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Chinese nobility|Marquis Zēng Guófán,
(Traditional Chinese|t.:曾國藩;
Simplified Chinese|s.:曾国藩; Wade-Giles: Tseng
Kuo-fan, Chinese courtesy name#Zi|Courtesy Bóhán
伯函, Chinese courtesy
name#Hao|Pseudonym: Díshēng
滌生; Posthumous name: Wenzheng
文正) (November 21, 1811 – March 12, 1872)
was an eminent Han Chinese official of the Manchu
Qing Dynasty. He served as Jin Shi under the
Daoguang Emperor of China|Daoguang Emperor. He
later raised the Xiang army to fight effectively
against the Taiping Rebellion. He was known for
his military skill and sometimes for his
ruthlessness.

== Early life ==
Born a native of Xiangxiang, Hunan
(湘乡) in 1811, Zeng Guofan was the
grandson of Zeng Yiping, a prosperous farmer with
social and political ambitions. He
passed the prefectural examination in 1833, only a
year after his father Zeng Linshu. He passed the
provincial examination a year later, and by 1838,
at age 27, he had successfully passed the
metropolitan examinations, a prestigious
achievement in China. He had earned the Jinshi
degree, somewhat similar to a doctorate, which led
to his appointment to the Hanlin Academy, a body
of outstanding literary scholars in the country,
whom performed literary tasks for the imperial
court. Zeng served in Beijing for more than 13
years, and remained devoted to the interpretation
of the Confucian Classics. 

== Entry into imperial politics ==
In 1843 he was appointed chief literary examiner
in the province of Sichuan, and six years later
was made Junior Vice-President of the Board of
Rites. When holding the office of Military
Examiner (1851) he was compelled by the death of
his mother to retire to his native district for
the regulation mourning. At this time the Taiping
Rebellion|Taiping rebels were overrunning Hunan in
their conquering career, and had possessed
themselves of the cities and strongholds on both
shores of the Yangtze River. By a special decree
Zeng was ordered to assist the governor of the
province in raising a volunteer force, and on his
own initiative he built a fleet of war junks, with
which he attacked the rebels. In his first
engagement he was defeated, but his lieutenants
were more successful. They recovered the capital,
Changsha, and destroyed the rebel fleet. Following
up these victories of his subordinates, Zeng
recaptured Wuchang and Hanyang, near Hankow, and
was rewarded for his success by being appointed
vice-president of the board of war.

== Fame and military campaigns ==

In 1853 other triumphs led to his being made a
baturu (a Manchu order for rewarding military
prowess), and to his being decorated with a yellow
riding-jacket. Meanwhile, in his absence, the
rebels retook Wuchang and burnt the protecting
fleet. The tide quickly turned, however, and Zeng
succeeded in clearing the country round the Poyang
lake, and subsequently in ridding the province of
Jiangsu of the enemy. His father died in 1857, and
after a brief mourning he was ordered to take
supreme command in Zhejiang, and to co-operate
with the governor of Fujian in the defence of that
province.

Subsequently the rebels were driven westwards, and
Zeng would have started in pursuit had he not been
called on to clear the province of Anhui of rebel
bands. In 1860 he was appointed Viceroy of
Liangjiang (Jiangxi, Anhui, and Jiangsu:
两江总督) and Imperial war
commissioner. At this time, and for some time
previously, he had been fortunate in having the
active support of Zuo Zongtang, who at a later
period recovered Kashgar for the emperor, and of
Li Hongzhang. Like all true leaders of men, he
knew how to reward good service, and when occasion
offered he appointed the former to the
governorship of Zhejiang and the latter to that of
Jiangsu. In 1862 he was appointed assistant grand
secretary of state. At this time the Imperial
forces, assisted by the " Ever-victorious Army,"
had checked the progress of the rebellion, and
Zeng was able to carry out a scheme which he had
long formulated of besieging Third Battle of
Nanking|Nanjing, the rebel headquarters. While
Gordon, with the help of Li Hongzhang, was
clearing the cities on the lower waters of the
Yangtze River, Zeng drew closer his besieging
lines around the doomed city. In July 1864 the
city fell into his hands, and he was rewarded with
the rank and title of Marquis, First Class
(一等候) and the right to wear the double-eyed
peacock's feather. After the suppression of the
Taiping Rebellion, the Nian Rebellion
(捻軍起義), closely
related to the former movement, broke out in
Shantung, and Zeng was sent to quell it.

Success did not, however, always attend him on
this campaign, and by Imperial order he was
relieved of his command by Li Hongzhang, who in
the same way succeeded him in the viceroyalty of
Zhili, where, after the massacre of Tianjin
(1870), Zeng failed to carry out the wishes of his
Imperial master. After this rebuff he retired to
his viceroyalty at Nanjing, where he died in 1872.

Zeng was a voluminous writer. His papers addressed
to the throne and his literary disquisitions are
held in high esteem by the scholars of China, who
treasure as a memorial of a great and un-corrupt
statesman the edition of his collected works in
156 books, which was edited by Li Hongzhang in
1876.

== Opinion & Legacy ==

Zeng Guofan's opinion in history is two-fold. He
is either criticized as a traitor of the Chinese
people, or seen as a hero in preserving order and
stability. Some have blamed Zeng for all the
civilian losses and damages done from the Taiping
Rebellion, others criticize him for being too
friendly with certain foreign ideas. Since the
Cultural Revolution, the criticism of Zeng
gradually began to disappear. Chinese author Tang
Haoming published in 1992 his three-book trilogy
Zeng Guofan, a novelization of Zeng's life during
and after the Taiping Rebellion. This trilogy
characterized Zeng as a common person, but had
adopted a much more positive view of Zeng. Both
Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek have praised Zeng's
ability in military and political affairs.

== External Links ==
*http://www.asiawind.com/pub/forum/fhakka/mhonarc/
msg00537.html Supressor of the Taiping Rebellion:
Hakka Zeng Guofan
*http://www.shuku.net/dblx/html/52/1057-2-0.html
Tang Haoming's Three-Book Trilogy of Zeng Guofan's
life 《曾国藩》 (Chinese)