Xiao Chaogui
Xiao Chaogui ( Chinese 蕭朝貴 / 萧朝贵 , Pinyin Xiāo Cháoguì , W.-G. Hsiao Ch'ao-kuei ; * around 1820 in Wuxuan County , Guangxi ; † September 1852 near Changsha ) was one of the political and military leaders of the Taiping uprising at the end of the Chinese Qing Dynasty .
Xiao was the son of poor farmers from Wuxuan County and was a member of the Hakka or Zhuang family . He married a relative of Yang Xiuqing , who was a senior member of the Society for Worship of God . After his first wife died, he married Hong Xuanqiao, Hong Xiuquan's younger sister . Hong baptized him in the 1840s, so Xiao joined the Society for Worship of God. Xiao quickly rose to prominence in this movement, claiming to speak in the name of Jesus Christ . In 1850, Xiao was given command of the company's armed forces, although Xiao may have been chosen to offset Yang's influence.
In early 1851, the Qing Dynasty troops attacked the Society for the Worship of God by force of arms. In the Jintian Uprising, the 500 fighters commanded by Xiao defeated the 3,000 attacking Qing soldiers. Shortly thereafter, Hong Xiuquan founded the Heavenly Realm of Great Peace and installed Xiao as the commander of the Taiping Army. After the victory at Jintian, the Taiping troops first moved west, then north-east, where they took Yong'an (today's Mengshan ). There, Hong set up his government and appointed Xiao King of the West, placing him directly under Hong as Heavenly King. In the winter of 1851/82, 30,000 Qing soldiers besieged Yong'an, but the Taiping troops managed to break out in April 1852, after which they were pursued by the Qing army. The Taiping withdrew to the Dadong Mountains , where the troops commanded by Xiao struck back against the Qing and inflicted heavy losses on them, including four Qing generals who were killed. From April 17 to May 19, 1852, Xiao's troops besieged Guilin without success , after which they took Xingan , Quanzhou and Daozhou . Here Yang and Xiao Chaogui called on the whole nation to revolt against the ineptitude of the Qing and announced that they would found a godly, peaceful and prosperous kingdom. On August 17th, Xiao's troops captured Chenzhou , from where Xiao advanced to Changsha with light infantry . Although he defeated the Qing troops in the suburbs of Changsha, the city walls were defended by 8,000 men under Governor Luo Bingzhang . The next day, Xiao led his troops personally into the attack on the city, was defeated and seriously wounded in battle. He succumbed to the injuries a few days later.
His son Xiao Yuhe assumed the Xiao king's title, while the ambitious Yang Xiuqing rose to almost unlimited power within the Taiping after Xiao's death.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Thomas L. Kennedy: Xiao Chaogui . In: Leung, Pak-Wah (Ed.): Political leaders of modern China: a biographical dictionary . 1st edition. Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn. 2002, ISBN 0-313-30216-2 , pp. 177-179 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Xiao, Chaogui |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Leader of the Taiping Uprising |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1820 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wuxuan in Guangxi Province , China |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 1852 |
| Place of death | Changsha |