Between 1850 and 1864, China was torn apart not just by the Opium Wars against the British Empire; it was also torn apart due to an internal struggle known as the Taiping Rebellion, or the Taiping Civil War fought between the Qing dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

China suffered greatly after the First Opium War. It also suffered natural disasters and economic problems due to a severe lack of silver, which wasn’t mined in China, was a prized commodity. It was used for currency and could be used to tempt the Chinese to trade with other countries. It is estimated that by 1800, China had imported so much silver that it possessed 30 percent of the world’s supply of it. Japan was a primary exporter of silver, although political frictions prevented China from getting silver directly from them. Instead, Chinese merchants went to the Portuguese and the Dutch, who acted as intermediaries—for a profit, of course. If Japan didn’t export silver, China might have fallen prey to merchants from the Americas or the Spanish colonies. The population of China doubled during this period of time, but the amount of agricultural land stayed the same. Famine was widespread, and the corrupt Manchu government didn't do anything to resolve it.

The rebellion began with the Jintian Uprising before the Taiping armies started marching toward Dahuangjiangkou, where they prepared for an attack. The Qing forces, under the command of General Xiang Rong, counted around 3,000 men when they tried to attack the rebels. He was soon joined by the imperial army, which was led by General Li Nengchen, and they attacked Dahuangjiangkou simultaneously from the east and west. However, the imperial armies found themselves in the middle of a minefield that had been set up by the rebels, and they were forced to change their tactics. During the night, the rebel forces escaped and retreated to Wuxuan County of the Guangxi province. They were followed by the imperial army, and the two clashed soon after near Sanli Dyke, with the short battle ending in a stalemate. Xiang Rong gathered an army of 6,000 men to attack the rebels, but they managed to drive them back. At the battle of Du'ao Ridge, the rebels were victorious in defeating the imperial army, but they could not progress north, as Xiang Rong and his troops were blocking the path. So instead, the rebels started recruiting people from nearby villages. They continued to grow in numbers and managed to obtain a large number of supplies, as they had the support of the majority of commoners.

Finally, the rebel forces defeated the imperial army in the Guangxi province and reached the neighbouring Hunan province. However, the delayed advance of the Taiping forces gave the Qing army an opportunity to reinforce the city of Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, which was the goal of the rebels. The Taiping rebels' first attempt at doing so cost them over 10,000 men in the Battle of Changsha (1852)

The Taiping forces moved slowly toward Wuchang, as they had to perform deceptive manoeuvres to lose the pursuit of the Qing imperial army. They destroyed the bridges behind them, abandoned their boats, and resumed the path on foot, just to continue by boat as soon as they reached a village or town on the riverbank. They also used pontoon bridges to cross the river and hired boatmen to regularly check on the advancement of the Qing troops. By December 1852, the rebels reached Dongting Lake, where they occupied the city of Yueyang to prepare for the Battle of Wuchang.

The Taiping forces captured Nanjing (Nanking) at the Battle of Nanjing (1853). Hong Xiuquan established it as the capital city of the Heavenly Kingdom, changing its name to Tianjing (Heavenly Capital). The Manchus were the enemies of the Taiping, and the rebels regarded them as demons. So, all Manchu men were slaughtered inside the city, while the women were forced beyond the city walls to be burned alive. The rebels destroyed most of the imperial buildings built during the Qing and Ming dynasties. One of the prominent buildings that was destroyed was the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, a royal pagoda built in the 15th century. This tower was noted by many European explorers as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Shortly after conquering Nanjing, however, the Taiping commanders launched two new military expeditions, one in the north and one in the west. The northern campaign was a complete failure, but the western one was somewhat successful as it gained some territories for the rebels.

Hong Xiuquan decided to start ruling through written proclamations only and thus modeled his policies and administration based on the previous emperors of China. He lived in luxury, indulging himself with women who lived in his inner chambers. Disappointed in Hong's impractical policies, Yang Xiuqing challenged his leader's commands. Hong Xiuquan became suspicious of Yang's motives and his vast network of spies. Soon after, Hong gave orders to Wei Changhui and Qin Rigang, the military leaders he most trusted, to slaughter Yang and all of his followers. Wei and Qin complied, but their ultimate goal was to actually get rid of Hong Xiuquan. Hong heard about their plans and immediately issued the arrest and execution of both commanders. These events are known as the Tianjing Incident of 1856.

The remaining leaders of the Taiping army tried to persuade the Europeans to join their fight against the Qing dynasty. The Europeans claimed to be neutral, although some military advisors were openly working for the Qing emperor. The Taiping forces started losing popularity amongst the Chinese citizens, who were repelled by their hostility toward Chinese customs and Confucianism. The middle and upper classes of Chinese society started siding with the Qing dynasty.

