Zhu Hongzhang (; 1820? – 1895), born in Liping,

Guizhou ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = Guizhou in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_alt = Map showing the location of Guizhou Province , map_caption = Map s ...

, was a

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

official and a military general of the late

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

in China. He joined the

Xiang Army file:Zeng Guofan.png, 150px, Zeng Guofan, the leader of the Xiang Army The Xiang Army or Hunan Army () was a standing army organized by Zeng Guofan from existing regional and village militia forces called ''tuanlian'' to contain the Taiping Rebel ...

to fight against the

Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a civil war in China between the Qing dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The conflict lasted 14 years, from its outbreak in 1850 until the fall of ...

and to restore the stability of the Qing state. He was one of the nine generals that lead a force of 60,000 troops to occupied

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

in 1864. Zhu was awarded a third-class merit for the recovery Nanjing. Although Zhu was awarded a third-class merit for the recovery Nanjing after Commander Zeng Guoquan commended Zhu's work to the

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

government, there were dissenting opinions that Zhu should have received the first merit instead of Li Chendian.

The First-Wave Offensive

During the Battle of Nanjing (1864), on 19 July the attackers detonated explosives in a tunnel under Taiping Gate (), bringing somewhere between 2 and 10 km of the wall down. Zhu led 1800 soldiers through the breach, into the city, but 460 were killed by the bombs of the weakened Taiping defenders. Zhu's troops took Taiping on the following day. This won Zhu the

Imperial yellow jacket The imperial yellow jacket () was a symbol of high honour during China's Qing dynasty. As yellow was a forbidden color, representing the Emperor, the jacket was given only to high-ranking officials and to the Emperor's body guards. Wearing the ja ...

merit.

References

* *Porter, Jonathan. ''Tseng Kuo-Fan's Private Bureaucracy.'' Berkeley: University of California, 1972. * Wright, Mary Clabaugh. ''The Last Stand of Chinese Conservatism: The T'ung-Chih Restoration, 1862 -1874.'' Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1957. *

Third Battle of Nanking The Third Battle of Nanjing in 1864 was the last major engagement of the Taiping Rebellion in the Qing Empire. With the fall of Nanjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the rebellion came to an end. The Hunan Army, an unpaid and ...

External links

Tang Haoming's Three-Book Trilogy of Zeng Guofan's life 《曾国荃》
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhu, Hongzhang 1820s births 1895 deaths People from Qiandongnan Qing dynasty generals Year of birth uncertain Generals from Guizhou Military leaders of the Taiping Rebellion