The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a civil war in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The conflict lasted for 14 years, from its outbreak in 1850 until the fall of Taiping-controlled Nanjing—which they had renamed "Tianjing"—in 1864. However, the last rebel forces were not defeated until August 1871. Estimates of the conflict's death toll range between 20 and 30 million people, representing 5–10% of China's population. While the Qing ultimately defeated the rebellion, the victory came at a great cost to the state's economic and political viability.
Hong Tianguifu was the second and last king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He is popularly referred to as the Junior Lord (幼主). Officially, like his father Hong Xiuquan, he was the King of Heaven (天王). To differentiate, he is also called the Junior King of Heaven (幼天王).
Li Xiucheng was a military rebel commander opposing the Qing dynasty during the Taiping Rebellion. He was born to a peasant family. In 1864, he was captured and interrogated following the third and final Battle of Nanjing. He was then executed by Zeng Guofan.
Zongdu were the managers supervising provincial governors in Ming and Qing China. One viceroy usually administered several provinces and was in charge of all affairs of military, food, wages, rivers, and provincial governors within their region of jurisdiction. Viceroys was appointed by and directly reported to the Emperor.
Hong Rengan was an important leader of the Taiping Rebellion. He was a distant cousin of the movement's founder and spiritual leader Hong Xiuquan. His position as the Gan Wang resembled the role of a prime minister. He is a noted figure in history because of the sweeping reforms attempted under his rule, and because of his popularity in the West.
The Jintian Uprising was an armed revolt formally declared by Hong Xiuquan, founder and leader of the Emperor Worshippers, on 11 January 1851 during the late Qing dynasty of China. The uprising was named after the rebel base in Jintian, a town in Guangxi within present-day Guiping. It marked the beginning of the Taiping Rebellion.
Shi Dakai, born in Guigang, Guangxi, also known as the Wing King or phonetically translated as Yi-Wang, was one of the most highly acclaimed leaders in the Taiping Rebellion and a poet.
The Battle of Sanhe was a major engagement of the Taiping Rebellion, occurring in 1858. During this battle, the elite troops of Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army were lost, along with one of its most capable commanders, Li Xubin as well as Zeng Guofan's brother Zeng Guohua.
The Xiang Army or Hunan Army was a standing army organized by Zeng Guofan from existing regional and village militia forces called tuanlian to contain the Taiping Rebellion in Qing China. The name is taken from the Hunan region where the Army was raised. The Army was financed through local nobles and gentry, as opposed to through the centralized Manchu-led Qing dynasty. The army was mostly disbanded by Zeng after the re-capture of the Taiping capital at Nanking.
Zeng Guoquan, courtesy name Yuanfu, art name Shuchun, was a Chinese official and military leader of the late Qing dynasty. He was the ninth brother of Zeng Guofan, a prominent statesman and general, and a descendant of the philosopher Zengzi. He served in the Xiang Army, a standing military force organised by his brother to counter the Taiping rebels, and was nicknamed "Ninth Marshal" (九帥). He was known for his expertise in siege warfare, particularly the use of trenches, hence he was also nicknamed "Zeng the Iron Container" (曾鐵桶). During the conquest of Tianjing (Nanjing), the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Zeng was notorious for condoning massacres of the city populace, which resulted in him being called "Zeng the Butcher" (曾屠戶).
Zhang Guoliang, born in Guangdong, was a Field Marshal for the Qing dynasty. He was born in Gaoyao, Zhaoqing, Guangdong, although Qing stated that he was from Meixian, Guangdong. He was originally a bandit in Guangxi but later joined the Qing Army. He helped to raise the Green Standard Army to 250,000 to fight against the Taiping Rebellion. In the second rout of Army Group Jiangnan in 1860 he was defeated by Li Xiucheng. Zeng Guofan praised Zhang and said he was Jiangnan's "Great Wall of China."
Jiangnan Daying or the Jiangnan Battalion; was an army group assembled by the Qing dynasty. The army group consist of mostly Green Standard Army, and their goal was to quell the Taiping Rebellion around the Jiangnan region. The army group twice encircled Nanjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but were defeated by the Taiping forces on both occasions.
Qin Rigang, né Qin Richang (秦日昌), was a Hakka military leader of the Taiping Rebellion, known during his military tenure as the King of Yen (燕王). He served under Hong Xiuquan's Taiping Administration and led Taiping forces to many military victories. He was executed by Hong Xiuquan in 1856 because he had killed the family and followers of Shi Dakai during the Tianjing Incident. Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng were trained and taught by Qin.
The Battle of Jiangnan (1860), also known as the Second rout of the Jiangnan Battalion took place between the Qing government's Green Standard Army and the army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom during the Taiping Rebellion. The Green Standard Army twice attempted to besiege Nanjing, capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but was unable to break through. To break the siege of Nanjing, the Taiping forces maneuvered to divert Qing forces by sacking Hangzhou, before quickly moving back to Nanjing to counter-encircle the Qing siege forces and routing the Green Standard Army garrison completely, breaking the siege of Nanjing.
The Battle of Shanghai (太平軍二攻上海) was a major engagement of the Taiping Rebellion that occurred from June 1861 to July 1862. British and French troops used modern artillery on a large scale for the first time in China. Cannon fire inflicted heavy casualties on the Taiping forces, whose commander Li Xiucheng was wounded in the left leg by a shot fired from a cannon.
Zhu Hongzhang, born in Liping, Guizhou, was a Han Chinese official and a military general of the late Qing Dynasty in China. He joined the Xiang Army to fight against the Taiping Rebellion and to restore the stability of the Qing state. He was one of the nine generals that lead a force of 60,000 troops to occupied Nanjing in 1864. Zhu was awarded a third-class merit for the recovery Nanjing. Although Zhu was awarded a third-class merit for the recovery Nanjing after Commander Zeng Guoquan commended Zhu's work to the Beijing government, there were dissenting opinions that Zhu should have received the first merit instead of Li Chendian.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, or the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace (1851–1864), was a theocratic absolute monarchy which sought to overthrow the Qing dynasty. The Heavenly Kingdom, or Heavenly Dynasty, was led by Hong Xiuquan. Its capital was at Tianjing, present-day Nanjing. The unsuccessful war it waged against the Qing is known as the Taiping Rebellion.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is a Chinese television series based on the events of the Taiping Rebellion and the rise and fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the late Qing dynasty. The 48-episode series was first broadcast on CCTV in China in 2000. The series was also broadcast on STAR Chinese Channel in Taiwan and on ATV in Hong Kong.
The Battle of Changsha was fought in the early years of the Taiping Rebellion throughout 1852. After defeating Qing forces in Guangxi, the Taipings advanced into neighboring Hunan province. The city was heavily defended and a delay in the Taiping advance allowed Qing forces to reinforce the city. The first attempt to advance north was stopped at an ambush at the Suoyi ford in the Xiang River, where over 10,000 Taiping sailors and soldiers were killed.
The Battle of Wuchang occurred in 1852 during the Taiping Rebellion in Wuchang, part of the modern-day city of Wuhan.
Qing Dynasty 