DateEvent
1814Hong Xiuquan was born in Huaxian, Guangdong, according to Britannica.[1]
1827Hong Xiuquan failed the prefectural civil service examination for the first time.[1]
1836Hong failed the examination again; in Guangzhou he received Christian tracts from Liang Afa (梁发), including Good Words to Admonish the Age (劝世良言), which he set aside without reading.[1]
1837Hong suffered a visionary illness after his third examination failure, experiencing a dream/vision of an old man and a middle-aged man whom he later interpreted as God the Father and Jesus Christ.[1]
1843Hong failed the examination a fourth time. He then read Liang Afa's tracts at the urging of his cousin Li Jingfang (李敬芳), reinterpreted his 1837 vision through the Christian framework, and began preaching.[1]
1844Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan traveled to Guangxi to preach. Hong soon returned to Guangdong; Feng remained in Guangxi and began organizing the God Worshippers (拜上帝会) in the Zijing Mountain (紫荆山) area of Guiping county.[2]
1844-1847Feng Yunshan built the God Worshippers into an organized community of several thousand in Guangxi, attracting Hakka, Zhuang, and Yao converts, and establishing a leadership structure. This was the organizational foundation of the rebellion.
1847Hong joined Feng Yunshan and the God Worshippers in Guangxi, according to Britannica. Hong began writing the core doctrinal texts (原道救世歌, 原道醒世训, 原道觉世训).[3]
11 Jan 1851God Worshippers gathered at Jintian and raised rebellion.[2]
Sept 1851Taiping forces seized Yong'an (永安) and began fuller state formation, including the 永安建制: Hong Xiuquan was declared Heavenly King, and the five primary kings (Yang Xiuqing, Xiao Chaogui, Feng Yunshan, Wei Changhui, Shi Dakai) were appointed.[2]
Apr 1852Taiping forces broke out from the Yong'an siege and began their northward march.[2]
May 1852Feng Yunshan was killed at Quanzhou (全州), Guangxi, during the northward march.[4]
Sept 1852Xiao Chaogui was killed leading the assault on Changsha (长沙), Hunan.[5]
Dec 1852Taiping forces captured Wuchang (武昌), one of the Wuhan cities on the middle Yangzi.[2]
Dec 1852 - Jan 1853Taiping forces held Wuchang, looted its treasury and arsenal, and conscripted local boatmen and laborers, building a fleet for the downriver advance.
Feb-Mar 1853Taiping forces moved down the Yangzi through Jiujiang and Anqing toward Nanjing, capturing cities along the route with little resistance.[2]
19-20 Mar 1853Taiping forces captured Nanjing, which Hong renamed Tianjing (天京, Heavenly Capital). This became the Taiping seat of government for the remainder of the war.[3]
1853-1855Northern Expedition (北伐): Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang led a force north toward Beijing. They reached as far as the outskirts of Tianjin before being forced back, surrounded, and destroyed.[2]
1853-1856Western Expeditions (西征): Taiping forces campaigned to secure the middle Yangzi valley, capturing and contesting Anqing, Jiujiang, Nanchang, Wuchang, and Yuezhou. These campaigns brought them into sustained conflict with the emerging Xiang Army under Zeng Guofan.[2]
Sept-Nov 1856Tianjing Incident (天京事变): Yang Xiuqing was killed by Wei Changhui on Hong Xiuquan's orders; Wei Changhui then massacred Yang's followers (thousands killed). Shi Dakai returned to Tianjing and denounced Wei; Wei planned to kill Shi, who fled. Hong then ordered Wei's execution. The internal bloodletting crippled the Taiping leadership and marked the war's turning point.[3]
1857Shi Dakai left Tianjing with a large portion of the Taiping army after falling out with Hong Xiuquan, who increasingly distrusted him and elevated his own brothers (Hong Renfa, Hong Renda) to constrain Shi's authority. Shi campaigned independently through Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Sichuan.
Nov 1858Battle of Sanhe (三河): Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng annihilated a Xiang Army force under Li Xubin (李续宾) at Sanhe, Anhui. This was the Taiping's greatest battlefield victory after the Tianjing Incident and temporarily halted the Qing advance.
1859Hong Rengan arrived in Tianjing after years of separation from his cousin Hong Xiuquan. He was appointed Gan King (干王) and issued the New Treatise on Aids to Administration (资政新篇), a reform program incorporating Western institutions.[6]
1860Second breaking of the Jiangnan Great Camp (江南大营): Li Xiucheng led Taiping forces to destroy the Qing encirclement camp south of Nanjing, temporarily relieving the siege and opening the way for the eastern campaigns.
1860Frederick Townsend Ward organized the Foreign Arms Corps (later the Ever-Victorious Army) to defend Shanghai against Taiping pressure.[7]
1860-1861Anqing Campaign (安庆保卫战): Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army besieged Anqing, the strategic gateway to Nanjing on the Yangzi. Chen Yucheng led repeated relief attempts that all failed. The campaign was the decisive strategic engagement of the late war.
Sept 1861Anqing fell to the Xiang Army. The loss severed Taiping control of the middle Yangzi and opened the river route to Nanjing.
1861Heroes Return to the Truth (英杰归真) was printed in Nanjing, according to the Library of Congress record.[8]
1861-1862Li Xiucheng's eastern campaigns: Li led Taiping forces through Zhejiang, capturing Hangzhou, Ningbo, and most of the province, while also threatening Shanghai. These campaigns extended Taiping control eastward but overextended their forces.
1862Chen Yucheng was captured by Qing forces in Shouzhou (寿州), Anhui, after being betrayed by Miao Peilin (苗沛霖). He was executed shortly afterward at age 25. His death removed the Taiping's most capable field commander.[9]
1862Ward died of wounds at Cixi (慈溪), Zhejiang.[7]
1862Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army had surrounded Nanjing by this year, beginning the final siege.[3]
1862-1863Shanghai campaigns: Li Xiucheng's forces made repeated attempts to capture Shanghai, defended by the Ever-Victorious Army, British and French regulars, and Li Hongzhang's Huai Army. All Taiping assaults failed.
Dec 1863Suzhou (苏州) fell to Li Hongzhang's Huai Army and the Ever-Victorious Army under Charles Gordon. The eight Taiping kings who surrendered the city were executed on Li Hongzhang's orders — the "Suzhou Massacre," an episode that caused a breach between Gordon and Li.
1 Jun 1864Hong Xiuquan died in Nanjing, reportedly by suicide (consuming poison) as the siege closed in. Some sources describe illness as the cause.[1]
19 Jul 1864Qing forces captured Tianjing/Nanjing. The Xiang Army sacked and burned the city. Li Xiucheng was captured soon after while attempting to escort Hong's young son, Hong Tianguifu, to safety.[3]
1864-1866Scattered Taiping resistance continued under remnant forces in Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong, including the forces of Li Shixian (李世贤) and Wang Haiyang (汪海洋).
1863Shi Dakai was captured at the Dadu River (大渡河) in Sichuan and executed at Chengdu.
1860s-1890sReconstruction reshaped local society in affected regions: resettlement of depopulated areas, rebuilding of Confucian institutions, commemorative shrines for the war dead, and the production of local histories that shaped memory of the war.[10]
20th centuryRepublican and PRC writers reinterpreted the Taiping as an anti-Manchu revolution, peasant war, or revolutionary precursor. Sun Yat-sen and Mao Zedong both invoked the Taiping as predecessors.
1980s-presentScholarship expanded toward religion, local society, memory, military history, and global context.[11][10][12]

