| Trailokya |
Posted
on 03-Apr-01 01:20 AM
Namaste and Ni Hao!
Here's something I was working on, I hope Bishwoji will be able to share his views on this.
Prof Jonathan Spence is one of the most respected Chinese historians in the US. He has written 12 books on China. His last book Treason is a very interesting read (if you are interested in the Qing dynasty bureaucracy and the things that went inside the the Forbidden City).
OK Bishwoji, let's get started!
Trailokya
On Jesus Christ's Chinese Brother
For a moment, think of answers to these two questions: What is the
biggest rebellion in human history? How far can religious fanaticism take people? The answer to both questions is "The Taiping Rebellion" in the course of which almost 20 million people were killed in China during the mid 19th century. The leader of the rebellion, Hong Xiuquan, claimed to be none
other than Jesus Christ's Chinese brother! And his reason for appearing in China was to establish the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, similar to the Kingdom of God in heaven. Professor Jonathan Spence, a noted scholar of Chinese History at Yale University gives his readers an insight on Hong Xiuquan and his Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, in his book titled "God's
Chinese Son".
In Imperial China, one had to take a series of exams based on Confucian Classics before finally getting a bureaucratic job. Hong Houxiu, a village school teacher who had dreams of working for the government(emperor) had already failed twice in the Provincial level exam. But this did not lessen his morale, he was again in Canton to take it for the third time hoping that he would succeed and end up going home a winner. However, he failed
the test again. The shock was so severe that it resulted in a nervous break down. While he laid down to recuperate from the shock, he went into trances, hallucinated and started getting unusual dreams. One such dream would change his life forever.
On one occasion, he dreamt that he is in heaven. His heavenly Mother kindly cleans his body, which had been infected with the earthly diseases. Then he goes to meet his heavenly father who explains to him his purpose on earth and even changes his name from Hong Houxiu to Hong Xiuquan, while his elder brother listens to their conversation. There he learns that his purpose in life is not to take those bureaucratic tests but to abolish those tests all together by overthrowing the ruling "demonic" Qing dynasty. He woke up, ran around the house as if he was
fighting a battle, went back to sleep, woke up again and declared
himself to be the emperor of China and commanded his family members to call him using the name given to him by his heavenly father instead of the name given to him by his earthly father. His family, convinced that he has gone mad, locked him in a room and his brothers guarded the room so that he would not go out on the streets and commit mischief.
Things went back to normal after a while and Hong prepared for the test again, and was in Canton in 1843 for the fourth time. He failed the test again and went back to his house--back to his old job as a schoolteacher. Then one day, a visitor asked to borrow a book lying in Hong's room--the translated version of the Bible which Hong had picked up when he was in Canton 6-7 years previously, on one of his trips to take the test, and which had remained in his room untouched since then.
When the visitor was back at Hong's house to return the book, he asked Hong about his dream and suggested that Hong read the book. When Hong was done reading the book, his dream began to make sense to him. Now he became fully convinced that he is no other than Jesus Christ's younger brother and that his job is to spread God's message and help the Chinese people get rid of the demons influencing their lives: The Qing dynasty, Buddhist gods and Daoist Immortals and the man responsible for his failure and whose influence was clearly visible in all aspects of the Chinese society, Confucius. His task then is to lead his "chosen" people to their Earthly Paradise. Hong then converted to Christianity and started preaching, and soon had many followers, the majority drawn from his own ethnic group, Hakka, but also from poor Han farmers, and from other minority groups.
By late 1840s, his followers formed the army of "God-worshipping"
faithful, which by 1850 coalesced into the "Taiping Heavenly" army. Soon the "Taiping Heavenly" army started taking over cities in South and Central China and made converts in the population of the fallen cities, increasing the number of Hong's supporters. According to Prof. Spence, in the process of converting people, Hong "writes and re-writes his own version of the Bible"--taking away chapters that he didn't understand or which endangered his position as Jesus' younger brother and adding his own chapters where he deemed fit. The "Taiping Heavenly" army finally took over Nanjing in 1853, which Hong declared to be the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (The Earthly Paradise of the chosen
ones) and himself as the emperor of the world! From there he ruled the "world" until the Qing Army finally broke into the City and freed it from it's Heavenly ruler in 1864. According to Professor Spence, from the start of the Heavenly movement to the Qing recovery of Nanjing, "Twenty million people or more in the regions under the sway of the 'Taiping Heavenly' army had lost their lives in battle or from starvation."
