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LIST OF TAI-PING WANGS OR CHIEFS.

The word "Wang" properly signifies a Prince; it would be impossible to name all the Tai-ping Wangs, of whom there were about 2300; and among these Rebels the name did not imply any royalty by blood. In the first years of the Rebellion the title was conferred only on a select few, but latterly it was given largely by the Heavenly Monarch, and conferred by some of his adherents upon themselves. The following list of the more prominent of them may be useful in explaining the references in the text. The title is given first, then a translation of it, and afterwards the individual's name :—

1. TIEN WANG or TAI-PING WANG: the Heavenly Monarch or King of the Great Peace; Hung Sew-tsuen. This was the origi nator, centre, and king of the whole movement. Born 1813. Formally proclaimed his rebellion in 1850; established himself at Nanking in 1853, and committed suicide in June 1864. 2. TIEN WANG II.: the second Heavenly Monarch; Hung Fu-tien. A son of Hung Sew-tsuen and of Lai, the second of the former's eighty-eight wives. Born 1848, assumed the nominal sceptre on the death of his father, and shortly after the fall of Nanking, in July 1864, was taken and executed by the Imperialists.

3. FU WANG: Hung Jen-ta. An elder half-brother of Hung Sewtsuen, who seems to have been with the latter from the commencement, and to have had great influence. Executed after the fall of Nanking. There are also traces of another halfbrother, called the Ngan Wang, Hung Jen-fu, who disappears at the fall of Nanking.

4. KAN WANG: the Shield King; Hung Jen-kan. A cousin of Hung Sew-tsuen, who joined the latter in 1859, and was made Prime Minister, being well acquainted with Foreigners, and speaking English. Some doubts have been raised as to his fate, but he seems to have been executed after the fall of Nan

king; and the alleged Kan Wang, who appeared near Amoy in the year 1865, was probably the K'ang Wang, a chief of little note.

Then come in the five original Wangs, who alone held that title during the first years of the Rebellion.

5. NAN WANG: the Southern King; Fung Yun-san, an early friend of Hung Sew-tsuen. Killed in action in 1852. 6. TUNG WANG: the Eastern King; Yang Sew-tsin. A great fighting Chief, and organiser of the rebel movement. An incarnation of the Holy Ghost, and an aspirant for supreme power, which caused his being murdered, at the Heavenly Monarch's instigation, in August 1856.

7. PEI WANG: the Northern King; Wei Ching. Killed soon after the Eastern King at Nanking in 1856.

8. SI WANG: the Western King; Siaou Chai-kwei. A brotherin-law of Hung Sew-tsuen. Killed in action in 1852.

9. I WANG: the Assistant King; Shih Ta-kai. A great fighting
Chief. Left Nanking in 1854; afterwards quarrelled with the
Tai-pings, and set up for himself in the province of Szechuen.
Taken prisoner by the Imperialists and executed in 1863.

To these early chiefs may be added the

10. TIEN-TE WANG: the Heavenly Virtue King; Hung Tai-tsuen. This was no relative of Hung Sew-tsuen, and the Tai-pings make no mention of his existence; but being taken by the Imperialists in 1852, he declared before his execution that he was one of the originators of the Rebellion. Probably he was an impostor.

The titles of two of the original Wangs were continued in the persons of their sons.

11. NAN WANG II. Killed when trying to escape from Nanking after its fall in 1864.

12. SI WANG II. Killed as above.

After the murder of the Eastern King in 1856, Hung Sew-tsuen created no more Wangs for some time; but when he was joined by Hung Jen-kan in 1859, and had made the latter the Kan Wang, he found it necessary to confer the title on two others of his great fighting Chiefs, viz :—

13. CHUNG WANG: the Faithful King; Li Siu-cheng (originally called Yi Wen); a Tai-ping generalissimo, and the most distinguished leader of the latter years of the Rebellion, which he joined as a private soldier, under compulsion. Executed by the Imperialists on 7th August 1864.

LIST OF TAI-PING WANGS OR CHIEFS. xxvii

14. YING WANG: the Heroic King; Chin Y-ching; also called Sz-yan Kow, the Four-eyed Dog. Also a noted warrior. Betrayed to the Imperialists, and executed at Showchun early in 1862.

After these so many Wangs were made that the title lost its distinctive value, but the following are the most prominent :

15. SHE WANG: the Attendant King; Li Siu-shien. A relative of the Faithful King. Escaped from Nanking just before its fall; entered Fukien, and, pursued by the Imperialists, disappears from history at Yingting, on the Han River, in July

1865.

