Book description
In the early 1850s, during the waning years of the Qing dynasty,
word spread of a major revolution brewing in the provinces. The leader
of the this movement - who called themselves the Taiping - was Hong
Xiuquan, a failed civil servant who claimed to be the son of God and
the brother of Jesus Christ. As the revolt grew and battles raged
across the empire, all signs pointed to a Taiping victory and to the
inauguration of a modern, industrialized and pro-Western china. Soon,
however, Britain and the United States threw their support behind the
Qing, soon quashing the Taiping and rendering ineffective the years of
bloodshed the revolution had endured. In Autumn in the Heavenly
Kingdom, Stephen Platt recounts the events of the rebellion and its
suppression in spellbinding detail. It is an essential and enthralling
history of the rise and fall of a movement that, a century and a half
ago, might have launched China into the modern world.
'Stephen Platt brings to vivid life a pivotal chapter in China's
history that has been all but forgotten... Autumn in the Heavenly
Kingdom is a fascinating work by a first-class historian and superb
writer.' Henry Kissinger 'A splendid example of finely calibrated
historical narrative... Platt shows how the fates of China's rulers and
many millions of their subjects were manipulated by British diplomatic
and commercial interests, as well as colored by the rebels' own
unorthodox religious and political beliefs. It is a tragic and powerful
story.' Jonathan Spence, author of The Search for Modern China
Stephen R. Platt received his PhD in Chinese history at Yale and
teaches Chinese history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
His work has been supported by the Fulbright program, the National
Endowment for the Humanities, and the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation.
