Abstract: During the Sino-foreign joint suppression of the Taiping kingdom, the British surveyed and mapped the Taihu plain where the Chinese and foreign forces fought a battle with the Taiping army in March 1862. The British army surveyed Nanxiang, Jiading, Qingpu, Nanqiao, Zhelin, and drew large scale maps of these cities and towns. From December to March, Charles Gordon with Corps of Royal Engineers carried out a wide range of mapping in and around Shanghai to understand the waterway transportation. Later, British forces stationed in Shanghai, and Gordon headed the Ever Victorious Army to Suzhou and Changzhou. Gordon based his movements on field surveys and Chinese maps acquisition of geographic information, as well as the British survey maps of the Taihu plain. The application of the maps promoted the British geographical knowledge, played an important roles in the progress of military operations, commercial expansion and the dissemination of European geographical knowledge.