Hong Xiuquan
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Heavenly King of Great Peace | |||||||||
Qing China | |||||||||
Died | 1 June 1864 Tianjing, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom | (aged 50)||||||||
Spouse | Lai Xiying (賴惜英)[2] or Lai Lianying (賴蓮英)[3] | ||||||||
Issue |
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House | Hong | ||||||||
Father | Hong Jingyang (洪鏡揚)[3] | ||||||||
Mother | Madam Wang (王氏) | ||||||||
Religion | Syncretism of Christian protestantism and Chinese folk religion (God Worshipping Society) |
Hong Xiuquan | |
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Hanyu Pinyin | Hóng Huǒxiù |
Bopomofo | ㄏㄨㄥˊ ㄏㄨㄛˇ ㄒㄧㄡˋ |
Wade–Giles | Hung2 Huo3-hsiu4 |
Tongyong Pinyin | Hóng Huǒ-siòu |
IPA | [xʊ̌ŋ xwò.ɕjôʊ] |
Hakka | |
Pha̍k-fa-sṳ | Fùng Fósiu |
Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814
Born into a Hakka family in Guangdong, Hong claimed to have experienced mystical visions after failing the imperial examination. He came to believe that his celestial father he saw in the visions was God the Father, his celestial elder brother was Jesus Christ, and he had been directed to rid the world of demon worship. He rejected Confucianism and began propagating a fusion of Christianity, Daoism and millenarianism, which Hong presented as a restoration of the ancient Chinese faith in Shangdi.[4][5][6] His associate Feng Yunshan then founded the God Worshipping Society to spread Hong's teachings. By 1850, Hong's sect had over 10,000 followers and increasingly came into conflict with Qing authorities.
In January 1851, Hong organized a rebel army and routed the Qing forces at
Early life and education
Hong Xiuquan (洪秀全), born "Hong Huoxiu", was the third and youngest son of a
Hong showed an interest in scholarship at an early age, so his family made financial sacrifices to provide a formal education for him, in the hope that he could one day complete all of the
In 1836, at the age of 22, Hong returned to Guangzhou to retake the imperial examinations.[13] While in Guangzhou, Hong heard Edwin Stevens, a foreign missionary, and his interpreter preaching about Christianity.[14] From them, Hong received a set of pamphlets entitled "Good Words for Exhorting the Age", which were written by Liang Fa, Stevens's assistant, and contained excerpts from the Bible along with homilies and other material prepared by Liang.[15] Supposedly, Hong only briefly looked over these pamphlets and did not pay much attention to them at the time.[7] Unsurprisingly, he again failed the imperial examinations, which had a pass rate of less than one percent.[16]
Visions and iconoclasm
In 1837, Hong attempted and failed the imperial examinations for a third time, leading to a
In 1843, Hong failed the imperial examinations for the fourth and final time.
Hong began by burning all
The "God Worshippers"
In 1847, Hong Xiuquan was invited by a member of the Chinese Union to study with the American
In January 1848, Feng Yunshan was arrested and banished to Guangdong, and Hong Xiuquan left for Guangdong shortly thereafter to once again reunite with Feng.[41] In Feng and Hong's absence, Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui jointly emerged to lead the "God Worshipers" themselves. [42] Both claimed to enter trances which allowed them to speak as a member of the Trinity; God the Father in the case of Yang and Jesus Christ in the case of Xiao.[42] When Hong and Feng returned in the summer of 1849, they investigated Yang and Xiao's claims and declared them to be genuine.[43] Hong ministered to the faithful in outdoor meetings strongly resembling the Baptist tent revivals he had witnessed with Issachar Roberts.[44]
Most of Hong Xiuquan's knowledge of the scriptures came from the books known as "Good Words to Admonish the Age" written by the Chinese preacher Liang Fa, as well as a localized Bible translated into Chinese. Many Western missionaries grew jealous of Hong and his local ministry. These competing missionaries were fond of spreading defamatory rumors such as his "lack of baptism." (Hong and his cousin were in fact both baptized according to the way prescribed in the pamphlet "Good words to admonish the age").[45]
In 1847, Hong began his translation and adaptation of the Bible, what came to be known as "Authorized Taiping Version of the Bible", or "The Taiping Bible", which he based on Gutzlaff's translation. He presented his followers with the Bible as a vision of the authentic religion that had existed in ancient China before it was wiped out by Confucius and the imperial system. The deity of the Old Testament punished evil nations and rewarded those who followed his commandments, even music, food, and marriage laws.[46]
