Eight Trigrams uprising of 1813

The Eight Trigrams uprising of 1813 broke out in China under the Qing dynasty. The rebellion was started by some elements of the millenarian Tianli Sect (天理教) or Heavenly Principle Sect, which was a branch of the White Lotus Sect. Led by Lin Qing (林清; 1770–1813) and Li Wencheng, the revolt occurred in the Zhili, Shandong, and Henan provinces of China.

In 1812, the leaders of the Eight Trigram Sect (Bagua jiao) also known as the Sect of Heavenly Order (Tianli jiao) announced that leader Li Wencheng was a 'true lord of the Ming' and declared 1813 as the year for rebellion.

The group won support from several powerful Eunuchs in the Forbidden City. On 15 September 1813, the group attacked the imperial palace in Beijing. The rebels made it into the city, and may have been successful in overthrowing the Qing had not Prince Mianning—the future emperor—used his forbidden musket to repel the invaders.

The rebellion is seen as being similar to the previous White Lotus Rebellion, with the former being of religious intent and the latter leaders of the Eight Trigram appearing more interested in personal power by overthrowing the Manchu dynasty.

Leaders Lin Qing (林清; 1770–1813) and Li Wencheng seemed to have been inspired to overthrow the Qing by the appearance in 1811 of a bright comet. Although Beijing claimed that this comet showed great glory for the dynasty, Lin and Li saw this as an "auspicious blessing for their enterprise" to overthrow the dynasty. They divided their followers into eight groups, or trigrams, and gathered contributions by promising future benefits after the rebellion was successful: "It was promised that when Li Wencheng has risen up, everyone who had given money or grain would be given land or official rank."

During July 1813, the main leaders of the Eight Trigrams met to set a date for the rebellion. They were prompted by droughts and floods, as well as by sharp increases in the price of wheat, and set 15 September as an appropriate time for the rebellion to begin. In addition to being right after the harvest, the Jiaqing Emperor was scheduled to be out of Beijing, so the Forbidden City would be lightly guarded. The plan was that when Jiaqing returned to Beijing, they would attack him outside the city and assassinate him.

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