Dai Xi-was a prominent official and painter from a scholarly family in Hangzhou. Although he did much of his work in Guangzhou. He was known for an orthodox style of landscape that hearkened to earlier eras. He intended to retire from official work in the 1850s, but later accepted a commanded to save his city from the Taiping Army. When the Taiping took the city he became despondent and committed suicide. Hangzhou (Chinese: 杭州; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Hang-chou) is a sub-provincial city in China, and the capital of Zhejiang province. ... Location within China Guangzhou (Simplified Chinese: 广州; Traditional Chinese: 廣州; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kuang-chou; Jyutping: Gwong2zau1; Yale: Gwóngjaū) is the capital of the Guangdong Province in southern China. ... Events and Trends Technology Production of steel revolutionised by invention of the Bessemer process Benjamin Silliman fractionates petroleum by distillation for the first time First transatlantic telegraph cable laid First safety elevator installed by Elisha Otis Science Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species, putting forward the theory of evolution... The Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864) was one of the bloodiest conflicts in history, a clash between the forces of Imperial China and those inspired by a Hakka self-proclaimed mystic named Hong Xiuquan (洪秀全), who was also a Christian convert. ...

Sources

• Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum Oxford(37) Oxford ISBN 1854441329
• China On site