Hong made some minor changes in the text, such as correcting misprints and improving the prose style, but adapted the meaning elsewhere to fit his own theology and moral teachings. For instance, in Genesis 27:25 the Israelites did not drink wine, and in Genesis 38:16–26 he omitted the sexual relations between the father and his son's widow.[46] Hong preached a mixture of communal utopianism, evangelism and oriental syncretism. While proclaiming sexual equality, the sect segregated men from women and encouraged all its followers to pay their assets into a communal treasury.[47][48]
When Hong returned to Guangxi, he found that Feng Yunshan had accumulated a following of around 2,000 converts. Guangxi was a dangerous area at this time with many bandit groups based in the mountains and pirates on the rivers. Perhaps due to these more pressing concerns, the authorities were largely tolerant of Hong and his followers. However, the instability of the region meant that Hong's followers were inevitably drawn into conflict with other groups, not least because of their predominantly Hakka ethnicity. There are records of numerous incidents when local villages and clans, as well as groups of pirates and bandits, came into conflict with the authorities, and responded by fleeing to join Hong's movement. The rising tension between the sect and the authorities was probably the most important factor in Hong's eventual decision to rebel.
Rebellion and the Heavenly Kingdom
By 1850, Hong had between 10,000 and 30,000 followers. The authorities were alarmed at the growing size of the sect, and ordered them to disperse. A local force was sent to attack them when they refused, but the imperial troops were routed and a deputy magistrate killed. A full-scale attack was launched by government forces in the first month of 1851, in what came to be known as the
Hong and his troops remained in Yongan for three months, sustained by local landowners who were hostile to the Manchu-ruled Qing Dynasty. The imperial army regrouped and launched another attack on the rebels in Yongan. Having run out of gunpowder, Hong's followers fought their way out by sword, and made for the city of Guilin, to which they laid siege. However, the fortifications of Guilin proved too strong, and Hong and his followers eventually gave up and set out northwards, towards Hunan. Here, they encountered an elite militia created by a local member of the gentry specifically to put down peasant rebellions. The two forces fought at Soyi Ford on 10 June 1852; the rebels were forced into retreat, and 20% of their troops were killed. However, in March 1853, Hong's forces managed to take Nanjing and turned it into the capital of their movement.
After establishing his capital at Nanjing, Hong implemented an ambitious reform and modernization program. He created an elaborate civil bureaucracy, reformed the calendar used in his kingdom, outlawed opium use, and introduced a number of reforms designed to make women more socially equal to men.[7] Hong ruled by making frequent proclamations from his Heavenly Palace, demanding strict compliance with various moral and religious rules. Most trade was suppressed, and some communal land ownership was introduced. Polygamy was forbidden and men and women were separated, although Hong and other leaders maintained groups of concubines.
Yang Xiuqing, also known as the "Eastern King", was a fellow Taiping leader who had directed successful military campaigns, and who often claimed to speak with the voice of God. Hong became increasingly suspicious of Yang's ambitions and his network of spies. In 1856, he and others in the Taiping élite had Yang and his family murdered in a purge that subsequently spun out of control, resulting in the further purge of its main perpetrator Wei Changhui.[49][50]
Following a failed attempt by the Taiping rebels to take Shanghai in 1860, Qing government forces, aided by Western officers, slowly gained ground.
Death
In the spring of 1864, Tianjing was besieged and dangerously low on food supplies.
On 30 July 1864, Qing forces exhumed, beheaded, and cremated Hong Xiuquan's body. Zeng Guofan had ordered this done to verify Hong Xiuquan's death. The ashes were blasted out of a cannon to ensure that his remains had no resting place, as eternal punishment for the uprising.[55]
Publications
- Imperial Decree of Taiping (《太平詔書》) (1852)
- The Instructions on the Original Way Series (《原道醒世訓》系列) (1845–1848): included in the Imperial Decree of Taiping later. The series is proclaimed by the People's Republic of China's National Affairs Department to be a Protected National Significant Document in 1988.
