The Taiping Ideology – A Double-Edged Sword? （作业文存档，没啥干货）
The Taiping Ideology – A Double-Edged Sword?
1. Introduction
The Taiping Rebellion was an event that radically changed the course of the Chinese history in the late nineteenth century (Xia 1998). One key feature that distinguished the Taiping Rebellion from numerous other contemporary peasant uprisings in the late Qing dynasty was its association with Christianity, a foreign ideology. Therefore, the Taiping Rebellion was among the myriad upheavals which reflected the painful globalization process that China underwent in the late nineteenth century.
The essay will focus on the immense influence Christianity exerted on the Taiping rebellion and try to answer the question of why the ideology of the Taiping Rebellion facilitated its success in the beginning but could not sustain the rebellion in the later stages. The hypothesis is that the ideology of the Taiping rebellion, a hybridized form of ‘Christianity’, was an indispensable part of the rebellion that performed an instrumental role in the beginning of the rebellion among the Hakka rebels due to their particular ethnic and demographic profiles. However, its appeal faded with the expansion of the rebellion as other Chinese and Christian Westerners had little faith in the ideology and did not find it attractive.
The body of the essay will have two main sections, explaining why the ideology successfully gathered supporters at start but failed to gain support from other Chinese and Christian Westerners respectively. The Taiping rebellion will be compared to other contemporary peasant uprisings to further illustrate the impact of its ideology and discern its distinctive character.
2. The Good Side
The Taiping rebellion was a very significant event in the late Qing dynasty and dealt an extremely heavy blow to the empire. The rebellion wreaked havoc in South China and caused massive depopulation in some of the richest regions in the empire. For instance, the population of Jiangsu Province dropped from forty-three million in 1851 to less than twenty million in 1874 (Jin 2009). It greatly weakened the economic base of the Qing dynasty and is widely regarded as one of the major contributing factor of the ultimate demise of the dynasty and with it the imperial system, which had been the norm of the Chinese political institution for two thousand years (Xia 1998). The leader of the rebellion, Hong Xiuquan claimed to be the second son of God and was a self-perceived Christian (Kuhn 1967). It is phenomenal that he quickly ascended from a disillusioned xiucai (秀才) to the supreme leader orchestrating a rebellion that ravaged throughout South China, occupying several provinces at its zenith.
It is thus necessary to raise the following questions: Why did this rebellion spread so fast and what attracted the rebels to risk their lives participating in the rebellion? What made Hong such a successful leader?
One thing that made Hong stand apart from the other rebel leaders was his vision. He sought to establish the Heavenly Kingdom (太平天国) on earth and propagate his ‘Christian’ ideology among the Chinese mass. His vision partly came to fruition through disseminating the ‘Christian’ ideology among his early followers, organizing them into a highly spirited and formidable army that conquered territories for him (Deng 2002).
The following paragraphs will briefly investigate into the beginning of the rebellion to attempt to address the reasons for the quick spread of ‘Christianity’ among the initial rebels and the instrumental role it played in the starting phase of the rebellion.
The ethnic background of the rebellion is something to which attention needs to be paid. The leader of the rebellion, Hong Xiuquan was a Hakka, so were many of his companions (Xia 1998). In the late Qing dynasty, many rebellions were affiliated with a particular ethnic group, such as the Taiping Rebellion with the Hakka, the Dungan Revolt and the Panthay Rebellion with the Chinese Muslims etc. Hong had earlier tried to propagate his ideology to other peoples such as the Yao without much result but he was particularly successful when it came to proselytizing his fellow Hakka (Xia 1998). The question is therefore essentially transformed to why the Hakka people were particularly susceptible to Hong’s grandiose vision of establishing a Heavenly Kingdom on earth and how this ideology aided the development of the rebellion?
The Christian missionaries in the nineteenth century had observed that the socially disadvantaged groups were often more acceptable and accommodating towards the proselytizing effort of the missionaries and they were often regarded as potentially more promising targets for conversion (Lee 2001). A new ideology was often regarded as something that can potentially transform their lives for the better and the existing religious beliefs were often weaker and would generate less resistance when being replaced. For example, the Hmong, a marginalized ethnic minority was heavily influenced by missionary activities (Tapp 1989).
