This essay examines the interconnected advances and reversals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s assault on traditional marriage and family customs, the introduction of western concepts, and the new views of the early Chinese bourgeoisie to trace changing concepts of marriage and the family in the late Qing, analyzing an important link in the formation of modern Chinese society. This essay examines the interconnected advances and reversals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s assault on traditional marriage and family customs, the introduction of western concepts, and the new opinions of the early Chinese bourgeoisie to trace changing concepts of marriage and the family in the late Qing, analyzing an important link in the formation of modern chinese society.