The artillery of the Ever-Victorious Army destroyed the walled cities of China held by the Taiping Rebels.

In the month of July 128 years ago, the legendary Victorian super-hero General "Chinese Gordon" arrived in Hong Kong from China without a cent in his pockets. He had earned his nickname during the Taiping Rebellion in China after he had taken command of a rabble of mercenaries, deserters, desperadoes and drunks known as "The Ever-Victorious Army."

Shanghai was threatened by a massive Taiping Rebel army, so the Shanghai merchants had raised an international force that they named The Ever-Victorious Army to defend the city. It was in a chaotic state after its founder, Frederick Townsend Ward, had been killed.

The Chinese Imperial General Li Hung-chang (Li Hongzhang) asked Sir Charles Staveley, who was the general in charge at the time of the British Army in China and Hong Kong, to loan him a British officer to replace Ward as commander of the ramshackle force. Staveley selected his brother-in-law, Major Charles Gordon, to fill the post.

Gordon soon beat these soldiers-of-fortune into shape. Under Gordon, the army won 33 battles and played a positive part in putting down the rebellion. He left China a hero.

Seventeen years after Gordon had departed, he was in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). He was on his way home having just relinquished his post as Secretary to the Viceroy of India when he received a telegram from the Chinese authorities who were having border troubles with Russia. They wanted to employ him as an advisor. He liked the idea and sent a telegram to the British War Office asking for their permission. It was refused. Chinese Gordon was determined to visit China again and sent a telegram back to the War Office explaining that he felt morally obliged to repair the monument to the Ever-Victorious Army on the Shanghai Bund. Before they could reply he was on his way aboard a cargo P&O boat.

The political situation in China at the time was perilous. There were two parties in Peking (Beijing): the Peace Party of Prince Kung (Kong) and Li Hung-chang (who was Gordon's old colleague from the Taiping Rebellion days), and the War Party of Ching (Qing) princes. The War Party wanted to invade Russia. As China did not stand a chance against the military might of the Tsar, Gordon advised them against going to war. Before he left China, Gordon wrote a manifesto advising the Chinese how to fight the Russians should the need arise. This document bears a remarkable resemblance to a book by Chairman Mao Zedong published many years later and called "Basic Tactics".

It was typical of Gordon to refuse to accept payment for his services to China. As a result, he arrived in Hong Kong broke. The Hongkong Telegraph explained how he "appeared as a waif" before Sir Thomas Jackson, the Chief Manager of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, who lent him some money.

There was more trouble in the Sudan and Gordon - who a few years earlier had been Governor General of the Sudan when he had some success putting down the slave trade there - seemed the obvious person to sort out the mess. He was given instructions to evacuate Khartoum which was besieged by the army of a religious fanatic called the Mahdi. Gordon typically refused to budge. The result was that the Mahdi's army swept into Khartoum and slaughtered the former commander of the Ever-Victorious Army.

Government House looked like this when Gordon stayed there in 1880 with the unpopular Governor Sir John Pope Hennessy.