Posts Tagged: Taiping Rebellion

Zeng Guofan

Zeng Guofan (1811 – 1872) was a contemporary of Feng Guifen’s, who, unlike Feng, was able to successfully raise an army to defend his hometown against the Taiping. Feng convinced Zeng to send his top lieutenant, Li Hongzhang, to come to Feng’s aid and liberate Suzhou from the rebels. Zeng was impressed with Feng’s thinking… Read more »

The Taiping Rebellion

The Taiping Rebellion raged across southern China for more than a decade. At its height, rebels controlled significant territory and several of China’s wealthiest cities. For the Qing, facing external aggression from the French and British at the height of the rebellion, this was a classic instance of what the Legalists called neiyou waihuan (内忧外患), “anxiety… Read more »

Wei’s Retirement and Legacy

Wei finally passed the highest levels of the imperial examination in 1843. As a result, new official duties limited his work as an independent, reform-minded scholar. Unfortunately for Wei, life as a high level mandarin was difficult. With the Taiping Rebellion raging, the erstwhile reformer Wei took the very conservative step of retiring to spend… Read more »

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