#346 - Taiping 23: Friends From Afar

The Loyal King does everything right. He writes ahead to Shanghai to announce he's coming – as a friend! And only for the Qing parts of the city! His standing orders: no firing on the foreigners, you get your head chopped off. He even signs off wishing them all good health until he can meet them in person. It's returned unopened. As is the second one. And so, in the third week of August 1860, an army marching under orders not to shoot back spends 5 days being shelled outside the walls of a city they thought friendly… all culminating with the French burning the suburbs to the ground, with everyone still inside. And those soldiers holding that wall on the Qing’s behalf? They're the rear echelon of an expedition sailing north to burn down the dynasty's capital. Time Period Covered: June-Aug. 1860 CE Major Historical Figures: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Hong Rengan, the Shield King (Gan Wang), Prime Minister [1822–1864] Li Xiucheng, the Loyal King (Zhong Wang) [1823–1864] The Qing: Xue Huan, acting Governor of Jiangsu Wu Xu, the Shanghai Daotai Yang Fang, banker; head of the merchant syndicate He Guiqing, cashiered Governor-General of Liangjiang [1816–1862] The Foreigners… At Shanghai: Frederick Bruce, British Minister to China [1814–1867] Thomas Taylor Meadows, acting British Consul at Shanghai [1815–1868] Frederick Townsend Ward, commander, Shanghai Foreign-Arms Corps [1831–1862] Thomas Francis Wade, first British Inspector of Customs at Shanghai [1818–1895] Horatio Nelson Lay, British Inspector of Customs from 1855 [1832–1898] Savage, English coastal pilot in Taiping service [d. 1860] In the North: James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, British High Commissioner; Frederick Bruce's elder brother [1811–1863] Major Works Cited: Fairbank, John King. Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: The Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842–1854. Jen, Yu-wen. The Taiping Revolutionary Movement. Michael, Franz, and Chung-li Chang. The Taiping Rebellion: History and Documents, Vols. I–III. Murphey, Rhoads. Shanghai: Key to Modern China. Platt, Stephen R. Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War. Spence, Jonathan D. God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan. Twitchett, Denis, and John K. Fairbank, eds. The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 10: Late Ch'ing, 1800–1911, Part 1. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices