Zhang Jiao was a religious leader at the end of the Eastern Han dynasty in China who led the Taoist religious group known as the “Way of Great Peace.” He is said to have healed the sick by having them confess their sins and drink water in which paper charms had been soaked, gathering hundreds of thousands of followers across the land.
In 184 he proclaimed, “The Blue Heaven is already dead; the Yellow Heaven shall rise,” and rose in rebellion with followers wearing yellow headbands (the Yellow Turban Rebellion). He called himself the “General of Heaven,” but is said to have died of illness during the rebellion. In the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he is portrayed as the man who received the book of sorcery Taiping Yaoshu from an immortal.
