Taiping army takes Hanyang and Hankou and begins the siege of Wuchang

Background. The Taiping Rebellion was a civil war in late imperial China between the Qing dynasty and the rebel Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. In late 1852 the Taiping army pressed north into Hunan following the Xiang River, besieged Changsha, and occupied Yuezhou before reaching the Yangtze River. The supplied passages state that the Taiping captured Wuchang in December 1852; they do not record Taiping control of Hanyang or Hankou, which lay on the left bank of the Yangtze.

Geography of Wuhan. Wuchang, Hanyang, and Hankou were distinct urban areas that later merged to form Wuhan. Wuchang was on the right bank of the Yangtze, while Hanyang and Hankou were on the left bank, separated by the Han River. These locations were strategically important during the Taiping Rebellion, as control over them allowed the rebels to dominate the region.

Military Context. Estimates place the size of the Taiping army at around 500,000 soldiers in 1852. In the beginning of the rebellion, the large numbers of women serving in the Taiping army also distinguished it from other 19th-century armies. These figures describe the force during the year it advanced on Wuchang; the passages do not state its strength or composition at the city itself.