Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Uprising

After the Opium War, Britain, the United States, France, Russia and Japan forced the Qing government to sign various unequal treaties, seized "concessions" and divided China into "spheres of influence."To oppose the twin evils of feudal oppression and foreign aggression, the Chinese people waged heroic struggles, with many national heroes coming to the fore. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Uprising was a rebellion against the last feudal dynasty, the Qing Dynasty. It was led by Hong Xiuquan who believed himself the younger brother of Jesus Christ. Starting at Jintian Village in Guangxi Province on January 11, 1851, it was the biggest and the most influential peasant uprising in Chinese history. At one time or another the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom occupied most of China, including Hubei, Zhejiang (but not Shanghai), Guilin, Suzhou, and almost as far as Chongqing. It established a capital at Nanjing for eleven years. This uprising against the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) was brutally suppressed in 1864.