70 million?

from the CIA-letsexaggeratetoshocktheviewer-factbook

The Taiping rebellion was the bloodiest conflict in recorded history - a cult-inspired crusade combined with a civil war that went on for 14 years over most of eastern China. Scorched earth - both sides would slaughter whole villages to deprive their opponents of support. Most of the deaths were from disease and famine at the village level. How do you count that in an era with significant disease and famine anyway?

There weren't western census takers walking around during the conflict, taking names and counting bodies, so the actual death toll is anyone's guess. If you look at the growth of the Chinese population before Taiping, and the growth 25 years after that, and estimate the difference between the two curves, it is a lot more than 70 million.

I borrowed this movie hoping to learn about the Taiping rebellion, quit partway through because a string of made-up battle scenes weren't going to help.

The Taiping rebellion is The Big Event shaping the Chinese attitude towards religious deviation; the cloudy lens through which they view modern religious movements like the F. G. (not spelled out to avoid censorship). If Americans respect that history, rather than wag fingers about religious freedom (can you say "Branch Davidian"?), we can import China's religious deviants and reduce the threats they feel. We've managed to build a pretty good country out of the world's misfits and crazies. Our job is to show the rest of the world how, not just preach hypocracies about it.