- Source: Noble ranks of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom developed a complicated peerage system for noble ranks.
King/Prince
Wang (王, lit. "king" or "prince") was the highest title of nobility, often hereditary, ranked just below the Heavenly King. There were five ranks of wang:
Non-hereditary nobility ranks
Below the king or prince, there were six ranks of nobility (Chinese: 六等爵) in Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: E (義 Yì), An (安 Ān), Fu (福 Fú), Yen (燕 Yān), Yü (豫 Yù) and Hou (侯 Hóu). The nobility titles were not hereditary.
E and An were most highest ranks of the nobility, once they were very noble titles of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. If the Heavenly King wanted to promote someone, he gave the person either E or An. However, this rule was challenged after 1860 because the nobility titles had been given too freely.
= Notable people
=Chen Yucheng was titled Cheng Tian Yi (成天義) in 1857
Liang Chengfu was titled Zeng Tian Yi (則天義) in 1860
Tan Shaoguang was titled Jian Tian Yi (建天義) in 1861
Ye Yenlai was titled Sho Tian An (受天安) in 1857
Hong Rengan was titled Gan Tian Fu (干天福) in 1859
Qin Rigang was titled Ding Tian Yan (頂天燕) in 1856
Hu Yihuang was titled Hu Tian Yu (護天豫) in 1854
See also
Royal and noble ranks of the Qing dynasty
Notes
References
Lü, Zongli (吕宗力) (2015). 中国历代官制大辞典（修订版） (in Chinese). Beijing: Commercial Press. ISBN 978-7-100-10307-7.