HUNG HSIU-CH'AN

born Jan. 1, 1814, Fuyan-shui, Kwangtung, China died June 1, 1864, Nanking Pinyin Hong Xiuquan Chinese religious prophet and leader of the Taiping Rebellion (185064), during which he declared his own new dynasty, which centred on the captured (1853) city of Nanking. This great upheaval, in which more than 20,000,000 people are said to have been killed, drastically altered the course of modern Chinese history.