A massive peasant uprising erupted across China led by Zhang Jue and followers of the Way of Peace, a Daoist movement promising healing and salvation. Rebels wore yellow headscarves and protested against corrupt Han Dynasty officials, heavy taxation, and famine, ultimately contributing to the dynasty's collapse and decades of civil war that devastated the countryside.

The chaos following the Yellow Turban Rebellion inspired some of China's greatest poetry, including works by Cao Cao and the Seven Scholars of Jian'an, who witnessed societal collapse firsthand. Their poems expressed profound melancholy about impermanence, the suffering of common people, and the failure of governance, establishing themes that would resonate through centuries of Chinese literature during times of dynastic transition.