Primary and near-contemporary sources

Taiping official texts

  • 《天朝田亩制度》, Taiping official text. Directly consulted via Wikisource.[1]
  • 洪仁玕, 《资政新篇》, 1859. Directly consulted via Wikisource.[2]
  • 洪秀全, 《原道救世歌》. Directly consulted via Wikisource.[3]
  • 洪秀全, 《原道醒世训》. English translation directly consulted in Michael vol. II-III.[4]
  • 何春发, 《英杰归真》/ "Ying jie gui zhen" / Heroes Return to the Truth, Nanjing, 1861. LOC digital record directly consulted [5]; facsimile on Internet Archive.[6]

Qing and Chinese records

  • 《清实录》, Qing Veritable Records. Portal directly consulted at First Historical Archives.[7]
  • 《清政府镇压太平天国档案史料》, 26 volumes, First Historical Archives, 1990-2001.[8] (Not digitally available; try CNKI/读秀 or institutional libraries.)
  • 金毓黻 et al., 《太平天国史料》, 中华书局, 1955. Publicly archived.[9]
  • 社科院近代史研究所, 《太平天国资料》(近代史资料专刊), 2013. Publicly archived.[10]
  • 《太平天国资料》, 科学出版社, 1959. Publicly archived.[11]
  • 沈云龙 (ed.), 《近代中国史料丛刊》 — 太平天国史料, 文海出版社. Publicly archived.[12]

Li Xiucheng's confession

  • 罗尔纲 (ed.), 《增补本李秀成自述原稿注》, 中国社会科学出版社, 1995. Publicly archived.li-xiu-cheng-critical — the definitive critical edition.
  • 《忠王李秀成自述》. Publicly archived.[13]

Contemporary foreign accounts

  • Andrew Wilson, The Ever-Victorious Army: A History of the Chinese Campaign under Lt. Col. C. G. Gordon, Blackwood, 1868. Internet Archive: original Google scan [14], best quality Toronto copy.[15] Directly consulted.
  • Augustus F. Lindley (Lin-Le), Ti-ping Tien-kwoh: The History of the Ti-ping Revolution, 2 vols., 1866. Internet Archive (UC Libraries) [16]; Project Gutenberg free ebooks.[17]
  • J. M. Callery & M. Yvan, History of the Insurrection in China, trans. from French, Harper & Brothers, 1853.[18]
  • John Scarth, Twelve Years in China: The People, the Rebels, and the Mandarins, Thomas Constable, 1860.[19]
  • A. E. Hake, Events in the Taeping Rebellion, W. H. Allen, 1891 (compiled from Gordon's papers).[20]
  • Thomas Taylor Meadows, The Chinese and Their Rebellions, Smith, Elder, 1856.[21]
  • Samuel Mossman, The Great Taiping Rebellion, Griffith, Farran, Browne, 1893.[22]
  • J. M. Mackie, Life of Tai-ping-wang, Chief of the Chinese Insurrection, Dix, Edwards, 1857.[23]

British diplomatic and parliamentary sources

  • Correspondence, Memorials, Orders in Council and Other Papers Respecting the Taiping Rebellion in China, 1852-64, British Parliamentary Papers: China, Vol. 32, Irish University Press, 1971. Publicly archived.[24]
  • British Parliamentary Papers: China, 42 vols., Irish University Press Area Studies Series, 1971.[25]
  • British Parliamentary Papers: Military Affairs in China, 1840-69.[26]

Treaty-port press

  • North-China Herald, treaty-port newspaper collection, ~3900 issues (1850-1941). Internet Archive collection.[27] Acquired; keyword indexing not yet completed.[28]

Modern scholarship — English language

Core works (acquired)

  • Franz H. Michael, The Taiping Rebellion: History and Documents, 3 vols., University of Washington Press, 1966-1971:
  • - Vol. I: History (1966). Publicly archived.[29] Directly consulted.
  • - Vols. II-III: Documents and Comments (1971). Publicly archived. Contains English translations of ~400 Taiping documents including 天朝田亩制度, 资政新篇, 原道救世歌, 原道醒世训.[4] Directly consulted.
  • Philip A. Kuhn, Rebellion and Its Enemies in Late Imperial China: Militarization and Social Structure, 1796-1864, Harvard University Press, 1970. Publicly archived.[30] Directly consulted.
  • Thomas H. Reilly, The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Rebellion and the Blasphemy of Empire, University of Washington Press, 2004. Publicly archived.[31] Directly consulted.
  • Tobie Meyer-Fong, What Remains: Coming to Terms with Civil War in 19th Century China, Stanford University Press, 2013. Publicly archived.[32] Directly consulted.

