早年

杨秀清早年生活困苦，五岁父亲去世，九岁母亲去世，由伯父养大，失学不识字，以耕种、伐林和烧炭为生，一早加入拜上帝会。1848年春，拜上帝会的领导人之一冯云山被清朝官府禁锢，洪秀全前往广州营救。当时会内人心不稳，杨秀清假装「天父下凡」（降乩）安抚信众。事后冯云山获释，洪秀全回到广西后承认杨秀清可以「代天父传言」，从此杨便进入拜上帝会领导层。

金田起义后

金田起义后，洪秀全在1851年封杨秀清为正军师，同年封杨为东王，其他四王皆归东王节制。自从南王冯云山及西王萧朝贵相继战死后，权力更加集中在杨秀清一人身上。

杨秀清是太平军由广西进军至南京的实际指挥者，战功显赫。当太平军攻下南京后，天王洪秀全打算再攻取河南定都，而杨秀清则属意建都南京，最后杨的意见被采纳。1853年初攻克武昌，建都南京后，制定太平军下一步战略为太平天国北伐和太平天国西伐两路并进。前者全军覆没，后者虽获得有限战略目标，然而未能尽歼清军主力。

在太平天国前期，天王虽然地位在各王之上，然而在制度上是一个虚位元首，实际权力在正军师东王杨秀清手上。杨秀清不识字，由东殿官吏协助处理文书，由杨负责决定。虽然军政命令在形式上要由军师奏请天王降旨，实际上由杨秀清决定，天王从不否决。此外，杨秀清多次假托「天父下凡」传令，逼使天王听从杨的命令。杨秀清随著功高而变得骄横，与天王和其他诸王的矛盾逐渐加剧。

死亡

到1856年8月，杨秀清的野心进一步扩大，假借「天父下凡」要求洪秀全把他由「九千岁」封为「万岁」，洪秀全假装同意，为以示庆祝，颁封日推延至杨秀清生日（公历当年9月23日）时正式封万岁。洪秀全其后密诏，要领兵在外的北王韦昌辉、翼王石达开等人诛杀杨秀清。

韦昌辉在9月1日到天京，与燕王秦日纲在夜间入城，2日凌晨突袭东王府，杨秀清、其家人及大量东王部属被杀。在处理东王馀下部属时，诸王设下了圈套，宣称天王降诏指责北王及燕王在对付东王时过度滥杀，需要受杖四百，诱使大批东王部属观刑，取得他们信任及弃械后，乘机将他们全部杀害。屠杀并未因此而终止，不少人因与东王有些关系，甚至只是款待用膳，亦遭屠杀，死亡人数多达2万馀，是为「天京之变」。

北王及燕王在同年被杀，后来洪秀全把杨秀清的「图谋篡位」罪名平反。洪秀全追念杨秀清的功绩，将其忌日定为「东王升天节」，又把自己第五子洪天佑过继给杨秀清，称为幼东王。

评价

杨秀清的战略主张并非没有缺点，诸如定都金陵，偏安江南，分兵北伐及西征以致分散太平军有生力量。但他是一位雷厉风行，强而有力的政军主事者，是太平军不可缺的核心人物之一。李秀成的《李秀成自述》中可鲜明地看出他的影响：「东王佐政事，事事严整，立法安民……严严整整，民心佩服」，与天京之变之后的「人心改变，政事不一，各有一心，朝中之事，并未实托一人，人人各理一事」形成强烈对比。

杨秀清在上帝教与儒教问题上，亦预见当中的矛盾或会引发传统士大夫势力的反对。1854年眼见湘军力量开始出现时，他假借上帝之口，要求承认儒教经典的基本美德，以图缓和太平天国和传统儒家的矛盾，这与太平天国多年来经营的批判孔孟宣传大相胫庭，甚至直接违背洪秀全口述的天国异像。

由此可以窥见他的统御领导才能，但他亦因弄权而见诛。在杨秀清往后的日子中，他多次假借天父之口，侮辱诸王，甚至要诸王为他抬轿、深宵传召宣诏、甚至当众苛斥洪秀全、对诸王用刑，这些举动最终引起反弹。

杨秀清死后，洪秀全虽继续维持军师制，但对外姓诸王不再信任，大权牢牢为洪秀全及其同姓兄长把持，军师成一虚位之职，导致翼王石达开出走，太平天国自此走向衰亡。

其他

今南京瞻园，即为杨秀清东王府旧址，现园内设立太平天国历史博物馆。

影视形象

Early life

Yang Xiuqing's family were farmers from Xincun near Jintian, Guangxi, but he lost his parents at a young age. According to imperial reports, Yang was a charcoal burner with some education who later organized a convoy system used to protect merchandise that was being transported through the area from bandits. His brother Yang Fuqing also later became a Taiping military commander.

