“The Yellow Turbans were much more than a simple group of rebels: they were a millennial sect looking forward to the coming of a golden age. The millions of Chinese who lived unspeakably hard and grim lives were looking not just for political solutions, but for immediate hope. The Yellow Turbans offered exactly this. Their leader, a Daoist teacher named Chang Chueh, claimed that the had the power to do magic. He announced that he could heal sickness. . . . He promised that if they took his medicines, they would be immune from wounds and could fight in battle without fear. . . .

By 182, the Yellow Turbans had a following of over three hundred and fifty thousand poor, desperate, landless, and angry Chinese. By 184, they were ready to rise up and fight against their oppressors.”

—Susan Wise Bauer, The History of the Ancient World, 2007.