16. Tow WANG: the Yellow Tiger. Fought at Wuchu after the fall of Nanking, and escaped into darkness.

17. LIEH WANG: the Zealous King; Li Wan-tse. Executed at Nanking in August 1864.

18. HU WANG: the Protecting King; Chen Kuan-shu. Taken at Chanchu fu, and beheaded in April 1864. Also called "Cockeye."

19. TSO WANG; Huang Ho-chin. Killed in defence of Chanchu in April 1864.

20. MOH WANG; Tan Show-kuang. Assassinated at Soochow by the other Wangs in 1863.

21. NA WANG; Kow Yuen. Beheaded at Soochow.

22. SING WANG; Che Wun-chai. "Cockeye."

23. KONG WANG; Wan Nan-tin. 24. PE WANG; Wo Que-won.

Beheaded at Soochow. Another

Beheaded at Soochow.
Beheaded at Soochow.

25. TAI WANG; Sin-tin Min. Escaped at the taking of Soochow. 26. CHANG WANG; an engineer officer. Commander of the Metropolitan Force at Nanking. Spared by the Imperialists after the taking of Soochow.

27. K'ANG WANG. An obscure chief who escaped with the remnant of the Tai-pings into Fukien, and was there mistaken by Foreigners for the Kan Wang or Shield King.

B.C.

LIST OF LEADING EVENTS.

2356-2254.-The age of the Emperors Yaou and Shun, when probably the earliest chapters of the Shoo King or Historical Classic were written.

2204.-Establishment of the Hea dynasty.

1621.-Commencement of the Chow dynasty, which lasted down to B.C. 249.

551.-Birth of Confucius, who gave distinct shape to Chinese political and social ideas, and also the period of Laou, the founder of Taouism, or Chinese Rationalism.

240-184 A.D.-The first Empire, which comprehended all that part of

modern China which lies north of the Yang-tsze, and founded
by Che Hoang-te, the builder of the Great Wall, who at-

A.D. tempted to destroy all copies of the Classics.
166.-Alleged Roman Embassy to China.

184-260.-The period of the three states which struggled with each other for supreme power, when the Chinese character reached its highest martial development.

260. The second Empire, founded by the Tsin dynasty.

416. China again divided into a northern and a southern kingdom. 420.-Nanking made the capital.

585. The northern and scuthern kingdoms united.

627.-Reign of the Emperor Tai-tsung, of the Tang dynasty, who

established the system of literary examinations, drew up the
Celestial Code, and extended his sway into India and to the
shores of the Caspian.

1260.-Peking made the capital.

1270.-Marco Polo visits Nanking and Soochow.

1281.-China conquered by Kubla Khan and the Mongol Tartars. 1368. The expulsion of the Tartars and establishment of the Ming

dynasty.

1506.-European vessels first visit China.

1616-1644.-China conquered by the Manchu Tartars, and the Tatsing, the reigning dynasty, established.

1637.-First English vessels visit China.

1684.-The East India Company establishes an agency at Canton.

1813.-Birth of Hung Sew-tsuen, the Tai-ping monarch.

1837.-His first trance and proclamation of himself as a heavenly prince.
1842.-The treaty of Nanking made between Great Britain and China.
1850.-Hung Sew-tsuen proclaims his temporal sovereignty.
1853. He takes Nanking and makes it his capital.

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A.D.

LIST OF LEADING EVENTS.

xxix

1856. Murder of the Eastern King.

1858.-The Allies take the Taku forts, and obtain from the Emperor the treaty of Tientsin.

1859. The Imperialists nearly suppress the Rebellion, and defeat the Allies at the Taku forts.

1860.-May. The Tai-pings break out of Nanking, take Soochow, and occupy the country towards Shanghai.

June. Ward originates the "Ever-Victorious Army."

--

August. The Tai-pings attack Shanghai and are repulsed by the Allies.

September.-The Taku forts taken from the Imperialists by
the Allies, an event soon after followed by the advance on
Peking, the burning of the Summer Palace, and the con-
cluding of the Convention of Peking.

December.-Allies tell the Tai-ping monarch not to attack
Shanghai, and he leaves it unmolested for a year.

1861.-Hostilities suspended on the part of the Allies towards both Tai-pings and Imperialists.

August. The Emperor Hien-fung dies.

September.-Prince Kung makes his coup d'état.

November.Tai-ping attempts towards Hankow frus

trated.

1862.-January.-Tai-pings again attack Shanghai, and are repulsed by the Allies.

February.-Ward again takes the field.

Allics determine to drive the Tai-pings out of the thirtymile radius round Shanghai.

February-June.-The Allied forces co-operate with Ward
and the Imperialists.

May. Captain Dew, R.N., drives back the Tai-pings from
Ningpo.

September.-Ward killed; Burgevine takes command of
the E.V.A.

1863.-January.-Burgevine dismissed, and Captain Holland, R.M.I., takes command of the EV.A.

February.-Captain Holland defeated.

The province of Chekiang is in great part restored to the

Imperialists by the capture of Showshing.

March.-Colonel Gordon takes command of the E.V.A.

May.-Captures Quinsan.

August.-Burgevine joins the Tai-pings.

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