Nanjing played an important role in one of China’s most devastating movements – the Taiping Rebellion – some of the facts of which may seem frighteningly familiar to other religious revelatory tales.
It’s 1847 and China is under the rule of the Qing dynasty – run by the Manchurians – a minority ehtnicity in China. The Manchu rulers have created a class system in which peasants – the majority of the population – feel disenfranchised and helpless. The Manchus are losing power within and outside China – having lost the first opium war to Britain. They follow the tradition of footbinding for women, support the opium trade and prostitution and require all peasant men to wear their hair in a long braid. Into this world comes a young Hakka man – Hong Xiuquan – who is trying to better his lot by taking the imperial examination, hoping to get a higher place in the Manchu hierarchy. However, after failing the exam for the third time, Hong has what some have described as a nervous breakdown – but others say was a mystical revelation set off by some Christian pamphlets he had received from a protestant missionary. In his reverie, he was taken to heaven where he was met by – God – his literal heavenly father – and his older brother Jesus who charged him with the task of removing the evil Mancu rulers and setting up the Heavenly Kingdom of Divine Harmony on earth.
” Hong developed a literalist understanding of the Bible, which soon gave rise to a unique theology. He rejected the doctrine of the Trinity—only the Father was truly God. Jesus Christ was the Father's firstborn Son, with Hong Xiuquan proclaiming himself as the Father's second Son and the younger brother of Jesus. It was said that when foreign missionaries later explained to Hong Xiuquan that Jesus was the Father's only Son, he simply crossed out the word "only." Based on his readings and personal revelations, Hong Xiuquan added a third book, in addition to the Old Testament and the New Testament, to the Taiping regime's Bible.” – Like The Empire Strikes Back – literally.
Hong’s movement gained fast momentum and vast numbers of followers. They began to become more militaristic as the Emperor’s forces tried to subdue the movement. By 1851, Hong had amassed an army of more than 10,000 followers. They were able to overcome the imperial troops and take the town of Jintian. Two years later, with between 700,000 and 800,000 soldiers, Hong’s forces took Nanjing and made it the Heavenly Capital (Tianjing) of the movement. One third of China was basically controlled by the Taiping followers at that point.
Within the land that they controlled, the Taiping Heavenly Army established a theocratic and highly militarized rule.
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The subject of study for the examinations for officials (formerly civil service exams – the exams that Hong had failed) changed from the Confucian classics to the Christian Bible.
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Private property ownership was abolished and all land was held and distributed by the state.
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A solar calendar replaced the lunar calendar.
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The society was declared classless and the sexes were declared equal. It was the first Chinese regime ever to admit women into examinations.
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Foot binding was banned.
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Monogamy was promoted.
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Other new laws were promulgated including the prohibition of opium, gambling, tobacco, alcohol, polygamy (including concubinage), slavery, and prostitution.
However, the rule was remarkably ineffective, haphazard, and brutal; all efforts were concentrated on the army, and civil administration was very poor. Rule was established in the major cities, but the land outside the urban areas was little regarded. Even though polygamy was banned, it was believed that Hong Xiuquan had 88 concubines. Many high-ranking Taiping officials kept concubines as a matter of prerogative, and lived as de facto kings.
In 1853, Hong withdrew from active control of policies and administration. His sanity progressively eroding, he devoted himself to meditation and more sensual pursuits, including his private harem.
With their leader largely out of the picture, Taiping delegates tried to widen their popular support with the Chinese middle classes—and to forge alliances with European powers—but failed on both counts. Inside China, the rebellion faced resistance from the traditionalist middle class because of their hostility to many long-standing Chinese customs and Confucian values. The land-owning upper class, unsettled by the Taipings' peasant mannerisms and their policy of strict separation of the sexes, even for married couples, sided with the Imperial forces and their Western allies.
Following a setback near Beijing, they continued to expand westward, but spent most of their efforts maintaining their hold in the Yangtze valley. From 1860, the kingdom's fall was rapid.An attempt to take Shanghai in August 1860, was repulsed by troops under the command of Frederick Townsend Ward. Imperial forces reorganized their reconquest began in earnest. By early 1864, Imperial control in most areas was well established.
Hong declared that God would defend Tianjing, but in June, with Imperial forces approaching, he died of food poisoning as the result of ingesting wild vegetables as the city began to run out of food. His body was buried in the former Ming Imperial Palace where it was later exhumed by the conquering army to verify his death, then cremated. Hong' ashes were later blasted out of a cannon, so as to have no resting place as eternal punishment for the uprising.
Four months before the fall of the Heavenly Kingdom of Taiping, Hong Xiuquan passed the throne to Hong Tianguifu, his eldest son. However, Hong Tianguifu was unable to do anything to restore the Kingdom, so the Kingdom was quickly destroyed when Nanjing fell to the Imperial armies after vicious street-by-street fighting. Most of the princes were executed by Qing Imperials in Jinling Town, Nanjing.
It is estimated that the entire rebellion cost more than twenty million lives (twice that of World War I). Even by the 1950s, some parts of central China had not yet fully recovered from the destruction of the Taiping era.”
The Taiping rebellion did begin the end of the imperial control of China and opened the way for other rebellious movements – which have helped China to its current political system.
Source: New World Encyclopedia
