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 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