- Instructions on the Original Way to Save the World (《原道救世訓》)
- Instructions on the Original Way to Awake the World (《原道醒世訓》)
- Instructions on the Original Way to Make the World Realize (《原道覺世訓》)
- The Heavenly Father's poem (《天父詩》) (1857)
- New Essay on Economics and Politics (《資政新篇》) (1859)
Poetry
The following poem, titled Poem on Executing the Evil and Preserving the Righteous (斬邪留正詩), written in 1837 by Hong Xiuquan, illustrates his religious thinking and goal that later led to the establishment of the "Heavenly Kingdom of Taiping". Note that in the seventh line, the name of the then yet-to-come kingdom is mentioned.
《斬邪留正詩》 |
Poem on Executing the Evil and Preserving the Righteous |
手握乾坤殺伐權, |
In my hand I wield the Universe and the power to attack and kill, |
斬邪留正解民懸。 |
I slay the evil, preserve the righteous, and relieve the people's suffering. |
眼通西北江山外, |
My eyes see through beyond the west, the north, the rivers, and the mountains, |
聲振東南日月邊。 |
My voice shakes the east, the south, the Sun, and the Moon. |
璽劍光榮存帝賜, |
The glorious sword of authority was given by the Lord, |
詩章憑據誦爺前, |
Poems and books are evidences that praise Yahweh in front of Him. |
太平一統光世界, |
Taiping [Perfect Peace] unifies the World of Light, |
威風快樂萬千年。 |
The domineering air will be joyous for myriads of millennia. |
Legacy
Views and opinions on Hong differ greatly. The
To honor his legacy, the People's Republic of China established a small museum in 1959, the "Hong Xiuquan's Former Residence Memorial Museum" (洪秀全故居紀念館), in his birthplace, where there is a longan tree planted by him. The museum's plate is written by the famous literary figure Guo Moruo (1892–1978). The residence and Book Chamber Building were renovated in 1961.
There has been an active academic debate on the degree to which Hong is similar or dissimilar to Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi. Scholars that promote the opinion that a strong similarity exists between Li and Hong note that both rallied a large number of people behind a religious or spiritual cause in order to challenge the status quo. Scholars disputing a close relationship note that Li's political intentions are debatable.[57]
See also
- Hong Xuanjiao
- Millennarianism in colonial societies
- Liberation theology
- Sino-Christian theology
- Autotheism
- Private revelation
- Messiah complex
- Entering heaven alive
- Conversion of Paul the Apostle
- Heavenly Mother (Mormonism)
- Christianity in China
References
Notes
Citations
- ^ Bohr, P. Richard (2009). "Did the Hakka Save China? Ethnicity, Identity, and Minority Status in China's Modern Transformation". Headwaters. 26. College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University: 13.
- ^ a b c d e Jen 1973, p. 10.
- ^ a b c d e f "洪天贵福亲书自述、诗句" (PDF). jds.cssn.cn (in Chinese). 1 September 1997.
- ^ Spence (1996), pp. 78–80.
- ^ Kilcourse (2016), p. [page needed].
- ^ Reilly (2004), p. 4.
- ^ a b c d e f Li 2012, p. 165.
- ^ a b Jen 1973, p. 12.
- ISBN 978-0029336908.
- ^ Michael & Chang 1966, pp. 21–22.
- ^ Jen 1973, pp. 11–12.
- ^ Spence 1996, p. 27.
- ^ a b c d e Jen 1973, p. 13.
- ^ Jen 1973, p. 14.
- ^ Jen 1973, pp. 14–15.
- ^ Gray 1990, p. 55.
- ^ Jen 1973, pp. 15–18.
- ^ a b Michael & Chang 1966, p. 23.
- ^ Spence 1996, pp. 47–48.
- ^ a b Spence 1996, p. 48.
- ^ Spence 1996, p. 49.
