Career
He served under Hong Xiuquan"s Taiping Administration, and was Hong Xiuquan"s wife young brother. He led Taiping forces to many military victories. In June 1865, he commanded Nien cavalry forces of 90,000 in surrounding and attacking the capital Beijing, nearly successfully.
He was executed by Li Hongzhang after interrogation in February 1868.
Lai Wenguang attracted many northern Chinese to unite fighting against the Qing government because people believed the Aisin Gioro had a secret agenda to stage a coup against Empress Dowager Cixi. As a child, future revolutionary Sun Yat-sen often heard the story of the Taiping Rebellion.
When Mao Zedong occupied Beijing in 1949, he commissioned Lai first Beijing Military Region commander, to commemorate him.