http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn1eslFKa9w&feature=related
Please enjoy.
Song is sung by Han Lei. Opening scene of TAIPING TIEN GUO (Taiping Heavenly Kingdom)
Founded in 1849 by a failed scholar and religious visionary named Hong Xiuquan, the Taiping rebelled against the corrupt Qing Dynasty, and soon defeated it's vast forces in a series of devastating battles, winning control of vast amounts of southern China.
All of the Taiping founders, including the four Kings, the East, West, North, and South Kings who began the uprising in Guangxi, prior to the open declaration of war against the Qing in 1851, violated the Qing policy against weapons possession. All of them stashed various things, and although they liked guns, and had plenty of them, they preferred broadswords and halberds, but they also had millions of pounds of gunpowder stored in nearby caves. Originally they were prepared to fight the British in case they marched inland, but then the Qing, forced to ally with the British, and also ruled by corrupt mandarins started moving against them and robbing the peasants of food.
When the Qing military governor of the Guanlubu region discovered the Taiping strength in the December of 1851, the Taipings knew they had to start the war earlier than usual. At Jintian, while only half the Taipings were even prepared to fight the well armed Qing banner army, the Taiping absolutely destroyed the Manchus. The Dragon carried the day.
JINTIAN, DECEMBER 9, 1851
During the Battle of Jintian on December 9th, 1851, a largely outnumbered and outgunned Taiping Army faced a vast Imperial force led by one of the Qing Dynasty's most vaunted and skilled generals: Commander Ikedanbu. Partially for the reason of the Taipings being outnumbered is because most of the other Taiping units were elsewhere in the province, scattered in the mountains and abandoned coal mines, making gunpowder and smelting steel to build howitzers. The only Taiping units present at Jintian were the ones commanded by Hong Xiuquan's closest disciple Feng Yunshan, Xiao Chaoghui, and Yang Xiuqing. Also commanding another Taiping division was 14 year old Tan Shaokuang, a skilled martial arts practicioner and extremely skilled marksman. The total number of Taiping troops on scene during this fight was less than 20,000. However, Ikedanbu had almost 40,000 men under his command, and almost 10,000 of them were Manchu and Mongol cavalry, straight from the northern steppes, the best horsemen the world has ever seen. It was absolutely hot and hazy that day, the afternoon sun bathing the earth with a blazing yellow glare, as the two armies faced each other across hills right outise the village of Jintian.
Almost at once, the Qing batteries opened up, shells exploding all over the Taiping ranks, killing some of them and wounding many. However, the Taipings did not open fire, yet. They simply waited. As the Qing barrage ended, thousands of Imperial troops began to march down the hill, thousands upon thousands of halberds and rifles. The Taiping waited until the Manchus were within 500 yards. Then the order to fire was given. Suddenly, hundreds of cannons opened up, their fire aimed directly at the Manchu ranks before them. Brutal and accurate, the Taiping fire absolutely destroyed the battle formations. Exploding shells and shrapnel from canister ripped into the imperial ranks like scissors ripping through curtain fabric. Thousands upon thousands of Qing troops lay dead or dying. Nearby, thousands of dead cavalrymen lay on the bloodied ground, while the horses that escaped the terrific cannonade screamed and stampeded about.
Now, the order to charge was finally given. Almost 20,000 Taipings rushed the field at the same time. To the left of Ikedanbu's main column, Tan Shaokuang's division smashed straight into his unprotected left flank. Now the battle had become a melee. Swords, halberds, spears, bayonets and rifle butts. The Taiping fought mainly with their broadswords, hacking through the imperial ranks as quickly as they could mend them. Within an hour, the battle was over. Almost 35,000 Qing troops, including their commander Ikedanbu, lay dead, while over 15,000 Taipings are killed.