Additional English-language works

  • Jonathan Spence, God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan, W. W. Norton, 1996. Internet Archive (borrowable).[33] Identified; not yet directly consulted.
  • Carl Kilcourse, Taiping Theology: The Localization of Christianity in China, 1843-64, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. Internet Archive (borrowable).[34]
  • Jian Youwen (简又文), The Taiping Revolutionary Movement, Yale University Press, 1973. Internet Archive (borrowable).[35]
  • W. J. Hail, Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion, Yale University Press, 1927. Internet Archive.[36]

Modern scholarship — Chinese language

Core works (acquired)

  • 罗尔纲, 《太平天国史》 (全4册, 88卷), 中华书局, 1991. Publicly archived.[37]
  • 罗尔纲, 《太平天国史纲》, 商务印书馆, 1937.[38] — the first modern synthesis by the founder of Taiping studies.
  • 茅家琦, 《太平天国通史》 (上中下3册), 南京大学出版社, 1991. Publicly archived.[39]
  • 罗尔纲全集 (22卷). Publicly archived.[40]
  • 刘晨, 《太平天国再研究》, 2025. Publicly archived.[41]

County gazetteers

Found on Internet Archive

  • 光緒重修安徽通志 [42] — 1200+ fascicles
  • 光緒江西通志 [43] — 90+ fascicles
  • 福建通志 (partial) [44]

Not yet found

  • 广西通志, 湖南通志, 湖北通志, 江苏通志, 浙江通志, 四川通志. Try LoGaRT, Harvard-Yenching collection, CNKI/读秀.

Sources processed on 5 June 2026

The following sources were inventoried, verified, and documented during the 5 June 2026 editorial infrastructure session:

ActionCountSources
Acquired & documented16Michael I, Michael II-III, Kuhn, Reilly, Meyer-Fong, Luo Ergang (4 vols), Mao Jiaqi (3 vols), Liu Chen, Lindley (2 vols), Wilson, Li Xiucheng (critical ed.), Li Xiucheng (plain text), Luo Ergang Quanji, Ying Jie Gui Zhen, BPP Vol. 32, North-China Herald
Text/web access5Tianchao Tianmu Zhidu (Wikisource), Zizheng Xinpian (Wikisource), Yuandao Jiushi Ge (Wikisource), Britannica (2 entries), ACS Hong Kong
Identified, IA borrowable3Spence (1996), Jian Youwen (1973), Kilcourse (2016)
Identified, IA free8Callery & Yvan, Scarth, Hake, Meadows, Mossman, Hail, Mackie, British Parliamentary Papers: China (42 vols)
Partial/documentary5Anhui gazetteer (~1200 fascicles), Jiangxi gazetteer (~90 fascicles), Fujiang gazetteer (partial), Taiping Yinshu (partial), Taiping Ziliao 2013
Not found6Qing archives 26 vols (digitally unavailable), Taiping Shiliao Congbian, Taiping Lishi Dituji, French diplomatic files, Guangxi/Hunan/Hubei/Jiangsu/Zhejiang/Sichuan gazetteers
Not yet searched1US diplomatic files (FRUS 1861-1864)

Next acquisitions (still outstanding)

  • 《太平天国史料丛编》
  • 《太平天国历史地图集》
  • 《太平天国印书》 complete facsimile set (partial in 民国丛书 on IA)
  • French diplomatic archives (Archives du Ministère des Affaires étrangères, série Chine)
  • Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japanese secondary literature
  • US diplomatic files (FRUS 1861-1864, China sections at history.state.gov)
  • 清政府镇压太平天国档案史料 26-volume full set (try institutional access)

