The Taiping Rebellion and the Self-Strengthening Movement

The Taiping Rebellion was the largest internal revolt of nineteenth-century China and one of the bloodiest civil wars in world history, with estimated deaths ranging between 20 and 30 million. Its leader, Hong Xiuquan, a failed imperial-examination candidate who came to believe he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ, founded the "God Worshipping Society" in Guangxi and formally proclaimed the "Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace" (Taiping Tianguo) in January 1851. Taiping forces captured Nanjing in March 1853 and held it as their capital for over a decade, promoting a radical program that included the abolition of private land ownership, gender equality, and a ban on opium, tobacco, and foot-binding, though a bloody internal purge in 1856 — the "Tianjing Massacre" — gravely weakened the movement from within.