- ^ Michael & Chang 1966, p. 28.
- ^ Hamberg, Theodore (1854). The Visions of Hung-Siu-tshuen and Origin of the Kwang-si Insurrection. Hong Kong. p. 14.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Jen 1973, p. 19.
- ^ Jen 1973, p. 20.
- ISBN 978-0-231-11271-0.
- ^ Spence 1996, p. 64.
- ^ Spence 1996, p. 65.
- ^ Michael & Chang 1966, p. 36.
- ^ Spence 1996, p. 67 "The two men discuss Hong's dream, and feel that some of it, at least, can be understood literally. So together they ordered a local craftsman to forge two double-edged swords – each sword nine pounds in weight, and three feet in length – with three characters carved upon each blade, 'Sword for exterminating demons'."
- ^ Spence 1996, p. 67.
- ^ Spence 1996, p. 69.
- ^ a b Spence 1996, p. 71.
- ^ Spence 1996, p. 72.
- ^ Spence 1996, pp. 78–79.
- ^ a b c d Spence 1996, p. 93.
- ISBN 978-0142180846.
- ^ Spence 1996, pp. 93–94.
- ^ Spence 1996, pp. 94–95.
- ^ Spence 1996, p. 95.
- ^ Michael & Chang 1966, pp. 34–37.
- ^ a b Michael & Chang 1966, p. 35.
- ^ Michael & Chang 1966, p. 37.
- ^ Crossley, Pamela Kyle (2010). The Wobbling Pivot: China Since 1800. p. 104.
- ^ Michael & Chang 1966, p. 25.
- ^ a b Reilly 2004, pp. 74–79.
- ^ Michael & Chang 1966, p. 47.
- ^ Michael 1966, p. 68.
- ^ Kuhn 1978.
- ^ (Cambridge University Press, 1978). Cambridge Histories Online. Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Spence 1996, p. 324.
- ^ Spence 1996, pp. 324–325.
- ^ a b c d e Spence 1996, p. 325.
- ^ Michael & Chang 1966, p. 173.
- ^ Spence 1996, p. 371.
- ^ a b Cohen 2003, p. 212.
- ISBN 978-1-58112-190-2.
Bibliography
- Anderson, Flavia (1959), The Rebel Emperor, Doubleday & Company
- Cohen, Paul A. (2003), China Unbound: Evolving Perspectives on the Chinese Past
- Gray, Jack (1990), Rebellions and Revolutions: China from the 1800s to the 1980s, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-821576-2
- Jen, Yu-Wen (1973), The Taiping Revolutionary Movement, Yale University Press, ISBN 978-1597407434
- Kilcourse, Carl S. (2016). Taiping Theology: The Localization of Christianity in China, 1843–64. Springer. ISBN 9781137537287.
- Kilcourse, Carl S. "Instructing the Heavenly King: Joseph Edkins's Mission to Correct the Theology of Hong Xiuquan." Journal of Ecclesiastical History (2020) 71#1 pp 116–134.
- Kuhn, Philip A. (1978), "The Taiping Rebellion", in Fairbank, John K. (ed.), Late Ch'ing 1800–1911, Part I., Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press
- Li, Xiaobing (2012), "Hong Xiuquan", in Li, Xiaobing (ed.), China at War: An Encyclopedia, Santa Barabara, CA: ABC-CLIO, pp. 165–168, ISBN 978-1-59884-415-3, retrieved 21 May 2012
- Michael, Franz H.; Chang, Chung-li (1966), The Taiping Rebellion: History and Documents, vol. I: History, Seattle, WA: University of Washington Publications on Asia
- Michael, Franz H. (1966), The Taiping Rebellion: History and Documents, vol. II: Documents, Seattle, WA: University of Washington Publications on Asia
- Reilly, Thomas H. (2004), The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Rebellion and the Blasphemy of Empire, Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, ISBN 0295984309
- ISBN 0-393-03844-0
- Wills, John E. (1994), "Hong Xiuquan", Mountain of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, ISBN 0691055424
- Hummel, Arthur W. Sr., ed. (1943). . Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period. United States Government Printing Office.