China has suffered a series of natural disasters, economic problems and defeats at the hands of the Western powers—for example, the defeat by Great Britain in the First Opium War.
The Chinese majority, ethnically Han, regards the ruling Qing Dynasty, ethnically Manchu, as ineffective and corrupt.
Anti-Manchu sentiment is strongest in the south among the laboring classes, and it is these disaffected that have flocked to the charismatic Christian-influenced visionary Hong Xiuquan (a member of the Hakka minority).
The sect's militarism had grown in the 1840s, initially in response to its struggle to suppress bandits, but persecution by Qing authorities has spurred the movement into a guerrilla rebellion.
By July 1850, Hong Xiuquan has over twenty thousand followers and in preparation for an uprising, has organized them into military formations led by commanders with military ranks.
One such officer, Yang Xiuqing, who had been a salesman of firewood in Guangxi province before he joined the rebellion, had converted to Christianity in 1848 after reporting that he had experienced visions of God, and in 1850 began to claim that he could miraculously heal true believers.
The total number of officers and enlisted reaches 13,155 by the end of July and civilian ranks are also created to govern the remaining civilian followers.
Because the Imperial Chinese army in Guangxi is under strength (only around 30,000) and is extremely busy in suppressing the frequent uprisings of the secret societies known by the umbrella name of Tiandihui (literally "Heaven and Earth Society"), Hong and his followers have been able to build their forces unnoticed.
By the time the Qing Dynasty finally notices Hong and his followers, it is too late.
In late December 1850, Li Dianyuan, the local commander of the Imperial Chinese army at Xunzhou, surrounds one of Hong’s residences at Huazhoushanren village in Pingnan county in an attempt to eradicate the rebels.
However, Yang Xiuqing sends reinforcements from Jintian and defeats the governmental force, and Hong Xiuquan and his deputy Feng Yunshan safely return to Jintian.
