Li Chendian
Li Chenden (Chinese: 李臣典; pinyin: Lǐ Chéndiǎn; 1838 - 1864) was an eminent military general during the late Qing Dynasty in China. He joined the Xiang Army and fought effectively against the Taiping Rebellion restoring the stability of the Qing Dynasty. He was one of nine generals who led the force which occupied Nanjing, then under the control of the Taiping in 1864. Commander Zeng Guoquan identified Li as the most meritorious of the nine generals in the recovery of Nanjing. The Beijing government praised him and his fellow generals commended him.
During the Qing Dynasty's 267 years, Li was the youngest person ever to be elevated to a noble rank.
Finding Hong Xiuquan's body
During the final days of the Taiping Rebellion, Li Chendian's main task was to destroy the city wall of Nanjing.
On July 19, 1864, at 13:00 in the afternoon, attackers detonated explosives in a tunnel under the Taiping (太平) Gate. This is the first recorded time that men felt a light earthquake from an underground explosion. A second blast occurred about one minute later and then a large section of the wall exploded with pieces flying from 2 to 10 km away.
Li then led 600 soldiers and stormed into the city. A fierce battle was fought at the broken wall, continuing into the city, and finally occupying Hong Xiuquan's palace.
Li was the second general to arrive at Hong‘s palace on the second day, the first general had not been able to locate Hong‘s body. Li was unable to locate the body either. On 30 July, Li noticed a section of the ground had been tampered with in the pavilion. He ordered his soldiers to dig there and was surprised to find Hong‘s naked body wrapped in white cloth. The body had long white hair, hands placed on the chest, and holding an iron cross. There was no coffin and the body had badly decomposed. Only the shoulders and right buttock were still covered with skin and flesh.
References
- Hummel, Arthur William, ed. Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1644-1912). 2 vols. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1943.
- Porter, Jonathan. Tseng Kuo-Fan's Private Bureaucracy. Berkeley: University of California, 1972.
- Wright, Mary Clabaugh. The Last Stand of Chinese Conservatism: The T'ung-Chih Restoration, 1862 -1874. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1957.
- Third Battle of Nanking