In the Hunan province, Zeng Guofan raised and organized the Xiang Army, becoming part of the Qing government's Green Standard Army. The Xiang Army first recovered Changsha, the capital of the Hunan province. Soon after, he managed to recapture Wuchang and Hanyang. For these victories, he was awarded the title of vice president of the Board of War. The Qing leadership started using Zeng's army instead of their own troops, seeing the success this new army had. By September 1858, the Xiang Army gained control over the whole Jiangxi province.

However, the Taiping forces defeated the imperial army that was besieging Nanjing in 1860 and started their move to expand the borders of the Heavenly Kingdom. In March of the same year, the rebels took Hangzhou at the Battle of Jiangnan. In May, Changzhou fell and in June Suzhou.

In June 1861, under the command of Lai Wenguang, the Taiping forces occupied Shanghai and managed to hold it for five months before abandoning it. They had to withdraw from the city due to the constant threat from the Qing forces. But by March 1862, the Taiping leader Li Xiucheng had gathered an army of over 600,000 men. Shanghai was an important city as it was isolated, easy to defend, and had an international port, and it was to be the next target. The first to attack were the Taiping forces, which were commanded by Li Rongfa (second son of Li Xiucheng), who led the invasion with 20,000 men on March 1st, 1862. They occupied one whole district of the city, which was only defended by the Green Standard Army. Their commander, Huang Yisheng, requested help from the British and French, but they wanted to remain neutral. Instead, help came from the American mercenary commander Frederick Townsend Ward and his troops.

As a mercenary, Ward was employed by imperial authorities to organize the Shanghai Foreign Arms Corps. Recruiting Westerners, sober or otherwise, Ward couldn't organize an army that would be willing to fight alongside the Chinese. His army was defeated in Battle at Chingpu in 1861, but the battle did form the nucleus for what would later become known as the "Ever Victorious Army."

On April 10th, 1862, Ward led his army to recapture Shanghai. Fighting side by side with the troops of the Green Standard Army, the districts of Shanghai fell one by one. On May 1st, the Taiping forces under Li Rongfa surrendered to the Ever Victorious Army in Shanghai's district of Nanhui. The Qing government had full control over the eastern and southern Shanghai districts by this point. Rongfa had to retreat to Pudong with his army. However, the battles for the districts continued throughout May until there were no more Taiping forces in a radius of thirty miles around Shanghai.

In September of 1862, the Taiping army tried to regain Shanghai once more. They sent 80,000 men under the command of Tan Shaoguang, but they were defeated by the Qing defenders. The Taiping commanders ordered another attack shortly after, this time sending 70,000 men who moved very quickly and managed to surprise the defenders enough to get close to the city. The Qing fleet attacked the Taiping forces from the river, however, and managed to gain some ground. Support came from the Ever Victorious Army, and the rebels were finally forced to retreat. The Taiping army tried to break through Shanghai's defences four more times until Hong Xiuquan finally called off all attacks, thus ending the conflict over the city.

After freeing Shanghai, Frederick Townsend Ward led his army to the north of the Zhejiang province. Together with other British and French troops, he helped free the city of Cixi from the Taiping rebel forces at the Battle of Cixi.

At this time, in the Sichuan province, Shi Dakai, one of the Taiping Rebellion leaders and a poet, had been operating for over six years. He was also known as Wing King, "Lord of Five Thousand Years," and is often mentioned in myths and legends due to his martial skills and sense of justice. In December 1862, he tried to lead his troops across the Jinsha River but was constantly under heavy fire from the Qing forces and had to retreat. The river also flooded, so it wasn't easy to cross. After several attempts, with his troops running out of rations and the Qing imperial army closing in on them, Shi Dakai decided to make a deal. He negotiated with the Qing officer to spare the lives of his men if he would turn himself over. Shi Dakai was arrested and executed by slow slicing. Out of the 6,000 men who accompanied him, 4,000 were released as promised.

The Qing army was reorganized, and the command over it was given to Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, and Li Hongzhang. They were all statesmen and military generals, and some of them later became diplomats. They began the reconquest of all the territories taken by the Taiping rebels, and by 1864, they managed to retake almost all of them.

Zeng Guofan, a military general, became a Qing hero in the Taiping Rebellion and in 1860, he became the viceroy of Liangjiang and took the opportunity this title gave him to retake Nanjing. By 1863, the entire area around the city was freed from the rebels after a series of battles.

When Hong Xiuquan died in 1864, his movement died with him. However, the contemporaries of that time remember that he was responsible for the deaths of ten to twenty million, including both troops and civilians.