Society of God-Worshippers

In April 1848, while Feng Yunshan and Hong Xiuquan were in a neighboring province, Yang assumed a leadership role in the God-Worshipping Society. Yang claimed to have been stricken deaf and mute only to have regained his hearing and speech at a meeting of the God Worshippers. He began to claim that he could enter trances in which he would be possessed by the Holy Spirit (Fei Lian), allowing God the Father (Shangdi) to speak through him. It does not appear that Yang truly believed that this was occurring, but that he instead acted as such in service of his own ambitions, as while speaking as God Feng necessarily possessed greater authority than even Hong Xiuquan. Upon Hong and Feng's return in the summer of 1849, they investigated Yang's claims and recognized them as genuine. From May to November 1850, Yang once again claimed to be deaf and mute. Once he recovered, Yang alleged that God was angered that Hong Xiuquan was not being allowed to establish the kingdom of God on Earth and sought to punish mankind with disease. According to this tale, only by suffering his illness was Yang able to redeem others. In 1850, perhaps in service of his political ambitions, he began to claim that he could miraculously heal true believers.

Taiping Rebellion

He was an early participant in the rebellion and rose quickly to prominence; in 1851, when Hong Xiuquan took the title of Heavenly King for himself, he made Yang, in spite of having no military knowledge or experience, commander-in-chief of the army. Yang was further named "East King" as one of the five kings. In 1851, Yang announced a vision in which it was revealed that there were traitors in the highest levels of the movement, and two years later that words of the Eastern King, that is, Yang himself, were divine. He devised an extensive network of spies to root out the intrigues of loyalists in the kingdom. Shrewd, ruthless, and ambitious, Yang ultimately proved himself to be a brilliant strategist and organizer, as well as the administrative mastermind of the Taiping Movement. By the 1850s, Yang had become the most powerful leader of the Taiping Rebellion.

With this presumed divine guidance, Taiping troops captured the city of Nanjing (Nanking), which became the capital of the Heavenly Kingdom in 1853. Yang took control of the city. He disciplined the troops after an initial period of violence and slaughter by declaring that he would execute any officer who entered a private home. City residents were ordered to return to work. Men and women were required to live separately, and were prohibited from walking together or even speaking to each other (there continued to be male and female military units). As Hong, the Heavenly King, became less interested in politics and more interested in his harem, he named Yang as prime minister of the Heavenly Kingdom. Many of the basic laws and regulations were issued during this period of Yang's control.

In August 1856, Yang defeated the government troops besieging Nanking. He first led them to divide their forces by forcing them to send relief forces to other cities, then sent all his own troops against them in a massed attack. Arrogance over victory, however, led to his downfall. Yang clashed with Hong over the rebellion's policies and views toward Confucianism and iconoclasm; Yang believed that Confucian morality was essentially positive, and that its basic tenets were compatible with the rebellion's interpretation of Christianity. Hong, however, rejected this notion and believed that Confucianism ought to be eradicated, considering that the belief system is irredeemable after centuries of corruption by the Manchus, used to oppress the Han majority.

Fall

Yang plotted to take the throne. Shortly before seeking a title equivalent to Hong Xiuquan's, Yang dispatched Wei Changhui, Shi Dakai, and Qin Rigang to separate provinces. Hong, viewing Yang's request as treasonous, alerted the three generals to return at once. Meanwhile, Yang demanded to be called Wansui (Ten Thousand Years), a title reserved for the emperor (Hong had assumed it in 1852). Wei returned to Nanjing with three thousand troops on September 1, 1856, and found that Qin Rigang had already arrived. In consultation with Hong Xiuquan and his allies, the two generals decided not to wait for Shi Dakai's arrival. Instead, they and their troops immediately stormed Yang's palace and slew him before he could escape. They then slaughtered his family and followers within the palace, despite having agreed with Hong that only Yang was to die. At this point, six thousand of Yang's followers remained in Nanjing. Yang's remaining followers in the capital were all systemically slaughtered over the next three months. Within a few years, the fortunes of the Taiping Rebellion declined as the rebellion's leaders became involved in the ensuing conspiracies and intrigues.