Hong Xiuquan
Hong Xiuquan was the charismatic founder and 'Heavenly King' of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, whose millenarian revolt against the Qing dynasty became the deadliest civil war of the nineteenth century. A Hakka schoolteacher from Guangdong who repeatedly failed the imperial examinations, Hong experienced religious visions that he interpreted — after encountering Protestant missionary literature — as divine revelation that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ, sent to expel the demon-Qing and establish God's kingdom on earth. His synthesis of heterodox Christianity, egalitarian land redistribution, and fierce anti-Manchu nationalism resonated explosively among marginalized populations. The Taiping forces captured Nanjing in 1853 and held it for eleven years, governing a population of perhaps thirty million people. The rebellion's suppression, achieved only with Western-officered forces alongside Qing armies, killed an estimated 20–30 million people from combat, famine, and disease. Hong died in Nanjing in June 1864, just weeks before the city fell.
- Lived: 1814 CE – 1864 CE
- Nationality: Chinese
- Roles: Religious Leader, Revolutionary, Political Leader
