The Taiping Rebellion,also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution,was a massive civil war in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It lasted from 1850 until the fall of Tianjing in 1864,although the last rebel army was not wiped out until August 1871. The conflict resulted in approximately 20 million deaths. The established Qing government won decisively,although at great cost to its fiscal and political structure.
Hong Xiuquan,born Hong Huoxiu and with the courtesy name Renkun,was a Chinese revolutionary and religious leader who led the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty. He established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom over large portions of southern China,with himself as its "Heavenly King".
Zongdu,usually translated as Viceroy,Head of State or Governor-General,governed one territory or more provinces of China during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
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.
Yang Xiuqing,was an organizer and commander-in-chief of the Taiping Rebellion.
Shi Dakai,born in Guigang,Guangxi,also known as Wing King or phonetically translated as Yi-Wang,was one of the most highly acclaimed leaders in the Taiping Rebellion and a poet.
Xiao Chaogui was an important leader during the early years of the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty of China. He was a sworn brother to Hong Xiuquan,the leader of the Taipings,and claimed to serve as a mouthpiece for Jesus Christ. Because of his importance to the rebellion,he was awarded the title of the "West King."
Feng Yunshan was the South King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom,a distant cousin and early accomplice of Hong Xiuquan,and an important leader during the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing government. He was one of the first Taipings to be baptized and established the first group of God Worshippers during the 1840s. He was killed during the initial stages of the rebellion,prior to the establishment of the Taiping's capital of Tianjing at Nanjing.
Wei Changhui was the North King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom during the Taiping Rebellion.
Xiang was a place in Guangxi province where there was an idol to Gan. Feeling that Gan was an embodiment of immorality and other evils,Hong Xiuquan,Lu Liu and Feng Yunshan destroyed the idol and desecrated the temple to Gan in the 1840s.
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.
Qin Rigang,néQin 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 Tianjing Incident occurred during the late Qing dynasty from September 2 to October 1856. This was a major political internal conflict within the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom which took place in its capital city Tianjing. A few key leaders of the Taiping Rebellion were killed:the East King Yang Xiuqing,the North King Wei Changhui and the Yan King Qin Rigang. More than 27,000 other opposition rivals including soldiers perished in the conflict as well. The Tianjing Incident was said to be one of the factors which led to the eventual failure of the Taiping Rebellion,as well as the turning point in its fate.
The First rout of the Jiangnan Battalion took place between 1853 and 1856 when the Qing government raised the Green Standard Army to fight against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The action involved Qing forces surrounding the city of Nanjing,the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
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.
Xiang Rong was a Chinese military general and politician. He was born in Wuxi County,Chongqing,and was promoted from the rank of a foot soldier during the later years of the Qing dynasty (1636–1912). He was involved in early military operations against the Taiping Rebellion in Henan from 1850 onwards. From then he was a Senior Colonel,after one year the military promoted him be the tidu (提督) of Guangxi,even though he failed,he made the Taiping believers flee Guangxi.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851–1864) was a Chinese Christian theocratic absolute monarchy which sought to overthrow the Qing dynasty. The Heavenly Kingdom,or Heavenly Dynasty,was led by King Hong Xiuquan and his followers. Its capital was at Tianjing. 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 God Worshipping Society was a religious movement founded and led by Hong Xiuquan which drew on his own unique interpretation of Protestant Christianity and combined it with Chinese folk religion,based on the faith in Shangdi,and other religious traditions. According to historical evidence,his first contact with Christian pamphlets occurred in 1836 when he directly received American Congregationalist missionary Edwin Stevens' personal copy of the Good Words to Admonish the Age. He only briefly looked over and did not carefully examine it. Subsequently,Hong claimed to have experienced mystical visions in the wake of his third failure of the imperial examinations in 1837 and after failing for a fourth time in 1843,he sat down to carefully examine the tracts with his distant cousin Feng Yunshan,believing that they were "the key to interpreting his visions" coming to the conclusion that he was "the son of God the Father,Shangdi,and the younger brother of Jesus Christ who had been directed to rid the world of demon worship ."
The Red Turban Rebellion of 1854–1856 was a rebellion by members of the Tiandihui in the Guangdong province of South China.
Qing dynasty 
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom