Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom

China, The West and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War

Stephen R. Platt

• Publisher: Atlantic Books
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780857897695
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

In the early 1850s, during the waning years of the Qing dynasty, word spread of a major revolution brewing in the provinces. The leader of the this movement - who called themselves the Taiping - was Hong Xiuquan, a failed civil servant who claimed to be the son of God and the brother of Jesus Christ. As the revolt grew and battles raged across the empire, all signs pointed to a Taiping victory and to the inauguration of a modern, industrialized and pro-Western china.

Soon, however, Britain and the United States threw their support behind the Qing, soon quashing the Taiping and rendering ineffective the years of bloodshed the revolution had endured. In Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom, Stephen Platt recounts the events of the rebellion and its suppression in spellbinding detail. It is an essential and enthralling history of the rise and fall of a movement that, a century and a half ago, might have launched China into the modern world.

CONTENTS

Dramatis Personae

Chronology of Major Events

Preface to the UK Edition

A Note on Romanization

Maps

PROLOGUE Heaven’s Children

PART ONE Twilight

1 The Preacher’s Assistant

2 Neutrality

3 The Shield King

4 Soundings

5 An Appointment in the North

PART TWO Order Rising

6 A Reluctant General

7 The Force of Doctrine

8 The Perils of Civilization

9 Endurance

10 Heaven and Earth

11 Crossings

PART THREE The Great Peace

12 The Point of No Return

13 Vampires

14 Flowering Rain

15 Blood and Honor

16 Crossing the Mountain

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT

XIANFENG, emperor of the Qing dynasty

PRINCE GONG, Xianfeng’s half brother

YEHONALA, a concubine of Xianfeng, later Empress Dowager Cixi

WENXIANG, a grand councillor

SENGGELINQIN, a Mongol bannerman and general

GUO SONGTAO, a Chinese official

ZHANG GUOLIANG, a former bandit, general of the Green Standard

HE CHUN, a general of the Green Standard

WU XU, the daotai of Shanghai

XUE HUAN, governor of Jiangsu province

TAIPING REBELS

HONG XIUQUAN, the Heavenly King

HONG RENGAN, Hong Xiuquan’s cousin, the Shield King and prime minister

LI XIUCHENG, the Loyal King

LI SHIXIAN, Li Xiucheng’s cousin, the Attending King

CHEN YUCHENG, the Brave King

TAN SHAOGUANG, the Esteemed King

SHI DAKAI, the Wing King

GAO YONGKUAN, the Receiving King

THE PROVINCIAL ARMIES

ZENG GUOFAN, commander in chief of the Hunan Army

ZUO ZONGTANG, a general in the Hunan Army

BAO CHAO, a Sichuanese commander in the Hunan Army

DUOLONGA, a Manchu cavalry commander in the Hunan Army

LI HONGZHANG, Zeng Guofan’s student, commanding general of the Anhui Army

CHENG XUEQI, a turncoat from the rebels, commander in the Anhui Army

OTHER CHINESE

YUNG WING, a graduate of Yale University in the class of 1854

YANG FANG, a Shanghai banker, patron of the Ever-Victorious Army

YANG CHANGMEI, Yang Fang’s daughter, married in 1862 to Frederick Townsend Ward

BRITISH

In Government

LORD PALMERSTON, prime minister

LORD RUSSELL, foreign secretary

WILLIAM GLADSTONE, chancellor of the Exchequer

COLONEL WILLIAM H. SYKES, member of Parliament for Aberdeen, Scotland

Diplomats and Consular Officials

JAMES BRUCE, eighth Earl of Elgin, British plenipotentiary

FREDERICK BRUCE, James Bruce’s brother, British minister to China, 1860–1864

THOMAS F. WADE, an interpreter, later professor of Chinese at Cambridge

HARRY PARKES, an interpreter and consular officer

Military

REAR ADMIRAL JAMES HOPE, Royal Navy commander in chief of East Indies and China Station, 1859–1862

