Mavericks › Uprising Leaders
Wei Changhui
Guangxi landowner who funded the Jintian rising, became the Taiping Northern King and in 1856 killed Yang Xiuqing and his followers before Hong Xiuquan had him executed
A mountain camp at night, with a beacon fire burning on a wooden platform at the upper left, several white tents on the slope and a red cloth tied to a rope; a wooden palisade with a gate stands at the right beyond a timber bridge over a rough river, under a clouded moon.
Also known as Wei Zheng · North King
- Roles
- Uprising Leaders
Wei Changhui, originally named Wei Zheng, came from a wealthy family in Jintian village, Guiping, Guangxi, and had bought the title of Imperial College student; resentment at bullying by local gentry led him to join the God Worshipping Society. In 1850 he put his family fortune into the rising, and weapons for the Jintian revolt were forged on his property. Made Northern King with the title Lord of Six Thousand Years at Yongan in 1851, he ranked below Yang Xiuqing, the Eastern King, after the Taipings made Nanjing their capital. In September 1856, acting on a secret order from Hong Xiuquan, he brought his troops back to the capital and killed Yang and his followers, said to number more than twenty thousand, and also slaughtered the family of Shi Dakai. Two months later Hong had Wei executed and sent his head to Shi Dakai's camp.
Life and times
Dates 1823 CE–1856 CE