The Hakka are unique among the Chinese people. Although mostly regarded as a subgroup of the Han Chinese majority now, the Hakka in the late Qing dynasty in many aspects resembled a disadvantaged minority. Numerous accounts written by Cantonese writers said that the Hakka people were neither Cantonese nor Han (Li 2006). Many of them were also unable to take the Imperial Examination (科举) as they were considered ‘guests’ in their hometowns (Li 2006). In fact, the name ‘Hakka’ literally means ‘guest people’. The Imperial Examination was perhaps the most important and comparatively fairer pathway through which people of lower class may achieve upward mobility if they excelled in the examination. In order to progress in the system, one had to pass through a series of examinations, the first of which in one’s hometown. However, a prerequisite of sitting the examination was that the prospective candidate must hold local status there (Li 2006). Consequently the upward mobility of the Hakka people was very restricted due to the system.
Moreover, to say the Hakka’s relation with their neighbours was less than amiable would be a huge understatement. Their relations with the surrounding ‘native’ groups were often strained and tension had been developing. Guangdong and Guangxi provinces had been populated before the arrival of the Hakka by various ‘native’ peoples. Consequently the Hakka were regarded as late intruders. They mainly inhabited the more mountainous regions (“逢山必有客，无山不住客”) in the two provinces as these areas were not ideal for agricultural production and thus the native groups were often uninterested in them (Xia 1998; Li 2006). As time passed by, the population of the natives and the Hakka both increased. The increased population density placed further strain on the limited farming land available. There were numerous conflicts between the natives and the Hakka, fighting for increasingly precious land. The fighting among groups was so severe and frequent that large defensive fortresses had to be built. The fighting would eventually culminated in the bloody Native-Hakka Armed Conflicts (土客械斗) in the late Qing dynasty (Li 2006).
The Hakka people were relatively disadvantaged in such fights, being numerically inferior to the natives and the government’s rulings were more often than not in favour of the natives (Xia 1998). In order to overcome these disadvantages, they responded by forming close-knit communities, tied together by common ancestry and familial bonds. These networks comprising disgruntled and disenchanted peasants provided ideal platforms for the launch of large scale peasant uprisings. A single sparkle might be enough to ignite the whole forest under such circumstances. Christianity would prove to be the catalyst that started a chain reaction, i.e. the Taiping Rebellion, which took the Qing government more than ten years to contain.
Hong’s vision of establishing the Heavenly Kingdom was thus particularly attractive to his fellow Hakka people. The Hakka had long been regarded potential targets of proselytization due to their oppressed status (Lee 2001). Their deprived status made them less pious, or even resentful towards the local gods and more susceptible to outside concepts such as Christianity (Xia 1998). Hong’s clever manoeuvring of the new ideology was further reflected in the slogans of the rebellion, loosely based on Hong’s egalitarian interpretation of the Christian faith, such as ‘Sow the field together, eat the food together, wear the clothes together, spend the money together (有田同耕，有食同吃，有衣同穿，有钱同使)’ (Deng 2002). These slogans put great emphasis on the equality of all humans on earth and the supposedly fraternal relationships among all rebels, echoing the close-knit nature of Hakka communities. In reality such promises were not kept, especially in the later stages of the rebellion, when the leaders of the rebellion enjoyed extravagantly luxurious lives in their palaces, paying little attention to the lives of their subjects (Xia 1998). These slogans, however, proved to be extremely popular in the beginning of the rebellion, injecting hope and will to fight to the early rebels. The concepts of fraternity and egalitarianism, vaguely reminiscent of similar ideas in authentic Christianity, resounded particularly well within Hakka communities as these communities were under constant pressure of survival and less bound by the strongly hierarchical traditional Chinese culture. Furthermore, the tight Hakka clan structure meant that the conversion of a particularly influential patriarch was often followed by the conversion of a whole clan as such clan leaders would actively proselytize their clans and let the whole clan join the rebellion (Xia 1998; Wang 2012). In fact, Hong himself started converting and recruiting followers from his immediate family, including importing early converts Li Minfang and Hong Rengan (Xia 1998).
