Taiping Rebellion, political and religious upheaval in China that was probably the most important event in China in the 19th century. It lasted from 1850 to 1864 and took an estimated 20 million lives. Read here to learn more about the Taiping Rebellion.
Qing forces and the God Worshippers clashed at the end of 1851. Unexpectedly, the Taiping army was victorious in these first battles, but fighting continued over the following months as Hong proclaimed 1851 as the first year of “the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.” Later that year Hong and his f...
In the mid-1850s, while the Qing government was embroiled in trying to quell theTaiping Rebellion(1850–64), the British, seeking to extend their trading rights in China, found an excuse to renew hostilities. In early October 1856 some Chinese officials boarded the British-registered shipArrow...
First Sino-Japanese War, conflict between Japan and China in 1894–95 that marked the emergence of Japan as a major world power and demonstrated the weakness of the Chinese empire. The war grew out of conflict between the two countries for supremacy in K