1856: the Entangled Qing Dynasty, the Kingdom of Heaven and the Great Powers

The year 1856 was an extremely critical year in China's modern history, as well as a very important year in the history of Sino-foreign relations. During this year, the civil war between the Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Rebellion reached its climax, with two decisive events, the Tianjing-Zhenjiang Battle and the Tianjing Incident. The former ended with the complete victory of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, while the latter was the internal strife that led to the collapse of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's power core and the dispersion of political ideas and beliefs. The two came one after another in a short period of time, causing dramatic "uncertainty" in China's political trajectory. Both sides have the opportunity to win and the possibility of failure. China's future has reached a decisive crossroads.