Hong Xiuquan actively utilized his modified form of Christianity to recruit rebels. Using religious ideology for one’s own purpose had always been a rather common phenomenon in China. However, the Taiping Rebellion’s ideology was singular among such ideologies. Hong’s ideology was systematic, structured and closely associated with the reality (Wang 2012). It played a very instrumental role at the start of the rebellion. Hong cunningly combined Christianity with his own interpretation, creating a promising future prospect that really grasped the hearts of the Hakka people, uniting the Hakka clans and insidiously changing their mindsets, rendering them loyal to the command of Hong, their predestined saviour. Consequently, Hong’s interpretation of Christianity became so popular that it drew hordes of Hakka peasants to fight for him, a person who did not otherwise exhibit much potential. His clever utilization of the Christian ideology enabled him to gather a formidable force. By the time of the Jintian Uprising, Hong had garnered the loyalty of a few thousand mostly Hakka supporters (Xia 1998).
Some may view the ‘Christian’ ideology as some trivial existence during the rebellion, without which the Taiping Rebellion would still occur more or less in its current form. Such view would serious underscore the contribution made by the new ideology in uniting the Hakka people together and transforming them into warriors with high morale, fighting for a better world. A contrast can be made with the Native-Hakka Armed Conflicts in Guangdong Province. The Native-Hakka armed conflicts between the Cantonese, the Teochew (the two ‘natives’) and the Hakka lasted for decades and were extremely violent in nature. During the conflicts, sporadic fights and battles occurred throughout the province, leading to a casualty of several hundred thousand as the losing side were often massacred. Moreover, as the Hakka did not have a strong base such as Guangzhou or Chaozhou like the other two groups, Hakka villagers evacuating from sieged villages very commonly died of starvation as they had nowhere to escape (Li 2006). The oppressed and disadvantaged situation that the Hakka experienced was not dissimilar to the situation described before the Taiping Rebellion in Guangxi. However, these armed conflicts never progressed into organized peasant uprisings like the Taiping Rebellion without the vibe injected by a new and captivating ideology. It illustrated that without Christianity, it would be extremely difficult for Hong to gain power and influence among his followers and the Taiping ideology was an integral part of the rebellion.
Other examples can be given as well. The Taiping Rebellion was not the only peasant uprising in the late nineteenth century in China. Roughly concurrent to the Taiping Rebellion was the Dungan Revolt in Northwest China. As briefly mentioned above, this rebellion was associated with the Chinese Muslims. A comparison of the two rebellions may allow us to further discern the Christian influence of the Taiping Rebellion.
The Dungan Revolt was characterized by its anarchy. The whole revolt did not seem to have a clearly defined goal, despite its huge scale (Xiao 2009). The Chinese Muslims ravaged the provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu, practically looting and pillaging every county they seized (Wu 1983). However, the organization of the revolt was extremely loose and factorial. Infightings among different factions and betrayals were routine (Xiao 2009). Moreover, there was no universally accepted leader and no plan to topple the Qing government in Beijing (Xiao 2009). No attempt was made to establish a functioning government in the occupied territories and there was little concern for the sustainability of the revolt, demonstrated by indiscriminate slaughtering of the Han (Wu 1983). Essentially the whole revolt could be aptly regarded as resembling an extremely aggravated case of bandit infestation. The Chinese Muslims in the Northwest were similar to the Hakka in terms of their low education and literacy levels. However, in sharp contrast to the anarchy exhibited by the Dungan Revolt, Hong Xiuquan’s application of his ideology was so successful that the Taiping Rebels remained a unified force under a common leader, fighting for a common goal, at least in the initial stage. He established administrative systems in the occupied territories, and wrote policies in accordance with his vision of the Heavenly Kingdom such as <The Field Policies of the Heavenly Kingdom> (《天朝田亩制度》), and actively tried to promote his ‘Christian’ belief (Wang 2012). Such attainments would probably never be achieved and the Taiping Rebellion would perhaps look much more like the Dungan Revolt without Hong’s ideological input.