Notes

Notes

[1]Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Hong Xiuquan," last updated 28 May 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hong-Xiuquan.↩
[2]Academy of Chinese Studies, "The Jintian Uprising and Founding of the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace," accessed 4 June 2026, https://chiculture.org.hk/en/photo-story/1186.↩
[3]Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Taiping Rebellion," accessed 4 June 2026, https://www.britannica.com/event/Taiping-Rebellion.↩
[4]罗尔纲, 《太平天国史》, vol. 4, Feng Yunshan biography.↩
[5]罗尔纲, 《太平天国史》, vol. 4, Xiao Chaogui biography.↩
[6]洪仁玕, 《資政新篇》, Wikisource access text, https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hans/%E8%B3%87%E6%94%BF%E6%96%B0%E7%AF%87.↩
[7]Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Frederick Townsend Ward," accessed 4 June 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederick-Townsend-Ward.↩
[8]Library of Congress, "Ying jie gui zhen / 英傑歸真 / Heroes Return to the Truth," https://www.loc.gov/item/2021666321/.↩
[9]Academy of Chinese Studies, Chen Yucheng entry; also 罗尔纲, 《太平天国史》, vol. 4, Chen Yucheng biography.↩
[10]Tobie Meyer-Fong, What Remains: Coming to Terms with Civil War in 19th Century China, Stanford University Press, https://www.sup.org/books/asian-studies/what-remains.↩
[11]Thomas H. Reilly, The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Rebellion and the Blasphemy of Empire, University of Washington Press description, https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295993720/the-taiping-heavenly-kingdom/.↩
[12]Philip A. Kuhn, Rebellion and Its Enemies in Late Imperial China: Militarization and Social Structure, 1796-1864, Harvard University Press, https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674039780.↩