Notes

Notes

[1]《天朝田畝制度》, Wikisource access text, https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A9%E6%9C%9D%E7%94%B0%E7%95%9D%E5%88%B6%E5%BA%A6.↩
[2]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.↩
[3]洪秀全, 《原道救世歌》, Wikisource access text, https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8E%9F%E9%81%93%E6%95%91%E4%B8%96%E6%AD%8C.↩
[4]Franz H. Michael, The Taiping Rebellion: History and Documents, Vols. II-III, 1971. Publicly archived.↩
[5]Library of Congress, "Ying jie gui zhen / 英傑歸真 / Heroes Return to the Truth," https://www.loc.gov/item/2021666321/.↩
[6]英傑歸真 facsimile, Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/heroes-return-truth-taiping.↩
[7]中国第一历史档案馆, official portal, https://fhac.com.cn/index.html.↩
[8]中国大百科全书, "清政府镇压太平天国档案史料," https://www.zgbk.com/ecph/words?ID=38095&SiteID=1&SubID=47587&Type=bkzyb. 26-volume set not found digitally.↩
[9]金毓黻 et al., 《太平天国史料》, 中华书局, 1955. Publicly archived.↩
[10]社科院近代史研究所, 《太平天国资料》(近代史资料专刊), 2013. Publicly archived.↩
[11]《太平天国资料》, 科学出版社, 1959. Publicly archived.↩
[12]沈云龙 (ed.), 《近代中国史料丛刊》太平天国史料, 文海出版社. Publicly archived.↩
[13]《忠王李秀成自述》. Publicly archived.↩
[14]Andrew Wilson, The Ever-Victorious Army, Blackwood, 1868, Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/evervictoriousa00wilsgoog.↩
[15]Andrew Wilson, The Ever-Victorious Army, University of Toronto copy (best quality), https://archive.org/details/evervictoriousar00wils.↩
[16]Augustus F. Lindley, Ti-ping Tien-kwoh, 2 vols., 1866. Vol 1: https://archive.org/details/tipingtienkwohhi01lind, Vol 2: https://archive.org/details/tipingtienkwohhi02lind.↩
[17]Augustus F. Lindley, Ti-ping Tien-kwoh, Project Gutenberg. Vol 1: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39180, Vol 2: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39735.↩
[18]J. M. Callery & M. Yvan, History of the Insurrection in China, 1853, https://archive.org/details/historyofinsurre00callrich.↩
[19]John Scarth, Twelve Years in China, 1860, https://archive.org/details/twelveyearsinchi00scarrich.↩
[20]A. E. Hake, Events in the Taeping Rebellion, 1891, https://archive.org/details/eventsintaeping00hakegoog.↩
[21]T. T. Meadows, The Chinese and Their Rebellions, 1856, https://archive.org/details/chineseandtheir01meadgoog.↩
[22]Samuel Mossman, The Great Taiping Rebellion, 1893, https://archive.org/details/cu31924023143765.↩
[23]J. M. Mackie, Life of Tai-ping-wang, 1857, https://archive.org/details/lifeoftaipingwan00mackrich.↩
[24]Correspondence...Respecting the Taiping Rebellion in China, 1852-64, BPP China Vol. 32, 1971, https://archive.org/details/correspondenceme0032unse.↩
[25]British Parliamentary Papers: China, 42 vols., https://archive.org/details/isbn_0716516012_1.↩
[26]British Parliamentary Papers: Military Affairs in China, 1840-69, https://archive.org/details/isbn_0716516276_27.↩
[27]North-China Herald collection, Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/northchinaherald.↩
[29]Franz H. Michael, The Taiping Rebellion: History and Documents, Vol. I, 1966. Publicly archived.↩
[30]Philip A. Kuhn, Rebellion and Its Enemies in Late Imperial China, 1970. Publicly archived.↩
[31]Thomas H. Reilly, The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, 2004. Publicly archived.↩
[32]Tobie Meyer-Fong, What Remains, 2013. Publicly archived.↩
[33]Jonathan Spence, God's Chinese Son, 1996, https://archive.org/details/godschinesesonta0000spen.↩
[34]Carl Kilcourse, Taiping Theology, 2016, https://archive.org/details/taipingtheologyl0000kilc.↩
[35]Jian Youwen, The Taiping Revolutionary Movement, 1973, https://archive.org/details/taipingrevolutio0000jian.↩
[36]W. J. Hail, Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion, 1927, https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.284652.↩
[37]罗尔纲, 《太平天国史》 (全4册). Publicly archived.↩
[38]罗尔纲, 《太平天国史纲》, 商务印书馆, 1937. See source_database.json "luo-er-gang-taiping-shigang".↩
[39]茅家琦, 《太平天国通史》上册. Publicly archived.↩
[40]罗尔纲全集 (22卷). Publicly archived.↩
[41]刘晨, 《太平天国再研究》, 2025. Publicly archived.↩
[42]光緒重修安徽通志, Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/02085213.cn (and sequential IDs 02085213-02085359).↩
[43]光緒江西通志, Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/02085378.cn (sample; ~90 fascicles).↩
[44]福建通志, partial, https://archive.org/details/06041765.cn.↩