3. The Bad Side
However, with the development of the rebellion, the Christian ideology that once provided momentum to the rebellion increasingly failed to cope with the changing nature of the rebellion.
Compared with numerous other peasant rebellions in the long history of China, a key feature distinguishes the Taiping rebellion from the others, i.e. during the course of the rebellion, the rebels actively sought to proselytize the ordinary Chinese populace and replace the traditional Chinese beliefs. As noted in the previous section. Proselytization was evident from the start of the rebellion. After all, the aim of the rebellion was to build God’s Heavenly Kingdom on earth (Reilly 2004). Hong founded the Worshipping God Society (拜上帝会) and the earliest two thousand members of the rebels were all converts who joined the society. Mass proselytization ensued whenever the rebels occupied new territories.
In order to advance towards this ultimate goal of establishing the Heavenly Kingdom, the rebels actively denounced the traditional Chinese beliefs such as Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Acts of the destruction of the tablets and temples were observed in occupied territories (Boardman 1951). The zealous rebels not only destroyed many formal religious establishments, but also sought to change the daily religious practises of ordinary Chinese people. For example, statues venerated in private houses were smashed by the rebels (Deng 2002). The iconoclastic activities were very extensive and the worshipping of all deities except for the one and true ‘Christian God’ was officially and explicitly prohibited by the rebels. Hong also dictated that idolaters were subject to being bitten by snakes and bugs to try to deter people from worshipping other deities (Jin 2009; Wang 2012).
These behaviours angered the educated Chinese literati, making them develop less favourable opinions towards the rebels (Kuhn 1967). Although attempts were made to reconcile the ideology with the Chinese belief system, such as to liken the new religion and the vague pre-Zhou dynasty concept of Shangdi (上帝), they were not accepted by the Chinese literati (Boardman 1951). While it might be acceptable for the largely illiterate Hakka rebels to blindly believe in the authenticity of Hong’s words, it took much more to convince the more literate population of Jiangsu and Zhejiang etc. Hong’s strategy of likening Shangdi and Christian God had little effect among the educated population who had a deeper understanding of the Chinese culture. The ideology of the Taiping rebellion was so alien to ordinary Chinese that it rendered its propaganda of overthrowing the barbarian rulers unappealing since the rebels were worse in terms of preserving Chinese culture and traditions (Boardman 1951). Such perception costed the Taiping Rebellion the potential support of the ordinary Chinese and the powerful landed gentry class were in particular upset and antagonized by the horrendous conducts of the rebels (Jin 2009). The rebels were viewed as ruthless and relentless destructors of the Chinese culture and this finally led to widespread spontaneous resistance against the rebellion, with local defence systems (团练) formed around the country (Kuhn 1967). Eventually, some of the local defence systems organized into forceful armies such as the Xiang Army and the Huai Army, later proven to be the nemeses of the Taiping Rebels, eventually annihilating them altogether (Xia 1998). The prevalence of these local defence systems was the best testament to the unpopularity of the Taiping Rebellions in these parts of China.
From a purely utilitarian point of view, it is difficult to envision why the Taiping rebels decided to adopt such a radical approach to the traditional Chinese belief systems. While the largely uneducated Hakka rebels could be easily tricked into abandoning the traditional Chinese belief systems and such acts could enhance coherence and solidarity among them, the practical purpose of such acts was annulled when the power base of the Heavenly Kingdom shifted to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the two provinces which had long been the stronghold of traditional Chinese culture (Wang 2012). The only plausible explanation is that the rebels were so heavily fixated on their ‘Christian ideology’ that they blindly applied it and were not concerned with changing circumstances. The old way of radical proselytization and iconoclasm, backed by Hong’s ideology had by this time become harmful to the rebellion.
