The Taipings break the seven-month siege of…

The Taipings break the seven-month siege of Yung-an in April 1852 and rush into Hunan.

Their slogan—to share property in common—attracts many famine-stricken peasants, workers, and miners, as does their propaganda against the foreign Manchu rulers of China.

They grow from a ragged band of a few thousand to a fanatical but highly disciplined army of more than a million, divided into separate divisions of men and women soldiers.

Men and women, although considered equal by the Taipings, are allowed no contact with one another—even married couples are forbidden sexual intercourse.