# Taiping Heavenly Kingdom · The Cult Dossier · The Atlas · The Congregation of Tomorrow

Source: https://congregationoftomorrow.org/atlas/library/cults/030-taiping-heavenly-kingdom/ · The Congregation of Tomorrow · the Atlas · language: en
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The Cult Dossier · No. 030 · Apocalyptic / Doomsday
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
Society of God Worshippers; Taiping Tianguo
1843 – 1864 · Southern and central China; capital at Nanjing (Tianjing)
III. THE LONG NINETEENTH CENTURY
Fully religious — syncretic Christian millenarian theocracy
### Who led it
### What it worshipped and taught
### Who was in it
### How it ended, or where it stands
### The dead
### Of note
### Its timeline
- 1836–1844 Fails the provincial civil service examination FOUR TIMES — 1836, 1837, 1843 and 1844.
- 1837 Hong's visions during the illness that followed his second failure.
- 1843 Reads Good Words to Admonish the Age and interprets the visions; begins destroying idols.
- 1847 Feng Yunshan organises the Society of God Worshippers in Guangxi — thousands of Hakka converts.
- 11 January 1851 Jintian Uprising — the Heavenly Kingdom proclaimed.
- 19 March 1853 Nanjing captured and renamed Tianjing, the Heavenly Capital. The Manchu population of the city is massacred.
- 1853–1864 THE SCALE OF THE STATE, WHICH IS USUALLY UNDERSTATED IN WESTERN ACCOUNTS. The movement grew from a handful of disciples into AN ARMY OF OVER ONE MILLION MEN AND WOMEN, and at its height the Heavenly Kingdom GOVERNED ABOUT THIRTY MILLION PEOPLE across large parts of southern China. This was not an insurgency — it was a rival state administering a population larger than most contemporary European countries.
- 2 September 1856 THE TIANJING INCIDENT. Hong orders Wei Changhui to kill Yang Xiuqing; Yang and roughly 20,000 of his followers are slaughtered. Wei is then killed in turn. Shi Dakai defects with 100,000 troops. The movement never recovers.
- 1860–1862 Failed assaults on Shanghai; the Ever Victorious Army under Ward, then Gordon, turns the tide.
- 1 June 1864 Hong Xiuquan dies in Nanjing, probably from eating wild vegetables during the siege, possibly suicide.
- 19 July 1864 Nanjing falls. Qing forces massacre the population. Hong's teenage son, the Young Monarch, is captured and executed by slow slicing in November.
### Its people
### Hong Xiuquan
the Heavenly King; Younger Brother of Jesus Christ
Founder and monarch, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom · 1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864 · active 1843–1864
Before the law. None — sovereign. His corpse was later exhumed by Qing forces, burned, and the ashes fired from a cannon.
Where things stand. Deceased 1864. HIS MOVEMENT KILLED BETWEEN 20 AND 30 MILLION PEOPLE — the deadliest civil war in history.
- 1837 Visions during illness after examination failure.
- 1843 Reads a Christian tract and interprets the visions; begins destroying idols.
- 11 January 1851 Jintian Uprising; the Heavenly Kingdom proclaimed.
- 19 March 1853 Captures Nanjing; renames it the Heavenly Capital.
- 2 September 1856 Orders the killing of Yang Xiuqing; ~20,000 die in the purge.
- 1 June 1864 Dies in Nanjing during the siege.
Checked 2026-08-24
### Yang Xiuqing
the East King
East King and effective military commander, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom · c.1821 – 2 September 1856 · active 1848–1856
Before the law. None.
Where things stand. Deceased 1856. The purge crippled the Taiping and began its long defeat.
- 1848 Begins channelling the voice of God the Father.
- 1851–56 Directs Taiping military strategy through its most successful phase.
- 2 SEPTEMBER 1856 Killed on Hong's orders in the Tianjing Incident; ~20,000 of his followers slaughtered.
Checked
### Shi Dakai
the Wing King
Wing King, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom · 1831 – 25 August 1863 · active 1851–1863
Before the law. Executed by the Qing state.
Where things stand. Deceased 1863.
- 1851 Joins the rising aged 20.
- 1856 His family is murdered in the Tianjing Incident; he defects with ~100,000 troops.
- 1857–63 Independent campaign across southern China.
- June 1863 Surrenders at the Dadu River to spare his men; they are massacred anyway.
- 25 August 1863 Executed by lingchi (death by a thousand cuts) at Chengdu, aged 32.
Checked
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