TSENG KUO-FAN

born Nov. 26, 1811, Hsiang-hsiang, Hunan province, China died March 12, 1872, Nanking Pinyin Zeng Guofan, canonized name (Wade-Giles) Wen-cheng Chinese administrator, the military leader most responsible for suppressing the Taiping Rebellion (185064)thus staving off the collapse of China's imperial regime. Additional reading William James Hail, Tseng Kuo-fan and the Taiping Rebellion (1927), is helpful in understanding Tseng Kuo-fan's career, though very critical toward the Taiping rebels and outdated in many respects. Teng Ssu-yu, Tseng Kuo-fan, in Arthur W. Hummel (ed.), Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (16441912) (1944), vol. 2, pp. 751756, is a succinct but very useful biography. Shen Chen Han-yin, Tseng Kuo-fan in Peking, 18401852: His Ideas on Statecraft and Reform, Journal of Asian Studies, 27:6180 (1967), offers a detailed description and analysis of Tseng Kuo-fan's political career in Peking and the development of his thought during that period.