English: Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864)

Tian Guo Tong Bao (Circulating Treasure of the Heavenly Kingdom). Hartill rarity 1. Extremely Rare.

The Taiping Rebellion was a pseudo-Christian cult founded by a charismatic peasant leader named Hong Xiuquan from Guangdong province during the decaying years of China's last dynasty, the Qing. Widespread corruption, weaknesses demonstrated by China's humiliating defeat by western powers and economic problems led to massive civil anger. Hong Xiuquan capitalized on the mass dissension and weakness of the government To launch a massive revolt starting from Guangxi which led to conquest of massive swathes of to the south including Nanjing which they declared as the Heavenly Capital of their Heavenly Kingdom. The armies of the Taiping rebellion nearly captured Beijing before infighting and a successful counter attack by the armies of the illustrious Han General Zeng Guofan and his protégés Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang gradually pushed the Taiping armies back and dealt a decisive defeat to them thus saving the Qing Dynasty a lifeline for a few more decades.

Although Taiping coins are fairly common, this one was the first batch of official coinage minted by the rebels when they attempted to establish their new government. However very shortly after, the characters were changed to 天國聖寶 Tian Guo Sheng Bao (Sacred Treasure of the Heavenly Kingdom) . Thus mintages were extremely limited and hardly circulated.