Hong's story is not only to be seen as religious fanaticism but also as a major 19th century rebellion against the feudal Chinese society, in which the large land owning gentry cruelly exploited the poor peasants, and an unjust central government. Some go so far as to call this rebellion a "primitive" communist movement, since in Hong's kingdom there were no landlords, or the female infanticide and foot binding common elsewhere in China (See, Newsinger, J., "The Taiping Peasant Revolt" *Monthly Review* Vol.52 No.5, October 2000, pp. 29-37). According to Prof. Spence, Hong Xiuquan was able to amass millions of supporters because he was able to connect the Biblical stories to current conditions in China. China, in the mid 19th century was in total
chaos. The Qing Dynasty was unable to provide provisions when
emergencies struck, or to maintain law and order in the countryside, and had failed to defend itself from the Europeans in the Opium War and had been forced to sign a humiliating treaty. The bureaucracy, embroiled in palace feuds, had become corrupt and inefficient. This led many educated Cinese to romanticize the glorious Ming dynasty, which had ruled China
before the Qing Dynasty. Secret societies were formed to restore the od dynasty. Many looked for an oppurtunity to voice dislike of the Qing
Dynasty and for a new government--one that could restore peace, national pride and food to the starving population. When Hong entered the scene, the Chinese population got a leader whom they believed would help them solve their problems. The minorities,a favorite target for explotation by the landowning
class, saw Hong as their special liberator, and Hong promoted himself as the Biblical Jessuvah to them. The majority Han peasants also saw in Hong the image of a deliveror, and to this group Hong promoted Biblical stories concerning the battle betwen good and evil. The heavenly movement gained momentum. And in turn this proved that Hong's movement had the blessings of heaven--a necessary condition for ruling China.
Professor Spence has done a marvelous job of presenting a narrative account of this turning point in Chinese history. Readers not only get to know Hong Xiuquan and his apocalyptic vision, but also get to know about Opium-War era China and the early stages of European imperialist penetration, especially in the Canton region where the foreigners had established Hung (representative offices) of their respective governments. The book also serves as a reference to serious readers of
Chinese history looking for information on the Qing dynasty army,
bureaucracy, foreigners' movements along the coastal regions and the history of Christianity in 19th century China. The wideranging Taiping peasant rebellion, which the European powers combined with the old regime to suppress, was a critical event in the history of modern China. It's a story that any serious student of modern China needs to learn, and Professor Spence has given us a book that makes it a pleasure to do so.
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 03-Apr-01 01:58 PM
Dear Trailokyaji:
Glad to hear from you again, and thank you for sharing your
knowledge about a noted sinologist's new book.
My understanding about Taiping (pacific) rebellion was limited
and your article furthered the range of my knowledge. The casualty
number is shocking, and my own understanding is that the biggest
rebellion(momentous) in human history was probably the one
led by Spartacus in ancient Rome , because it was the one first
serious attempt to unshackle the downtrodden class of
humanity. However, there is no doubt the Taiping rebellion
was the most important rebellion of 19th century, and from its
own nature, it resembled communism that successfully succeeded it
in China.
I don't know why you didn't mention that the most instrumental
forces in the final defeat of Taiping rebellion were foreign
colonial powers, who quickly figured out that the rebels were not
their stooge, that they were against their own business interest
in Shanghai and elsewhere. The foreign powers offerred military
help to decrepit Qing dynasty,and led the Ever Victorious army
to protect Shanghai,which was the major business hub of foreigners
then.
The fall of Taiping was mainly because of two reasons: one,
the undisciplined rebellion was also marred by internal dissension
and the other, the all powerful foreign powers were not impressed
by those forces.The rebels were too ideologist, and were also
without any clear vision about governance.
Any further suggestion, Trailokyaji?
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