Taiping Heavenly Kingdom History Museum

Taiping Heavenly Kingdom History Museum
太平天国历史博物馆
Location	208 West Zhanyuan Road 208 (南京夫子庙西瞻园路208号)
Coordinates	Coordinates: 32°1′16.41″N 118°46′0.63″E / 32.0212250°N 118.7668417°E

The Taiping Kingdom History Museum (Chinese: 太平天国历史博物馆)is a museum dedicated to artifacts from the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864). It is located on the grounds of the Zhan Yuan Garden (Chinese: 瞻园; pinyin: Zhān Yuán), a historical garden in Nanjing, China.^[1]

History[]

The garden that surrounds the museum was once "Enthusiasm Garden" or "Zhan Garden" of the first ruler of the Ming Dynasty, Hongwu (1328-1398).^[1] In 1853,^{[citation needed]} 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.^[1]

Museum[]

In 1958, it became the site of the current museum.^{[citation needed]} The museum has artifacts from the rebellion, including Taiping currency, weapons, uniforms, and documents about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom ideology, which was based upon an idiosyncratic version of Christianity. Hong Xiuquan believed he was Christ's younger brother, ordered by God to exterminate China's Manchu rulers, whom he decried as demons.