This paper attempts to review a series of texts recording events and ideas of war and disorder, with a focus on Hangzhou and the events of its two occupations by Taiping armies in the nineteenth century. I argue that, because of Hangzhou's long history and painful collective memories, the city's prosperity and glory served as a façade covering the darkness that was poised to break out with an outburst of remorse, mystery, danger, destruction and death. Therefore, Hangzhou’s historical memory is an amalgam of beautiful scenery, brutal wars, martyred heroes and misfortuned heroines. A further factor is the conventional belief that extravagance leads to providential condemnation. It explains why the two occupations of Hangzhou by the Taiping armies in the 1860s were understood as the inevitable consequence of the city’s perfected state of luxury. Dealing with the two occupations by Taiping armies, the Hangzhou literati often chose to use the form of diary or memoir to record their personal experiences, and preserve localized historical testimonies for their hometown. Gengxin qi Hang lu (Record of weeping for Hangzhou in the Gengshen and Xinyou years), edited by Ding Bing, is an example of such textual works motivated by the consciousness of local identity. This work is a collection of both official and private records recounting the two occupations in the years of Gengshen and Xinyou. It was compiled and edited more than thirty years after Hangzhou was reclaimed from the Taiping armies. As the editor, Ding Bing had the opportunity to finalize a judgment of the two occupations with his authorial narrative voice. However, he chose to conceal himself behind the individual author of each chapter. More important, though given the shared goal of glorifying loyalty and lamenting the loss of lives, the work reveals many small yet significant differences in details and opinions. Ding Bing was a collector, or even a creator, of collective memories. He made his Record of Weeping for Hangzhou in the Gengshen and Xinyou Years a textual space for public opinion.