Hong Xiuquan

洪秀全

( Drawing from the book History of the insurrection in China by Joseph-Marie Callery 1853)

How to pronounce Hong Xiuquan

(Hung Hsiu-chuan)

1813-64

Leader of the Taiping Movement

A Hakka born in Guangdong

After failing civil exams many times, had a nervous breakdown and saw visions, leading him to believe he was the younger brother of Jesus and destined to replace the corrupt, foreign 'demon' Manchu Qing Dynasty.After taking Nanjing, became preoccupied with religious visions and pleasures of the harem, The inner palace run entirely by women, as their were no eunuchs, and rarely left his palace.After the massacres that followed the death of Yang Xiuqing, he did not trust the remaining Kings, relying more on his family members

Died , perhaps of food poisoning after eating grass , which he viewed as 'manna from heaven' during siege of Nanjing in 1864.According to his son, he died of sickness. According to Li Xiucheng, he poisoned himself .

Most of those in high positions in the Taiping government were from the  Hakka or Zhuang minority group.

Hong is viewed as being sincere in his beliefs, while Yang is seen as using the movement to advance his own fortunes .

*There is no authentic portrait of Xiuquan, this famous drawing comes from the early Taiping book  by the French missionary and Sinologue. J.M. Callery

Ford & West  lithograph

Yang Xiuqing

(Yang Hsiu-Ch'ing)

?-1856

Former Hakka charcoal seller and early convert and great administrator and made the Eastern King. Went into trances and claimed to be the voice of God and the Holy Ghost .Disagreed with Xiuquan on Confucius, Yang though his works should be taught, while Xiuquan demanded they be burned as promoting idolatry.  More ambitious than devout, tried to supplant Hong Xiuquan and killed with thousand of his followers. With his death, there was no strong successor to take his place .

Shi Dakai

pronounced

石達開

(Shih Ta-k'ai)

Assistant King/Yi Wang

1820-63

 Tragic hero of the Taipings.

An educated man from a wealthy farming family.

Wing King

brilliant military leader. His  compassionate administration made him popular in Jiangxi and Anqing, Anhui. Won a great victory over Zeng Guofan at Hukou in 1855 in the Boyang/Yangtze river area.

Well known for his poetry.

His great popularity caused the suspicion of Hong Xiuquan and jealousy of Hong's brothers, causes him to leave Nanjing with his forces to Sichuan in 1857.

Gave himself up to Qing forces to save his remaining troops from execution .Executed by Qing forces in 1864.

Feng Yunshan

d.1852

Southern King/Nan Wang

Companion and early organizer in Thistle Mt.

made South King

Shot by a Qing solder while passing Quanzhou, Guangxi, the infuriated Taipings sack the city, killing all.Feng dies of his wound in June

Augustus F Lindley

A British merchant ship officer, arrived in China in 1859, Appalled by the Qing government and the foreigners involved in the opium trade, grew interested enough in the Taipings to go visit them in Nanjing.Met  Li Xiucheng and was greatly impressed by him and the Taiping movement. He and fought with them at the Battle of Hu-hou in Jiangxi .While at a Taiping church service he wondered "

Li Xiucheng

李秀成

pronounced

(1823-64)

Loyal King/Cheng Wang

Army commander who rose through the ranks,defeated Qing forces in the battles of SanHe and P'u-Kou in 1858, reviving Taiping fortunes, Famous for his generosity and fairness,

made King of Zhong(loyalty) for refusing a bribe to kill Hong Xiuquan

commander of forces that failed to take Shanghai, battled Ward and Gordon's Ever Victorious Army

Gave his horse to the a son of Hong Xiuquan, Hong Fo-tien so he could escape Nanjing, while he took a weaker horse. This horse collapsed and he was captured .

executed in 1864

Xiao Chao-gui

(Hsiao Ch'ao-kuei)

Western King/Xi Wang

Poor Hakka farmer, early convert, brother-in-law of Xiuqi

In trance is voice of Jesus

killed at Changsha, Sept 17,1852

Chen Yucheng

(Ch'en Yu-ch'eng)

183?-1862

Heroic King/Ying Wang

Called si-yan gou or four eyed dog due to a mole.

Joined the Taipings at 15 and quickly rose the ranks to general due to his ability. Captures Wu-chang at 18 years of age

made Ying Prince. defeated Zeng's Hunan Army at San He in 1858.

betrayed and captured, executed in 1862

Hong Rengan

(Hung Jen-kan)

1822-64

cousin of Hong and early convert

Shield King/Kan Wang

Spent time with western missionaries and could speak English.

Urged modern reforms and alliance with western nations, but had neither the time nor the power to build the centralized modern state he had in mind .

Executed in Jiangxi while fleeing with Hong's son after the fall of Nanjing.

Hong Renda

? - 1864

Peace King

elder half brother of Hong Xiuquan with great influence, esp. after execution of Yang Xiuqing. Executed after fall of Nanjing

Hong Tiangui Fu

eldest son of

Hong Xiuquan

1848-64

became the second and last king of the Taipings at 16

captured with Hong Rengan at Shi Cheng

 Tou Wang or Yellow Tiger

The Yellow Tiger survived after the fall of Nanjing at Huzhou, Zhejiang, retreated to Jiangxi, then took Zhangzhou in Fujian, near Xiamen, left there April16,1865, later takes Ganzhou, Jiangxi, also taken by Qing forces in 1865, disappears from history

Wei Chang-hui

From a rich landlord family,

North King./Bei Wang

Considered mentally unstable after ordered to kill Yang Xiuqing and his forces, was himself killed after murdering Shi Dakai's family.