By 1853, the Taiping had captured Nanjing, the seat of power of the Ming Dynasty almost two centuries before, driving the shattered and devastated remnants of the Qing back towards their ancestral homelands in Manchuria. However, even before Hong Xiuquan had taken his seat on the throne of a new empire, internal strife was beginning to tear the Taipings apart. A series of hostilities between the four Kings finally cumulated to the dreadful and cold blooded slaughter of the North King Wei Changhui's entire family at the hands of Yang Xiuqing, the ambitious and brutal East King. In the fighting that followed afterward, Wei Changhui sought revenge, and his army attacked Yang Xiuqing's palace a week later, massacring every single soldier that served under the East King's command, including his entire family as well. The internal fighting killed almost 20,000 people, most of them veteran Taiping warriors and cammanders. In disgust, another veteran Taiping commander, Prince Shi Dakai retreated from Nanjing, taking 5,000 soldiers with him. He traveled more than 4,000 miles north, all the way to Sichuan Province, where he intended to establish an independant kingdom. Shi Dakai's ragtag force was surrounded a year later by imperial Qing forces and slaughtered.
In 1861, in response to the outbreak of the civil war in the United States, Hong Xiuquan ordered an attack on the port city of Shanghai. Shanghai was a commerce center, and if he is able to capture that city, it would enable him to trade with the Confederate States of America, a regime that he recognized as another anti-imperialist revolution. However, the Taipings were already weakened greatly by the endless waves of internal strife, and were defeated at the outskirts of the city by a combination of British and French colonial soldiers, and Qing banner troops.
Meanwhile in Nanjing, the Qing had regrouped, and were now inching ever closer to the walls of the city. By 1862, the Qing banner army under the command of Zheng Guofan was shelling Nanjing nonstop, day and night. Along with the ceaseless explosions, the city's residents were starved to the point of eating rats and wild weeds. On July 20th, 1864, the Qing launched their final attack on the doomed capital. Despite their suffering endured for over three years of siege, the Taiping defenders of the city kept to their word and fought to the death, street by street, house by house. Over 100,000 Qing troops died as well. Not one Taiping defender remained alive during the battle of Nanjing.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was a brutal story of rebellion, foreign imperialism, and patriotism during a time of the most grevious suffering. When the aroma of gunpowder lingers in the early morning air, it is a specter, a ghost, of the epic struggles of an epic era.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8Oy3vTqvH8
This is the bravery of the final remaining defenders of the Taiping as they faced their Qing conquerors.
Please enjoy.
Song is sung by Han Lei. Opening scene of TAIPING TIEN GUO (Taiping Heavenly Kingdom)
Founded in 1849 by a failed scholar and religious visionary named Hong Xiuquan, the Taiping rebelled against the corrupt Qing Dynasty, and soon defeated it's vast forces in a series of devastating battles, winning control of vast amounts of southern China.
All of the Taiping founders, including the four Kings, the East, West, North, and South Kings who began the uprising in Guangxi, prior to the open declaration of war against the Qing in 1851, violated the Qing policy against weapons possession. All of them stashed various things, and although they liked guns, and had plenty of them, they preferred broadswords and halberds, but they also had millions of pounds of gunpowder stored in nearby caves. Originally they were prepared to fight the British in case they marched inland, but then the Qing, forced to ally with the British, and also ruled by corrupt mandarins started moving against them and robbing the peasants of food.
When the Qing military governor of the Guanlubu region discovered the Taiping strength in the December of 1851, the Taipings knew they had to start the war earlier than usual. At Jintian, while only half the Taipings were even prepared to fight the well armed Qing banner army, the Taiping absolutely destroyed the Manchus. The Dragon carried the day.
JINTIAN, DECEMBER 9, 1851
During the Battle of Jintian on December 9th, 1851, a largely outnumbered and outgunned Taiping Army faced a vast Imperial force led by one of the Qing Dynasty's most vaunted and skilled generals: Commander Ikedanbu. Partially for the reason of the Taipings being outnumbered is because most of the other Taiping units were elsewhere in the province, scattered in the mountains and abandoned coal mines, making gunpowder and smelting steel to build howitzers. The only Taiping units present at Jintian were the ones commanded by Hong Xiuquan's closest disciple Feng Yunshan, Xiao Chaoghui, and Yang Xiuqing. Also commanding another Taiping division was 14 year old Tan Shaokuang, a skilled martial arts practicioner and extremely skilled marksman. The total number of Taiping troops on scene during this fight was less than 20,000. However, Ikedanbu had almost 40,000 men under his command, and almost 10,000 of them were Manchu and Mongol cavalry, straight from the northern steppes, the best horsemen the world has ever seen. It was absolutely hot and hazy that day, the afternoon sun bathing the earth with a blazing yellow glare, as the two armies faced each other across hills right outise the village of Jintian.
