The Taiping uprising in China, led by Hong Xiuquan, was a massive movement that, in its violent rise & fall between 1845 & 1864, cost 20 million Chinese their lives. The Taiping succeeded in overturning the authority of the ruling Qing dynasty throughout a massive territory in southern China. This the Taiping ruled as their Heavenly Kingdom from their seat in Nanjing for 11 years, until they were overcome. Spence takes us into the fevered dream world of Hong Xiuquan. Hong's movement ignites the volatile situation of a China ruled by a dynasty in decline, beset by pirates & bandits, pressed by Western traders to embrace opium, Western missionaries the word of God, & arms dealers the new weapons of the industrial revolution. Illustrations.