A potential counter-argument could be that similar iconoclastic activities happened during other rebellions as well, e.g. the Dungan Revolt in Northwest China, which was not under the influence of Hong’s ideology. While it is true that the Dungan Revolt involved mass destruction of Chinese religious establishments (Xiao 2009), there was no evidence that it was deliberately and systematically conducted, like what happened during the Taiping Rebellion. Furthermore, the iconoclastic activities of the Dungan Revolt did not serve any particular objective. There was no proselytizing attempt although some non-Muslim Chinese did convert due to fear (Wu 1983). The iconoclastic activities were best regarded as savage behaviour stemming from ethnic hatred and complete chaos during the revolt. Additionally, in any case the Dungan Revolt was subject to foreign ideological influence, i.e. Wahhabism and enjoyed little support among non-Muslim Chinese as well (Gillete 2008).
Another rebellion may better serve the role of a more typical Chinese rebellion for the purpose of comparison. The Panthay Rebellion in Yunnan, which happened around the same time as the Taiping Rebellion, led by the Chinese Muslims too presented a rather different picture. The leader of the rebellion, Du Wenxiu, was a xiucai, and a devout believer of a monotheistic religion, like Hong Xiuquan. However, upon close examination of the rebellion, the propaganda slogan was to ‘Eliminate the Manchus (锄满)’, with no reference to establishing grand new institutions. Du Wenxiu did encourage the development of Islam to a certain extent. For instance, the first <Quran> printed in China was published in 1862 under his rule. However, there was no overt attempt to fundamentally challenge the time-honoured institutions in China and Du was content to allow the Han and the Yi to keep practising their respective religions without much interference (Xiao 2009). The Panthay Rebellion had better chance of success in this regard as the leaders were more concerned with gaining political and military power rather than ideological unity. Accordingly, the Panthay Rebellion did not encounter the same degree of resistance by the local defence systems experienced by the Taiping Rebellion (Xiao 2009). In contrast, the Taiping rebellion had a strong ideological focus and a vision to establish the Heavenly Kingdom on earth, led by the son of Jehovah – Hong Xiuquan, whose concept should be accepted without questioning by every decent person living under his just rule, even if the odds of doing so were clearly against his favour.
Being at least nominally Christian, it seemed natural for the rebels to invite their powerful Western religious brethren to aid them. Why was it not the case?
While the ideology of the rebels’ was certainly not Chinese enough to obtain support from the Chinese people, it was unfortunately too un-Christian to establish friendship with Western nations at the same time. Hong himself heavily relied on a book <Quan Shi Liang Yan> (《劝世良言》) written by a Chinese Christian convert of very modest educational background (Kuhn 1977) and he never paid any serious attention to the Bible (Boardman 1951). His fellow rebels were mostly illiterate peasants who received very little education and there was ample evidence that the Christian ideology had being re-interpreted by them, e.g., Yang Xiuqing, Hong’s right-hand man often claimed that God assumed his body and he gave out divine instructions in this state (Wellers 1987). Despite wild discrepancies between the Taiping Christianity and Christianity in the Western nations, the rebels were initially well received by Christian nations with America, Britain and France dispatching missionaries to the rebels (Zhang 2013). The Westerners once considered treating the Taiping rebels as potentially better partners to deal with than the Qing officials (Boardman 1951). However, the initial feeling of co-religiosity soon waned due to closer observation of the rebellion. It was reported that Hong considered his own version of ‘Christianity’ the most correct one and more authoritative than any knowledge or instruction a Western missionary could bring (Yap 1954). Upon finding out the true nature of the ideology of the rebellion, some Christian missionaries offered to guide it back to orthodox Christianity. Hong, however, was very adamant and firmly adhered to his own interpretation (Zhang 2013). By doing so, Hong effectively severed the link of his ideology with all other forms of Christianity, resulting in losing potential powerful allies.