Almost at once, the Qing batteries opened up, shells exploding all over the Taiping ranks, killing some of them and wounding many. However, the Taipings did not open fire, yet. They simply waited. As the Qing barrage ended, thousands of Imperial troops began to march down the hill, thousands upon thousands of halberds and rifles. The Taiping waited until the Manchus were within 500 yards. Then the order to fire was given. Suddenly, hundreds of cannons opened up, their fire aimed directly at the Manchu ranks before them. Brutal and accurate, the Taiping fire absolutely destroyed the battle formations. Exploding shells and shrapnel from canister ripped into the imperial ranks like scissors ripping through curtain fabric. Thousands upon thousands of Qing troops lay dead or dying. Nearby, thousands of dead cavalrymen lay on the bloodied ground, while the horses that escaped the terrific cannonade screamed and stampeded about.
Now, the order to charge was finally given. Almost 20,000 Taipings rushed the field at the same time. To the left of Ikedanbu's main column, Tan Shaokuang's division smashed straight into his unprotected left flank. Now the battle had become a melee. Swords, halberds, spears, bayonets and rifle butts. The Taiping fought mainly with their broadswords, hacking through the imperial ranks as quickly as they could mend them. Within an hour, the battle was over. Almost 35,000 Qing troops, including their commander Ikedanbu, lay dead, while over 15,000 Taipings are killed.
By 1853, the Taiping had captured Nanjing, the seat of power of the Ming Dynasty almost two centuries before, driving the shattered and devastated remnants of the Qing back towards their ancestral homelands in Manchuria. However, even before Hong Xiuquan had taken his seat on the throne of a new empire, internal strife was beginning to tear the Taipings apart. A series of hostilities between the four Kings finally cumulated to the dreadful and cold blooded slaughter of the North King Wei Changhui's entire family at the hands of Yang Xiuqing, the ambitious and brutal East King. In the fighting that followed afterward, Wei Changhui sought revenge, and his army attacked Yang Xiuqing's palace a week later, massacring every single soldier that served under the East King's command, including his entire family as well. The internal fighting killed almost 20,000 people, most of them veteran Taiping warriors and cammanders. In disgust, another veteran Taiping commander, Prince Shi Dakai retreated from Nanjing, taking 5,000 soldiers with him. He traveled more than 4,000 miles north, all the way to Sichuan Province, where he intended to establish an independant kingdom. Shi Dakai's ragtag force was surrounded a year later by imperial Qing forces and slaughtered.
In 1861, in response to the outbreak of the civil war in the United States, Hong Xiuquan ordered an attack on the port city of Shanghai. Shanghai was a commerce center, and if he is able to capture that city, it would enable him to trade with the Confederate States of America, a regime that he recognized as another anti-imperialist revolution. However, the Taipings were already weakened greatly by the endless waves of internal strife, and were defeated at the outskirts of the city by a combination of British and French colonial soldiers, and Qing banner troops.
Meanwhile in Nanjing, the Qing had regrouped, and were now inching ever closer to the walls of the city. By 1862, the Qing banner army under the command of Zheng Guofan was shelling Nanjing nonstop, day and night. Along with the ceaseless explosions, the city's residents were starved to the point of eating rats and wild weeds. On July 20th, 1864, the Qing launched their final attack on the doomed capital. Despite their suffering endured for over three years of siege, the Taiping defenders of the city kept to their word and fought to the death, street by street, house by house. Over 100,000 Qing troops died as well. Not one Taiping defender remained alive during the battle of Nanjing.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was a brutal story of rebellion, foreign imperialism, and patriotism during a time of the most grevious suffering. When the aroma of gunpowder lingers in the early morning air, it is a specter, a ghost, of the epic struggles of an epic era.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8Oy3vTqvH8
This is the bravery of the final remaining defenders of the Taiping as they faced their Qing conquerors.
Last edited:
