T'âi-P'ings was the name given by foreigners to the followers of Hung Hsiü-ch'wan (S'eiw-tseuen), who raised the standard of rebellion in China in 1851, the enterprise not being finally suppressed till 1865. Hung was born in 1813 in a poor agricultural village of the district of Hwâ, in Canton province. His only chance of rising in the world being by literary distinction, he became a diligent student, but he never succeeded in taking the first degree at the provincial capital. Through his visits to Canton, however, he had obtained a bundle of Christian tracts, and gained, we must believe, some knowledge of foreign missions. Returning home from another disappointing competition in 1837, he fell into a long illness, in which he saw visions, and conceived the idea of changing the religion of the empire, and subverting the ruling Manchû dynasty. When he got better he began to disseminate his new views, and could soon boast of two converts. These were like him- self teachers of village schools, who by-and-by lost their pupils and came into angry collision with their neighbours. In 1844, in company with the elder of the two converts, Hung went into the adjacent province of Kwang-hsi, where they made many converts, and gathered them into communities which they called 'Churches of God.' Hung began also to give forth arrangements and decrees as revelations communicated to him by 'the Heavenly Father,' and the 'Heavenly Elder Brother.' The Heavenly Father was 'the Great God,' and the Elder Brother was 'our Lord Jesus Christ.' Meanwhile progress of organisation proceeded. A strictly moral conduct and the keeping of the Sabbath were enjoined on the congregations; all idolatrous practices and the use of opium were forbidden; proffers of union from leaders of the Great Triad Society, pledged to the restoration of a native Chinese dynasty, were rejected.
After some years of uncertain struggle with the official authorities, the insurgents (for such they were now) took possession of the district city of Yung-an. There they hailed their leader as emperor of the dynasty of T'ái-P'ing (Grand Peace), and adopted T'ien Kwo (Kingdom of Heaven) as the name of his reign. He was himself also styled T'ien Wang (Heavenly King), and some half a dozen of his oldest and most trusted followers were appointed by him his lieutenants, with the title of Wang (Kings). After being kept for some time in a state of siege in the city by their opponents, on the night of 7th April 1852 they burst forth, scattered their besiegers, and commenced their march to the north. Their number was only a few thousands, and they had no artillery, but full of enthusiasm they pressed on. We can only account for their success by recognising the unpreparedness and supine cowardice of the imperial officers and their troops. They passed from Kwang-hsi into Hú-nan, got command of the river Hsiang, and before the end of the year had reached the great Yang-tse River. Launching forth on it, and taking on the way the capitals of Hú-peí and An-húi, they encamped before Nanking on the 8th March 1853. Within ten days it had fallen into their power, and every man of the Mancháu garrison been put to the sword. Their host, grown in the twelve months from under 10,000 probably to more than 100,000, proclaimed the T'ái-P'ing dynasty anew, and swore fealty to the Heavenly King. In a few months a large force was despatched northwards to terminate the contest by the capture of Peking. This expedition did wonders, traversed the two provinces of An-húi and Ho-nan, then marched west to Shan-shí, from which, turning east again, it penetrated into Chih-lí, and finally occupied an entrenched position only about 20 miles from T'ien-tsin. But the rebellion had there reached the limit of its advance. Though the expedition met with no great defeat, sufficient reinforcements did not reach them, and the leaders were obliged to retreat towards Nanking in 1855.
From this time the rebel cause began to decay. The moral enthusiasm which had distinguished it in Kwang-hsi disappeared. Dissensions arose between the kings, who strove and fought among themselves, and passed from the stage one after another. Hung created new kings to supply their places, but his name had ceased to be a word to conjure with. He secluded himself from public view, and was unable to institute any system of good order or administration in the extensive provinces subject to his control. The promise of Christian institutions died away. The imperial government, moreover, rallied its forces, and a desperate struggle ensued between them and the rebels. Some of the new kings proved to be men of great ability. Sú-cháu and Nang-cháu, the capitals of Chiang-sú and Chih-chiang, were both reduced and held by them for a time. How the struggle would have ended was still uncertain, when the imperialists began to call in the assistance of foreigners. A body of men of different nationalities entered their service under an American adventurer known to us from his taking this command as General Ward. He was a very capable man, and did the imperialists good service till he was killed in 1862. Then the British authorities at Shanhái were prevailed on to organise a more effective force, and to put the whole auxiliary movement under the direction of Colonel Charles ('Chinese') Gordon (q.v.). The T'ái-P'ings fought with the courage of despair, but they could not long protract the final issue. Nanking was invested by the imperialists, and taken at last on the 19th July 1864. Hung himself, it is supposed, had taken poison a few weeks before, and so escaped capture. His son, a lad of sixteen years, fled under the protection of two of the kings, but they were all three soon taken and executed. What remnants there were of the fighting men made for the south in different bodies, but they gradually melted away, and were finally extinguished in Canton province in the following year.
See Callery and Yvan, L'Insurrection en Chine (Paris, 1853); T. T. Meadows, The Chinese and their Rebellions (Lond. 1856); Pamphlets issued by the Chinese Insurgents at Nanking, &c., compiled by W. H. Medhurst (Shanghai, 1853); Andrew Wilson, Gordon's Chinese Campaign and the Tai-Ping Rebellion (1868); S. Wells Williams, The Middle Kingdom (revised edition, 1883); A. Egmont Hake, Events of the Taeping Rebellion (1892).