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bannermen stationed there.
The great Qing emperor Qian Long, travelled far and wide throughout his empire on Inspection Tours and visited Zhenjiang. He had a particular love for the monastery at Jin Shan. Lord Macartney was yet another visitor who, in 1792, passed through Zhenjiang on his way up to Beijing, during his unsuccessful attempt to achieve British diplomatic representation there. He was much impressed by the crossing of the Yangzi from the southern arm of the Grand Canal to the start of the northern arm, and by the pagoda-crowned islands he observed on the Yangzi. These would be Jin Shan and the Ganlu Si. Some twenty-five years later Lord Amherst's Mission to Beijing also visited Zhenjiang. His visit was also unsuccessful and, moreover, he was treated with gross discourtesy in the Capital.
The storming and capture of Zhenjiang by the British force under Sir Hugh Gough on the 21st July 1842 during the First Anglo-Chinese War
This episode in Zhenjiang's history is described in Part II by Phillip Bruce.
The problems facing the Qing emperors and their survival from both within and without China during the seventy or so years after 1840 heightened political consciousness and the increasing weakening of control due to unrest and an increase in brigandage. During the latter years of the Qing forced confrontation with Western culture in treaty ports led to the spread of popular unrest and Zhenjiang was no exception.
The Taiping era
The Taiping Rebellion was an armed rebellion against the Manchu Emperor. It grew out of worsening social and economic conditions, with a number of secret societies and clan groups offering an existence economy and protection. The foreign dynasty of the Manchus had lost its drive and with opium addiction widespread, the scene was set and