The case of Yang Xiuqing should be analysed further as it caused the Taiping ideology to work against the rebellion even among the Hakka, who had been pious believers of the ideology. Yang Xiuqing, the East King of the Heavenly Kingdom claimed that God assumed his body and he gave out divine instructions when possessed, in the name of Hong’s divine father. He ordered Hong to do whatever he wanted as Hong’s divine father, upsetting the power structure of the rebels (Wellers 1987). With the benefit of hindsight, there was no doubt that this was political manoeuvring and not some sort of supernatural phenomenon. Such claim was very rare, if ever existed, in the history of China before the Taiping Rebellion as the traditional Son of Heaven (天子) concept provided no place for a father of the Son of Heaven in the earthly world. Its absurdity notwithstanding, the fact that the claim received wide acceptance among the rebels attested to the immense influence the ‘Christian’ ideology had on the rebels. Hong later ordered Yang killed when ‘God’ became too greedy (Deng 2002). As the rebels were largely driven by the promising ideology of the rebellion, the slaughtering of God’s avatar shattered their confidence in the rebellion, causing the rebels to become demoralized (Deng 2002). This sequence of events showed that the exploitation of the loophole in the ideology of the Taiping Rebellion had a disastrous impact on the rebellion. When the ugly reality behind the glamorous ideology was exposed, the earlier positive influence brought by the ideology reversed and instead adversely influenced the diehard followers of the rebellion, the Hakka people. Eventually, the internal conflicts escalated further and further, causing the implosion of the rebellion.
4. Conclusion:
The Taiping Rebellion was remarkable, from its miraculous inception and explosive growth to its tumultuous struggle and quick downfall. The influence of the Taiping ideology is evident in every phase of the rebellion, first initiating and aiding the rebellion, and then working to its detriment. The ideology does not explain everything during the rebellion but was nevertheless something that should not be ignored. This essay has provided an overlook of the impact of Hong’s Christianity influenced ideology on the evolution of the Taiping Rebellion. Although the multifaceted effect of Christianity on the Taiping Rebellion was certainly not limited to what was discussed in the essay, it shows how Christianity was intricately interwoven with the fortune of the Taiping Rebellion. The ‘Christian’ ideology’s involvement in the rebellion provides a unique window to peep through and observe the increasing degree of globalization in late Qing China.
Reference List:
Boardman, EP 1951, ‘Christian Influence Upon the Ideology of the Taiping Rebellion’, Far Eastern Quarterly, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 115-124.
Deng, X 2002, ‘基督教在太平天国起义中的地位和作用’, Chuanshan Journal, no. 3, pp. 128-131.
Gillette, M 2008, ‘Violence, the State, and a Chinese Muslim Ritual Remembrance’, The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 67, no. 3, pp. 1011-1037.
Jin, Z 2009, ‘太平天国对江南社会的冲击与影响’, Journal of Hengshui University, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 77-80, 91.
Kuhn, PA 1967, ‘The T'uan-lien Local Defense System at the Time of the Taiping Rebellion’, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 27, pp. 218-255.
Kuhn, PA 1977, ‘Origins of the Taiping Vision: Cross-cultural Dimensions of a Chinese Rebellion’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 350-366.
Lee, JTH 2001, ‘The Overseas Chinese Networks and Early Baptist Missionary Movement Across The South China Sea’, Historian, vol 63, no. 4, pp. 753-768.
Li, G 2006, ‘客家:社会身份、土客械斗与华南地方军事化——兼评刘平著《被遗忘的战争》’, Studies in Qing History, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 116-124.
Reilly, TH 2004, The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Rebellion and the blasphemy of empire. University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA.
Tapp, N 1989, ‘The Impact of Missionary Christianity Upon Marginalized Ethnic Minorities: The Case of the Hmong’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 70-95.
Wang, M 2012, 太平天国的权力结构和农村政治. China Social Sciences Publishing House, Beijing, China.
Weller, RP 1987, ‘Historians and Consciousness: The Modern Politics of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’, Social Research, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 731-755.
