In 1855 Changsha was captured by the Taiping rebels and I decided to join the local military that had formed by local gentry and nobles. After proving myself in the army I was awarded gentry status and able to pursue civil services. With my salary that I had managed to save from my service I helped my parents buy a small patch of land next to their already existing farm and we were able to begin selling more agricultural produce. However, sales were still low as the economy was trying to recover from years of war, natural disaster, and turmoil. It was enough to regain stability and enabled me to pursue a low-ranking civil service job in Changsha. 

 In 1865 my parents arranged a marriage to someone from also from Chángdé. In 1867 we had a son. I vow that he never has to see such violence in his own lifetime. With hope I can continue to provide for my family enough that he can pursue his education and carry on the gentry status unlike myself who was awarded this opportunity only by chance of being recruited into the Hunan army.  

Although there were Qing and Choson officials meant to keep foreigners from crossing the border, by 1867, the punishments for crossing became so lenient. This leniency and lack of Qing authorities to control immigration can probably be explained by the political turmoil happening in other regions of the Qing dynasty, such as with the Taiping rebellions. Furthermore, the general relationship between Choson Korea and the Qing was adapting and this boundary between the two states became further blurred due to this mass migration into and out of Choson Korea. 

Because the state of my family’s settlement on the north side of the Tumen River was technically illegal, they changed their hairstyles and clothing to match the Qing peoples. Soon enough, they became registered as Qing subjects and paid taxes to the government. Although, appearance-wise, Koreans were essentially pressured to assimilate, their houses remained largely traditionally Korean. Houses were largely out of sight from Qing officials and, in general, many officials did not care to or were unwilling to regulate building practices. My family was able to build a Korean style house, with a heated floor, one large floor seating area, and three fire holes in the kitchen. 

In 1864, Xinjiang fell into rebellion. Dungan soldiers in the city of Ürümqi revolted against the Manchu authorities. The Bughra family had worked alongside Imperial officials for generations - when Chinese rule came to the province, the family moved with it. This beneficial relationship, however, was also the family’s downfall. Isma'il could do nothing but watch as Dungan rebels torched, and looted imperial storehouses - storehouses that held much of his valuable merchandise. In the chaos, the caravansery burned to the ground, and the family camels were either killed or stolen. The Bughras had not been targeted specifically by the rebels, but their business could not survive the sudden evaporation of imperial infrastructure. Thus began a decade of hard times for the Bughras.

As a not very successful textile trader in Ningbo, I did end up turning to the opium trade. Ningbo’s port had been opened as one of the 5 cities, and I was very interested in getting in on trading international opium. My wife was rather against the idea, but I needed to make ends meet for us and our son, who was now almost 14 years old. Through this trade we would become rather wealthy, until 20 years later when we would have to flee the city and leave most of our possessions due to the Taiping rebellion and their occupation of the city. We hid in the countryside for about 6 months with my fathers family who were rather poor farmers. After the Taiping occupation was over we returned to Ningbo to find most of our possessions still there. Trade on the coast was not nearly as badly affected as it was further inland so we got lucky. My son and I worked to reestablish the family business, this time returning to textiles and silks deciding to not deal with opium anymore. We traded extensively with the British and were very interested in foreign cultures. A Presbyterian church was built close by, and my family and I began to attend; eventually we converted to Presbyterianism which made trade with the Christian west easier. 

People rarely trade with foreign provinces since Sichuan's complex landscape, which is characterized by mountains and elevations ranging from 500 to 2,000 meters, and fertile land. Each family is in a subsistence mode, relying on regular weekly trips to the town market to make ends meet. By chance, I heard that in 1841, the Sichuan government sent more than 700 veterans to participate in the First Opium War, and the casualties were quite heavy. In the following year, we heard rumors that the defenders of the major regions of China, such as Ningbo, Shanghai, and Yuyao, had raised their white flags and surrendered before the enemy could open fire. At that time, Sichuan was still a peaceful place, not aware that the crisis brought by the war was destroying the whole Chinese people step by step. It was not until 1842 that the Qing army's last attack in the First Opium War ended in defeat with the signing of the unequal Treaty of Nanking, which satisfied most of the British demands.

In1853, a day I will never forget in my life, my father Zhang Qifan had passed away. As the eldest son of the family, I took it upon myself to organize the funeral for my father, take care of my two younger brothers, and hardly maintain the finances of the family. On the next day of my father’s funeral, my only son Zhang Zhiyuan told me that he wanted to give up the imperial examination which he prepared for a long time and joined the Jingtian uprising. After that, a great change had begun in my family, even though my wife tried to dissuade him. Zhiyuan was an obedient, thoughtful, and gallant child. This was a long absence of seven years. During this tough time, my daughter married the son of a friend from the neighborhood and our family began to do lots of farming and making abundant bamboo strip products to survive.