The Xiang Army (Chinese: 湘軍; pinyin: Xiāng Jūn) was a standing army organized by Zeng Guofan (曾國藩) from existing regional and village militia forces tuanlian (團練) to contain the Taiping rebellion in China (1850 to 1864). The name is taken from the Hunan region where the Army was raised. The Army was financed through local nobles and gentry, as opposed to the centralized Manchu-led Qing Dynasty. Although it was raised specifically to address problems in Hunan, the Army formed the core of the new Qing military establishment, and as such, forever weakened the Manchu influence within the military. This devolution of centralized command is commonly pointed to as a major reason for the eventual downfall of the Qing dynasty and the emergence of regional warlordism in China during the first half of the twentieth century.
The Xiang Army was one of two armies known as the Hunan Army. Another Hunan Army, called the Chu Army, was created by Zuo Zongtang to fight in the Dungan revolt (1862–1877). Remnants of the Xiang Army which also fought in the war were then called the "Old Hunan Army".
Read more about Xiang Army: Taiping Rebellion, Governor-generals, Assassination, Total Soldiers, Headquarters, Salary, Main Leaders, Vice Leaders, Disarmament and Revolution
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“Methinks it would be some advantage to philosophy if men were named merely in the gross, as they are known. It would be necessary only to know the genus and perhaps the race or variety, to know the individual. We are not prepared to believe that every private soldier in a Roman army had a name of his own,—because we have not supposed that he had a character of his own.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)