William James Hail, Tseng Kuo-fan and the Taiping Rebellion, 2nd ed. (1964, reprinted 1973), is helpful in understanding Zeng Guofan’s career though very critical toward the Taiping rebels and outdated in many respects. Teng Ssu-yu, “Tseng Kuo-fan,” in Arthur W. Hummel (ed.), Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period (1644–1912) (1944), vol. 2, pp. 751–756, is a succinct but very useful biography. Shen Chen Han-yin, “Tseng Kuo-fan in Peking, 1840–1852: His Ideas on Statecraft and Reform,” Journal of Asian Studies, 27:61–80 (1967), offers a detailed description and analysis of Zeng’s political career in Beijing and the development of his thought during that period; and Andrew Cheng-kuang Hsieh, Tseng Kuo-Fan: A Nineteenth Century Confucian General (1975), is also useful.