The Yellow Turbans were a Chinese Taoist peasant rebel group which was in a state of rebellion against the Han dynasty from 184 to 205 AD.
The Yellow Turbans were followers of the Way of Peace, a sect of Taoism founded by the "Great Teacher" Zhang Jiao, and they believed that the blue sky of the corrupt Han dynasty would be replaced by a yellow sky of the Way of Peace.
Zhang Jiao and his eight disciples spread the Way of Peace, and, in 184 AD, the followers of the Way of Peace took up arms against the Han, rallying 100,000 peasants to their cause. The scale of the rebellion came to involve almost a million people, but the armed commoners were crushed by the Imperial Army and the forces of the country's warlords.
Zhang Jiao died of illness, while his brothers, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang were slain; the rebellion was put down in the same year as its start. However, the Yellow Turbans survived for several decades, almost overwhelming Yan Province in 193 AD before Cao Cao crushed them.
In 205 AD, the remaining Yellow Turbans were incorporated into Cao Cao's army as the "Qingzhou Army".
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