in part, by decades of female infanticide caused by the flood-related economic misery, leading to a large population of frustrated young men without any women to marry, perhaps as many as a quarter of all young men in the area being in this category of "bare branches". The conflict The Nian rebels were to a large degree desperate and poor peasants who banded together in bandit groups simply to survive. However, as natural disasters grew worse, these bandit groups grew increasingly large, and eventually became armies that were able to directly challenge the government. Nevertheless, the main interest of most Nian members remained plundering communities that were better off, as well as resisting taxation. Religious motifs likewise were of little importance to the Nian rebels. While the Nian forces possibly inherited some of their symbols such as red turbans and Eight Trigram flags from the White Lotus, the overall influence of spiritual movements such as the White Lotus or the God Worshipping Society on them was low. For example, White Lotus rebels sometimes fought alongside Nian groups, but the latter sometimes also attacked the former in hopes of plunder. On average, the Nian groups in Henan remained more similar to mere bandits than the Nian in Anhui. Overall, the Nian movement "remained primarily the expression of mundane strategies of survival" according to historian Elizabeth J. Perry. They were never revolutionaries, and besides slogans that called for death of government officials and the rich, as well as hopes for a more just society, they lacked clear, well-defined goals. That some Nian armies became actual rebel movements was mostly due to the ambitions of individual Nian leaders who wanted to become legitimate rulers. The Nian utilized cavalry in part to aid in looting, which served to support both the Nians' forces and their home communities. In contrast to their mobile cavalry, the Nians' defensive tactics were based on the so-called "earthwall communities" they controlled. Support of the peasantry proved crucial and provided the true base of the Nians' power. In 1851, the Nian began raiding the grain stores and silver caches of villages. Upon the seizure of Nanjing by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, some Nian leaders sought an alliance with the Taiping. While Hong Xiuquan bestowed titles upon the Nian leaders and the Nian and the Taiping occasionally cooperated, full coordination between the two rebellions was never achieved. Cases in which Nian