To What Extent Did the Panthay Rebellion Influence the Yunnan Plague during the Late Qing Dynasty from 1846 to 1872?
Yang Li

Abstract
After the first Opium War in 1840, a series of rebellions broke out in the Qing dynasty. From 1856 to 1872the Panthay rebellion caused circa three million deaths in Yunnan. However, much evidence proves that the eruption of the plague epidemics in Yunnan contributed significantly to the enormous death toll during the Panthay rebellion. This study focuses on how much the Panthay Rebellion influenced the Yunnan plague from 1846 to 1872 during the late Qing era, utilising archival analysis of primary sources and secondary supplementary resources. The findings from this research provide evidence of how plague epidemics were transmitted in Yunnan. The main conclusions drawn from this study are that the research contends, based on archival evidence, that the Panthay revolt, to some extent, fuelled the scale and scope of the plague outbreaks in Yunnan during this era. This is mainly because military movements and refugees who escaped to other areas intensified population mobility, and population movement is the disease carrier that spreads plague epidemics in Yunnan. This dissertation recommends that while preparing for the next probable epidemic outbreak, Yunnan's policymakers should understand the propagation law of fatal illnesses in Yunnan.

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