Occupying much of imperial China\'s Yangzi River heartland and costing more than twenty million lives, the Taiping Rebellion (1851-64) was no ordinary peasant revolt.
How were the Taiping.
The core of the Taiping faith focused on the belief that Shangdi, the high God of classical China, had chosen the Taiping leader, Hong Xiuquan, to establish his Heavenly Kingdom on Earth.
What most distinguished this dramatic upheaval from earlier rebellions were the spiritual beliefs of the rebels.
Occupying much of imperial China\'s Yangzi River heartland and costing more than twenty million lives, the Taiping Rebellion (1851-64) was no ordinary peasant revolt