Wu, W 1983, ‘关于陕甘回民起义中回汉“联合”问题的商榷’, Journal of Northwest Minorities University (Philosophy and Social Science), no. 2, pp. 58-63.
Xia, C 1998, ‘客家人与太平天国农民运动’, Southeast Academic Research, vol. 1, no. 5, pp. 86-90.
Xiao, N 2009. ‘杜文秀起义研究’, Thesis (M.A.), Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Yap, PM 1954, ‘The Mental Illness of Hung Hsiu-ch'üan, Leader of the Taiping Rebellion’, The Far Eastern Quarterly, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 287-304.
Zhang, Y 2013. ‘太平天国与西方基督教的关系问题商榷’, Journal of Jiangxi Normal University (Social Sciences), vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 113-118, 144.
1. Introduction
The Taiping Rebellion was an event that radically changed the course of the Chinese history in the late nineteenth century (Xia 1998). One key feature that distinguished the Taiping Rebellion from numerous other contemporary peasant uprisings in the late Qing dynasty was its association with Christianity, a foreign ideology. Therefore, the Taiping Rebellion was among the myriad upheavals which reflected the painful globalization process that China underwent in the late nineteenth century.
The essay will focus on the immense influence Christianity exerted on the Taiping rebellion and try to answer the question of why the ideology of the Taiping Rebellion facilitated its success in the beginning but could not sustain the rebellion in the later stages. The hypothesis is that the ideology of the Taiping rebellion, a hybridized form of ‘Christianity’, was an indispensable part of the rebellion that performed an instrumental role in the beginning of the rebellion among the Hakka rebels due to their particular ethnic and demographic profiles. However, its appeal faded with the expansion of the rebellion as other Chinese and Christian Westerners had little faith in the ideology and did not find it attractive.
The body of the essay will have two main sections, explaining why the ideology successfully gathered supporters at start but failed to gain support from other Chinese and Christian Westerners respectively. The Taiping rebellion will be compared to other contemporary peasant uprisings to further illustrate the impact of its ideology and discern its distinctive character.
2. The Good Side
The Taiping rebellion was a very significant event in the late Qing dynasty and dealt an extremely heavy blow to the empire. The rebellion wreaked havoc in South China and caused massive depopulation in some of the richest regions in the empire. For instance, the population of Jiangsu Province dropped from forty-three million in 1851 to less than twenty million in 1874 (Jin 2009). It greatly weakened the economic base of the Qing dynasty and is widely regarded as one of the major contributing factor of the ultimate demise of the dynasty and with it the imperial system, which had been the norm of the Chinese political institution for two thousand years (Xia 1998). The leader of the rebellion, Hong Xiuquan claimed to be the second son of God and was a self-perceived Christian (Kuhn 1967). It is phenomenal that he quickly ascended from a disillusioned xiucai (秀才) to the supreme leader orchestrating a rebellion that ravaged throughout South China, occupying several provinces at its zenith.
It is thus necessary to raise the following questions: Why did this rebellion spread so fast and what attracted the rebels to risk their lives participating in the rebellion? What made Hong such a successful leader?
One thing that made Hong stand apart from the other rebel leaders was his vision. He sought to establish the Heavenly Kingdom (太平天国) on earth and propagate his ‘Christian’ ideology among the Chinese mass. His vision partly came to fruition through disseminating the ‘Christian’ ideology among his early followers, organizing them into a highly spirited and formidable army that conquered territories for him (Deng 2002).
The following paragraphs will briefly investigate into the beginning of the rebellion to attempt to address the reasons for the quick spread of ‘Christianity’ among the initial rebels and the instrumental role it played in the starting phase of the rebellion.
The ethnic background of the rebellion is something to which attention needs to be paid. The leader of the rebellion, Hong Xiuquan was a Hakka, so were many of his companions (Xia 1998). In the late Qing dynasty, many rebellions were affiliated with a particular ethnic group, such as the Taiping Rebellion with the Hakka, the Dungan Revolt and the Panthay Rebellion with the Chinese Muslims etc. Hong had earlier tried to propagate his ideology to other peoples such as the Yao without much result but he was particularly successful when it came to proselytizing his fellow Hakka (Xia 1998). The question is therefore essentially transformed to why the Hakka people were particularly susceptible to Hong’s grandiose vision of establishing a Heavenly Kingdom on earth and how this ideology aided the development of the rebellion?