Lai Wenkwok

1827-68

younger brother of

Hong Xiuquan's wife, made King of Jun

military commander of Taiping and Nian forces which attacked Beijing in 1865. survived the sack of Nanjing in 1864 and tried to continue the Taiping legacy, captured and executed

Lai Hang ying

1813-1909

another brother of Hong Xiuquan's wife, made a king early on

military commander in Jiangxi, made vice prime minister, only Taiping leader to survive. Sun Yat-Sen listened to many of his stories from the Taiping days.

Xian Feng Emperor

(r.1850-61)

Slow to respond to the Taiping threat, due in part to concentrating forces in the east to fight the foreigners. 19 when he became emperor.

More interested in his harem than state affairs and alcoholic

Became seriously depressed after the burning of the Summer Palace by British and French forces in 1860 and became ill, dying in 1861.

Tong Zhi emperor

(r.1861-75)

Became emperor at the age of 5 after his father Xian Feng's death, his mother Empress Dowager Cixi and uncle, Prince Gong became regents.

Empress Dowager Cixi

pronounced

慈禧太后

1835-1908

Regent for her son, the Tongzhi emperor, who was 5 when he became emperor in 1861. She came from an ordinary Manchu family. Her father wasdismissed from the civil service in 1853 for not resisting the Taipings and perhaps beheaded.She was de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, ruling over China for 48 years from her husband's death in 1861 to her own death in 1908.Cixi recognized the decay within the Manchu military and civilian administration would soon lead to the demise of the Qing Dynasty, placed the Han Chinese Zeng Guofan in overall command of the Qing armies against the Taiping. Before then, almost all top Qing military leaders had been Manchus.Zeng was one of the few Qing generals who had defeated the Taipings at this point .

Zeng Guofan

hear Zeng Guofan pronounced

(1811-72)

A Han Chinese native of Hunan level of civil exams. when the Taipings over Hunan, here started his own armed force to fight them. Being one of the first Manchu officals to score a victory against the Taipings, he was given more power despite not being Manchu . He created the Hunan or Xiang army, the model for later provincial and warlord armies, which were not part of the Manchu banner system. His Hunan army stressed officer-soldier relationships and  Confucian vales.After a serious defeat of the main Qing army in 1860, Zeng was entrusted with military leadership.After early reverses, retook Changsha, and destroyed the rebel fleet and made war commissioner and viceroy Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Anhui., besieging and destroyed the Taiping movement in 1864

Li Hongzhang

(Li Hung-chang)

1823-1901

A native of Anhui, he also attained the highest rank in the civil service exams like Zeng Guo-feng . He raised his own forces to fight the Taipings and came to the notice of Zeng.He supported the foreign trained Ever Victorious Army which protected Shanghai. Created a mixed Chinese-Filipino force, led by French officers, known as the Ever Triumphant Army. Li's father had been Zeng's classmate .

Frederick Townsend Ward

1831-62

American from Salem, Mass, arrived in China in 1860 . Became commander what would become the ever victorious Arrmy to protect  Shanghai. Trained Chinese in western military methods, became a  Chinese citizen and married a Chinese woman. Died in agony after being shot in the stomach at Cixi, Zhejiang , a few miles from Ningpo.Was buried with honors and in Manchu Mandarin clothes . Later his tomb was dug up, bones scattered and area paved over shortly after the Korean War.

Charles 'Chinese' George Gordon

1833-85

An Englishmen, born in London .Became a full Lieutenant in 1854. Involved in the Second Opium War . Appointed commander of the ever victorious Army after the death of Ward .Captured Suzhou in 1862.Following a dispute with Li Hongzhang over the execution of rebel leaders, in which he threatened to shot Li,Gordon withdrew his force from Suzhou . He later made amends with Li, fought for 5 more months, then his army was disbanded

 Senggelinqin

僧格林沁

(1811-1865)

Qing general of and a descendent of Genghis Khan. Defeated the Taiping Northern Expedition against Beijing by surrounding the Taiping forces with earthen walls and diverting the Grand Canal into their encampment at Lianzhen.Sent bags of Taiping ears ans noses to Beijing as trophies .In 1859 he thwarted a British and French attack on the Taiku Forts .Next he was called to combet the growing Nian rebellion, where he was assassinated  by a special Nian (Nien) force in 1865.

Viceroy Xiu Guangxin

(Siu Kwang sin)

Qing Viceroy of the Two Guangs ( Guangxi and Guangsong ) Unable to stop the advance of the Taiping movement out of Guangxi . The forces under him did little to confront the Taipings, and plundered the contryside they went through. Recalled to Beijing and beheaded .

Zuo Zongtang

(Tso Tsung-t'ang)

1812-85

A native of Hunan, Like Hong Xiuquan,he failed the civil service exams many times .Given a command in 1860, captured Shaoxing and made Gov of Zhejiang and under secretary of War.The Gen of General Tso's chicken