Hong Xiuquan stod bag en af de største oprør imod det kinesiske Qing dynasti i det 19. årh. Hong tilhørte den etniske minoritet Hakka. Han blev født i 1814. Trods flere forsøg bestod han aldrig embedsmands eksamen. Efter det sidste forfejlet forsøg i 1843 blev han efter møde med kristne missionærer overbevist om at han var guds anden søn på jorden og havde fået til opgave at befri Kina fra Qing dynastiet. Hong fik mange følgere og i januar 1851 blev det som er kendt som Taipings Himmelske Kongerige “Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace” oprettet. I maj samme år startede oprøret mod Qing dynastiet. Først i 1871 sluttede borgerkrigen som havde kostet millioner af mennesker livet. Tilbage stod et skrøbeligt kejserrige. Mange fulgte Hong Xiuquan i oprøret mod Qing dynastiet. Allerede i 1849 i en alder af 16 år blev Shi Dakai en del af ledelsen i bevægelsen. Han viste sig som en visionær leder og fremragende militær strateg som påførte Qing dynastiets militær adskillige nederlag. 13. juni 1863 overgav Shi Dakai sig til den kejserlige hær. Han blev tortureret og henrettet d. 25. juni 1863.

Provenance: Kristian (“Kristen”) Peter Albertsen (1894–1977) and subsequently family. Kristen was born in Marstal on the Danish island Ærø and worked for “Store Nordiske”, the Great Nordic communications company from 1912. He was stationed in London and Petrograd, but moved to Asia in 1917. He worked for Great Nordic in Shanghai, Nagasaki and Chefoo. On the 11 of july 1918 he was attached to the Chinese Imperial Telegraph Administration. In his time with the company, Kristen worked as a superintendent with the reestablishment of the telegraphline in Mongolia, to ensure the line could be set up again between Peking and Kyakhta (Russia), after damage to the telegraphline. His, and many Chinese and Mongolian people's work to restablish the line went on in the years 1921 to 1923. Kristen was in Urga (Ulan Bator) when the Baron von Ungern-Sternberg took the city on the 3rd of february 1921, initiating a violent period dominated by warlords, crime and great political unrest. Kristen returned to Great Nordic on the 1st of may 1927, where he was appointed telegraph manager of Peking two years later. He settled there with his wife Karen Jørgesen (married 1923). She returned to Denmark with their, at the time, two children in march 1932. Kristen finished up his work in China before returning to Denmark in 1933.