In 1854, the Qing court was in turmoil. The Taiping forces swept across thousands of miles along the Yangtze, while the Nian rebels set the Central Plains ablaze. The Hui Rebellion in Gansu and Shaanxi was just beginning, and Tsarist Russia eyed the Northeast and Outer Mongolia hungrily. The Qing court's rigid, backward diplomacy would eventually bring disaster on an unimaginable scale.
See how Xu Li, a modern university student majoring in mechanical engineering, leads the Yandang Volunteers in an uprising in southern Zhejiang, stirring the storms of the late Qing dynasty.
Restore the autumn begonia leaf of our China.