CAPTAIN RODERICK DEW, captain of HMS Encounter

CHARLES GORDON, commander of the Ever-Victorious Army, 1863–1864

SHERARD OSBORN, commodore of the Anglo-Chinese Flotilla

Other

JAMES LEGGE, a Scottish missionary, later professor of Chinese at Oxford

JOSEPH EDKINS, an English missionary

JANE EDKINS, Joseph Edkins’s wife

GRIFFITH JOHN, a Welsh missionary

THOMAS BOWLBY, a reporter for The Times of London

JOHN SCARTH, a businessman

HORATIO NELSON LAY, inspector general of Imperial Maritime Customs

AMERICAN

FREDERICK TOWNSEND WARD, soldier of fortune and founder of the Ever-Victorious Army

ISSACHAR JACOX ROBERTS, a missionary from Tennessee

ANSON BURLINGAME, U.S. minister to China, 1861–1867

JOSIAH TATTNALL, commodore of the East India Squadron, 1858–1859

FRENCH

BARON GROS, French plenipotentiary

REAR ADMIRAL AUGUSTE LÉOPOLD PROTET, commander in chief of French forces in China

RUSSIAN

NIKOLAI PAVLOVICH IGNATIEV, a diplomat

SWEDISH

THEODORE HAMBERG, a missionary

CHRONOLOGY

1837

Hong Xiuquan has first visions.

1839–1842

Opium War between Great Britain and the Qing dynasty.

Hong Kong ceded to Great Britain.

Shanghai opened as treaty port.

1843

Hong Xiuquan begins preaching among the Hakkas.

1850

MARCH 9 The Xianfeng emperor accedes to the throne.

SUMMER First uprisings of the Society of God Worshippers in Guangxi.

1851

JANUARY 11 Hong Xiuquan announces founding of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Taiping Rebellion begins.

1852

Hong Rengan meets Theodore Hamberg.

1853–1854

Hong Rengan studies with Hamberg in Hong Kong.

1853–1856

Crimean War.

1853

JANUARY 8 Zeng Guofan receives instructions to organize militia in Hunan.

JANUARY 12 Taiping conquer Wuchang.

MARCH 19 Taiping conquer Nanjing, massacre Manchu population.

APRIL 27 British ship Hermes visits Nanjing.

1854

FEBRUARY Zeng Guofan’s Hunan Army begins fighting Taiping in Hunan.

MAY Hong Rengan travels to Shanghai, trying to get to Nanjing.

JULY 27 Yung Wing graduates from Yale University.

OCTOBER 14 Zeng Guofan’s militia forces take back Wuchang.

OCTOBER 25 Battle of Balaclava, Crimean War.

1855–1858

Hong Rengan in Hong Kong, employed by London Missionary Society.

1855

JANUARY–FEBRUARY Disastrous defeat for Hunan Army at Jiujiang.

FEBRUARY 11 Zeng Guofan attempts suicide.

APRIL 3 Taiping reoccupy Wuchang.

SEPTEMBER Muslim rebellion breaks out in southwest China.

1856–1860

Arrow War (Second Opium War) between Great Britain and the Qing dynasty.

1856

SEPTEMBER 2 The Eastern King and his followers killed in coup in Nanjing.

OCTOBER 8 Smuggling ship Arrow boarded by Qing authorities at Canton.

DECEMBER 19 Hunan Army recaptures Wuchang.

1857–1858

Sepoy Mutiny in India.

1857

APRIL 20 Lord Elgin appointed plenipotentiary to China.

DECEMBER 28 Allied forces bombard, occupy Canton (take possession January 1).

1858

MAY Hong Rengan leaves Hong Kong for Nanjing.

MAY 20 British and French fleet attacks Taku forts, goes on to invade Tianjin.

JUNE 27 Treaty of Tianjin signed between Britain and China.

NOVEMBER–DECEMBER Elgin’s fleet sails up Yangtze River past Nanjing to Hankow.

NOVEMBER 1 Great Britain institutes direct rule of India; East India Company dissolved.

NOVEMBER 15 Major Taiping victory against Hunan Army at Three Rivers, Anhui.

Zeng Guofan’s brother Guohua killed.

1859

APRIL 22 Hong Rengan arrives in Nanjing, is promoted to Shield King on May 11.

JUNE 25 Repulse at Peiho River: British fleet devastated at the Taku forts.

1860

MAY Taiping armies rout imperial siege troops at Nanjing.

JUNE Zeng Guoquan lays siege to Anqing (will last until September 1861).

Frederick Townsend Ward enlists foreigners for rifle corps in Shanghai.

