March 20, 1853

Siege of Nanking (1853)

Taiping forces capture Nanjing and establish their capital

The headline date is a day late, and the 750,000-strong army is not in the strongest source: a recent Oxford history puts roughly 200,000 in the advance.

One day late

After a rapid advance down the Yangzi, Taiping forces broke into Nanjing and captured the city on 19 March 1853, not 20 March. The march from Wuchang had taken about 40 days.

20 March appears to refer to continued fighting or the reduction of the Manchu inner quarter rather than the initial capture.

Scores of senior Qing officials and commanders were killed or took their own lives as the city fell.

Two hundred thousand, or seven hundred and fifty

A recent Oxford military history estimates approximately 200,000 Taipings during the lower-Yangzi advance.

Force estimates for this movement vary sharply and often mix combatants with dependants and other camp followers, so 750,000 should not be presented as a count of soldiers.

The figure of 30,000 imperial troops killed is likewise not secure: accounts variously count soldiers, Manchu households, women and children, or the entire garrison community.

The Heavenly Capital

The conquerors made Nanjing their headquarters and capital, renaming it Tianjing — "Heavenly Capital" — and held it until 1864.

The capture was accompanied and immediately followed by exterminatory violence against the city's Manchu garrison community; Manchus who could not escape were killed or committed suicide.

By 21 March, Taiping parties were conducting door-to-door searches for people they called "demons," meaning Manchus and imperial soldiers.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 5 sources not yet audited Date corrected

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →

Date corrected. The research places this at 1853-03-19.

What the sources leave uncertain

The best-supported capture date is March 19, 1853. March 20 appears to refer to continued fighting or the reduction of the Manchu inner quarter, not the initial capture of Nanjing.
Force estimates vary sharply and often mix combatants with dependants and other camp followers. The supplied figure of 750,000 is not supported by the strongest source consulted; Oxford gives 200,000 during the advance.
The “30,000 Imperial troops killed” claim is not secure. Accounts variously count soldiers, Manchu households, women and children, or the entire garrison community; massacre totals should not be presented as a precise military casualty figure.