The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Museum

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Museum (Taiping Tianguo Lishi Bowuguan) in Nanjing chronicles the thirteen year civil conflict in which a vast militia raised by Hong Xiuquan rebelled against the Qing Dynasty.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Museum history

This conflict was sparked by high taxation imposed by the dynasty to raise funds to pay an indemnity to Britain following the Opium Wars.

Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was an organized large-scale revolt against the authority and forces of the Qing Empire leaded by Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing.

The rebellious military force Hong raised was known as the Taiping Tianguo, literally translated as the “Kingdom of Heavenly Peace.” The rebellion started in January 1851 and, in March 1853, the Taiping Tianguo captured Nanjing and allocated it as its capital.

The Taiping areas were constantly besieged and harassed by Qing forces; the rebellion was eventually put down by the Qing army aided by French and British forces. With an estimated death toll of between 20 and 30 million due to warfare and resulting starvation, this civil war ranks as one of the bloodiest conflicts in history.

Taiping Heavenly Kingdom History Museum is the only national museum with the subject on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The museum collects numerous cultural relics of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom period.

Part of the building in which the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Museum is housed originally belonged to the Ming Emperor Hongwu and the building itself served as the base of one of the leaders of the Taiping Tianguo.

Located in the eastern part of the Zhanyuan Garden, the History Museum of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (Taiping Tianguo) was completed in 1956.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Museum today

Today, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Museum offers an insight into the rebellion through artefacts from the period, displaying everything from coins to weaponry.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom History Museum is composed of 4 exhibition halls with more than 1,657 pieces of collections, more than 10,000 pictures of a variety of cultural relics, and ruins to tell the entire history of the kingdom.

Getting to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Museum

The museum is situated in the Zhan Garden. Visitors can drive to the museum or take public transport. Take Bus 2, 16, 44, or Bus 49 to the Stop of Zhonghualu Zhanyuanliu.