JUNE 2 The Loyal King occupies Suzhou.

JUNE 10 Zeng Guofan appointed acting governor-general of Jiangxi, Anhui, and Jiangsu; receives full appointment on August 10.

JULY 15 The Loyal King sends letter stating that the Taiping won’t harm foreigners at Shanghai.

JULY 16 Frederick Townsend Ward’s militia captures Songjiang.

JULY 28 Zeng Guofan sets up headquarters in Qimen.

JULY 30 Frederick Townsend Ward attacks Qingpu, is defeated.

AUGUST 1 Allied fleet lands at Beitang.

AUGUST 2 Joseph Edkins and Griffith John arrive in Suzhou to meet Hong Rengan.

AUGUST 19 British and French forces attack Taiping rebels at Shanghai.

AUGUST 22 British and French forces capture Taku forts in north China.

SEPTEMBER 22 The Xianfeng emperor abandons the capital.

OCTOBER 13 British and French troops occupy Beijing.

Issachar Roberts arrives in Nanjing.

OCTOBER 18 British troops burn the Summer Palace.

OCTOBER 24 Sino-British Treaty of Beijing signed.

1861

FEBRUARY 9 Confederate States of America founded in Montgomery, Alabama.

FEBRUARY 20 Admiral Hope makes first visit to Nanjing.

MARCH 4 Abraham Lincoln sworn in as U.S. president.

MARCH 22 Harry Parkes meets with the Brave King at Huangzhou.

APRIL 17 Lincoln gives order to blockade Confederate ports.

MAY 13 Great Britain grants belligerent status to the Confederacy.

MAY 19 Frederick Townsend Ward arrested in Shanghai.

MAY 31 U.K. Parliament debates belligerent status of Taiping.

JUNE 7 U.K. Parliament debates recognition of the Confederacy.

JULY 21 First Battle of Bull Run.

AUGUST 22 The Xianfeng emperor dies.

SEPTEMBER 5 Hunan Army forces conquer Anqing, slaughter 16,000 survivors.

NOVEMBER 8 Trent Affair (U.S. Civil War).

Coup d’état in Beijing; Sushun and other regents executed.

DECEMBER 9 Taiping take Ningbo.

DECEMBER 15 Zeng Guofan given military control of four provinces.

DECEMBER 29 The Loyal King Li Xiucheng conquers Hangzhou.

1862

JANUARY 20 Taiping forces attack Wusong, begin siege of Shanghai.

JANUARY 22 Issachar Roberts flees Nanjing, writes denunciation of Taiping.

FEBRUARY 10 Taiping forces defeated by Ward’s Ever-Victorious Army at Songjiang.

FEBRUARY 22 Admiral Hope submits plan for clearing rebels from area of Shanghai.

Beginning of alliance among British, French, and Ward.

APRIL Li Hongzhang’s Anhui Army transported to Shanghai by steamship.

APRIL 25 Li Hongzhang becomes acting governor of Jiangsu.

MAY 10 British and French forces retake Ningbo from Taiping.

Beginning of Allied campaign in Zhejiang.

MAY 12 Allied forces and Ward capture Qingpu.

MAY 13 Duolonga captures Luzhou from the Brave King.

MAY 15 Brave King captured in Shouzhou, executed on June 4.

MAY 17 French Admiral Protet killed by Taiping bullet; French troops rampage.

MAY 30 Zeng Guoquan pitches camp at base of Yuhuatai.

Beginning of the siege of Nanjing (will last until July 1864).

SUMMER Major cholera epidemic in Shanghai.

Massacre of Taiping prisoners makes world newspapers.

JULY 20 U.S. Minister Anson Burlingame arrives in Beijing.

SEPTEMBER 17 Battle of Antietam in U.S. Civil War.

SEPTEMBER 21 Frederick Townsend Ward dies of bullet wound in Ningbo.

OCTOBER 13 Li Xiucheng launches assault on Zeng Guoquan’s forces at Yuhuatai (will continue for forty-five days, until November 26).

DECEMBER 13 Major Union defeat at Fredericksburg, Virginia.

1863

JANUARY 1 Abraham Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation.

JANUARY 7 Zeng Guofan’s brother Zeng Guobao dies of typhoid at Nanjing.

FEBRUARY 13 Anglo-Chinese Fl...