fashion garb has to be the distinctive yellow turban. Many wearers of the piece of headgear however do not have the knowledge of its history and therefore they cannot appreciate the deep historical significance of the turbans. It is for this reason that the following guide to the events that lead to the ubiquity of the turban in ancient China has been put together.

The yellow turban rebellion was a revolt mounted against the ling dynasty in the last two decades of the second century AD. The empire was pushing for deeply unpopular policies about farming in famine stricken Northern China provinces, forcing the peasants to rise up in arms. Led by Taoist priests, the rebellion marked a distinct period for the faith.

The chief inspirations behind the uprising were three brothers whose surname was Zhang. They were all inspirational Taoists priests who founded their own brand of the faith in Shandong province. They taught their adherents and fighters that they could get healed through faith and confessing of their sins. Jiao was the most prominent of the Zhang brothers and he was known reverently s the 'General from heaven'.

Jiao was a very charismatic priest and war general. Before leading the peasants in has command to battle, how would regale them with inspiring speeches of a new era dawning after their victory over the empire. He would tell them that the sky would turn yellow for a whole year to mark the fall of the Han dynasty. This is why his followers wore the distinctive head gear.

There were three distinct areas in which dissatisfaction, anger and the eventual revolt were at the height. The Zhang brothers' home area to the north of the Yellow river was one of these. The other notable areas of discontent were in the region surrounding modern day Beijing city and also the Nanyang and Yinchuan regions. The revolts were becoming so strong as to shake the empire down to its core.

In a matter of a few years, the rebellion had gathered so much steam as to cause great concern in the empire. After a series of victories, the 360,000 rebels looked set to topple the emperor. They were however confronted by a new reality check when a new general, Liu Yan, rose up the ranks and drafted over 100,000 new conscripts from the relatively quiet Southern provinces of the empire. With this army, Yan soon started inflicting losses on the rebels.

Under the leadership of Liu Yan, the momentum was firmly on the side of the empire and the rebellion was squashed with vengeance. It did not take long for the inspirational Zhang brothers to be captured and they were speedily beheaded. The rebellion continued to boil on for about ten years after the deaths but by 205 AD, the yellow turbans had been squashed for good.

The oriental influence in western fashion has been rising in prominence over the years. One lasting legacy of this change in tastes has been the almost ubiquitous yellow turban. It is a piece of headgear with a significance that many rarely appreciate or even understand.




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