On this day, 63 years ago, on August 30, 1962 (August 1, 1962 in the lunar calendar), the sword of Li Xiucheng, leader of the Taiping Rebellion, returned to the motherland. The sword of Li Xiucheng, the loyal king of the Taiping Rebellion, a relic of a famous leader of the Taiping Rebellion, was robbed and lost overseas for ninety-seven years. It was found and delivered to our government by a British friend Ke Wennan. A sword used by Li Xiucheng, one of the famous leaders of the Taiping Rebellion, has been lost overseas for a long time. Now it has been found and delivered to the Chinese government by Mr. Ke Wennan, a member of the National Committee of the UK-China Friendship Association, and will be displayed at the Museum of the Revolution of China. Ke Wennan is a British expert on the history of the Taiping Rebellion. When he returned the sword, he also attached an article written in Chinese describing his search for the sword. The article said that in 1960, he discovered in an English history book that Gordon, a British imperialist who had participated in the suppression of the Taiping Rebellion Revolution (then the leader of the so-called "Ever-Victory Army"), had obtained Li Xiucheng's sword in Liyang, Jiangsu in 1864. The following year, he found the same record in Gordon's handwritten memorandum stored in the British Museum. According to Gordon's memorandum, the sword was given to Li Xiucheng by Hong Xiuquan, the king of the Taiping Rebellion. Later, before Li Xiucheng retreated from Suzhou to Nanjing, he handed the sword to his cousin Li Shixian. In 1864, when Li Shixian left the city to fight in Liyang, his deputy rebelled against the city and refused him entry. The sword was obtained by the rebellious lieutenant general while plundering the palace of the servant king, and later fell into the hands of Gordon. In Gordon's memorandum, a sentence written by Gordon's brother in 1886 was also found: "This sword system is given to the Duke of Cambridge." This clue prompted Ke Wennan to determine to find this sword. According to Cowennan's article, the Duke of Cambridge was Commander-in-Chief of the British Army from 1885 to 1895 and was a cousin of Queen Victoria. Later, Kowennan discovered that this matter was also mentioned in the will of the Duke of Cambridge's son. After many visits, Ke Wennan finally found the sword in March 1961, confirmed that it was Li Xiucheng's relic, and paid for the sword and sent it back to China. Ke Wennan said in his article: "Li Xiucheng's sword has been lost for 97 years. I am very happy to be able to discover such an important cultural relic of the Taiping Rebellion and a relic of a national hero in the history of China's revolution." This sword is 84 centimeters long with the sheath, 62 centimeters long with the body (without the handle), and 63.5 centimeters long with the sheath. The sheath is made of nannan and is wrapped in a gold-plated silver sheath hoop. The sword body is engraved with three small characters "Li Xiucheng", the inside of the handle of the sword is also engraved with four small characters "Zhang Yushu Zao", and the hilt of the sword is also engraved with two small characters "Zhang Zao". The upper part of the sword hilt and scabbard are carefully carved with patterns mainly composed of dragons and phoenixes. There are individual dragons and winds, as well as "two dragons playing with beads". "Double phoenixes rise in the sun", in addition, there are also patterns symbolizing good fortune such as "Crane and deer in the same spring","Magpie and sparrow climbing plum", and "Die Continuous". According to expert research, the shape of this sword is not found in the code of swords in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. However, compared with the patterns on other cultural relics of the Taiping Rebellion, it is found that it has many of the same characteristics. Therefore, it can be concluded that it is a relic of the Taiping Rebellion and is used by a person who matches the identity of Li Xiucheng, the loyal king. According to historical records of the Taiping Rebellion, Li Shixian, the servant king, was defeated in Zhangzhu Town (Yixing, Jiangsu). Wu Renjie, the general of Liyang, rebelled and refused Li to enter the city. Li Shixian retreated to Huzhou. This record is also generally consistent with Gordon's description in the memorandum.