Taiping Heavenly Kingdom History Museum
The Taiping Kingdom History Museum is a museum dedicated to artifacts from the Taiping Rebellion. It is located on the grounds of the Zhan Yuan Garden, a historical garden in Nanjing, China.
The garden that surrounds the museum was once “Enthusiasm Garden” or “Zhan Garden” of the first ruler of the Ming Dynasty, Hongwu (1328-1398). In 1853, it became the residence of Yang Xiuqing, a military leader in the Taiping Rebellion. During the rebellion, Nanjing was captured by the rebels and used as its headquarters. They acquired large portions of land throughout China. At Beijing, the Qing Dynasty narrowly defeated the rebels in 1864, but it ended the war.
In 1958, it became the site of the current museum. The museum has artifacts from the rebellion, including Taiping currency, weapons, uniforms, and documents about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom ideology, which was based upon Confucius’ writings. The museum conveys the intentions to build a society with modern education, gender equality, and greater economic fairness.
