Refine your search

The results of your search are listed below alongside the search terms you entered on the previous page. You can refine your search by amending any of the parameters in the form and resubmitting it.

Select all Deselect all Add selection to lightbox
Large Small
Thumbnails per page
The 1931 China floods or the 1931 Yellow River floods were a series of devastating floods that occurred in the Republic of China.<br/><br/> The floods are generally considered among one of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded. Estimates of the total death toll range from 145,000 to between 3.7 million and 4 million. The Zhenfeng Pagoda was originally built in 1570 during the Ming Dynasty. Due to its location near a bend in the Yangtze River, the pagoda was formerly used as a lighthouse, and contains niches for lanterns.[ After construction, the pagoda was initially called the 'Ten-thousand Buddha' pagoda due to its interior containing over six hundred statues of the Buddha.
The Taiping Rebellion was a widespread civil war in southern China from 1850 to 1864, led by heterodox Christian convert Hong Xiuquan, who, having received visions, maintained that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ, against the ruling Manchu-led Qing Dynasty. About 20 million people died, mainly civilians, in one of the deadliest military conflicts in history.<br/><br/> Hong established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom with its capital at Nanjing. The Kingdom's army controlled large parts of southern China, at its height containing about 30 million people. The rebels attempted social reforms believing in shared 'property in common' and the replacement of Confucianism, Buddhism and Chinese folk religion with a form of Christianity.<br/><br/> The Taiping troops were nicknamed 'Longhairs' (simplified Chinese: 长毛; traditional Chinese: 長毛; pinyin: Chángmáo) by the Qing government. The Taiping areas were besieged by Qing forces throughout most of the rebellion. The Qing government crushed the rebellion with the eventual aid of French and British forces.<br/><br/> In the 20th century, Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Chinese Nationalist Party, looked on the rebellion as an inspiration, and Chinese paramount leader Mao Zedong glorified the Taiping rebels as early heroic revolutionaries against a corrupt feudal system.