The Christian missionaries in the nineteenth century had observed that the socially disadvantaged groups were often more acceptable and accommodating towards the proselytizing effort of the missionaries and they were often regarded as potentially more promising targets for conversion (Lee 2001). A new ideology was often regarded as something that can potentially transform their lives for the better and the existing religious beliefs were often weaker and would generate less resistance when being replaced. For example, the Hmong, a marginalized ethnic minority was heavily influenced by missionary activities (Tapp 1989).
The Hakka are unique among the Chinese people. Although mostly regarded as a subgroup of the Han Chinese majority now, the Hakka in the late Qing dynasty in many aspects resembled a disadvantaged minority. Numerous accounts written by Cantonese writers said that the Hakka people were neither Cantonese nor Han (Li 2006). Many of them were also unable to take the Imperial Examination (科举) as they were considered ‘guests’ in their hometowns (Li 2006). In fact, the name ‘Hakka’ literally means ‘guest people’. The Imperial Examination was perhaps the most important and comparatively fairer pathway through which people of lower class may achieve upward mobility if they excelled in the examination. In order to progress in the system, one had to pass through a series of examinations, the first of which in one’s hometown. However, a prerequisite of sitting the examination was that the prospective candidate must hold local status there (Li 2006). Consequently the upward mobility of the Hakka people was very restricted due to the system.
Moreover, to say the Hakka’s relation with their neighbours was less than amiable would be a huge understatement. Their relations with the surrounding ‘native’ groups were often strained and tension had been developing. Guangdong and Guangxi provinces had been populated before the arrival of the Hakka by various ‘native’ peoples. Consequently the Hakka were regarded as late intruders. They mainly inhabited the more mountainous regions (“逢山必有客，无山不住客”) in the two provinces as these areas were not ideal for agricultural production and thus the native groups were often uninterested in them (Xia 1998; Li 2006). As time passed by, the population of the natives and the Hakka both increased. The increased population density placed further strain on the limited farming land available. There were numerous conflicts between the natives and the Hakka, fighting for increasingly precious land. The fighting among groups was so severe and frequent that large defensive fortresses had to be built. The fighting would eventually culminated in the bloody Native-Hakka Armed Conflicts (土客械斗) in the late Qing dynasty (Li 2006).
The Hakka people were relatively disadvantaged in such fights, being numerically inferior to the natives and the government’s rulings were more often than not in favour of the natives (Xia 1998). In order to overcome these disadvantages, they responded by forming close-knit communities, tied together by common ancestry and familial bonds. These networks comprising disgruntled and disenchanted peasants provided ideal platforms for the launch of large scale peasant uprisings. A single sparkle might be enough to ignite the whole forest under such circumstances. Christianity would prove to be the catalyst that started a chain reaction, i.e. the Taiping Rebellion, which took the Qing government more than ten years to contain.
Hong’s vision of establishing the Heavenly Kingdom was thus particularly attractive to his fellow Hakka people. The Hakka had long been regarded potential targets of proselytization due to their oppressed status (Lee 2001). Their deprived status made them less pious, or even resentful towards the local gods and more susceptible to outside concepts such as Christianity (Xia 1998). Hong’s clever manoeuvring of the new ideology was further reflected in the slogans of the rebellion, loosely based on Hong’s egalitarian interpretation of the Christian faith, such as ‘Sow the field together, eat the food together, wear the clothes together, spend the money together (有田同耕，有食同吃，有衣同穿，有钱同使)’ (Deng 2002). These slogans put great emphasis on the equality of all humans on earth and the supposedly fraternal relationships among all rebels, echoing the close-knit nature of Hakka communities. In reality such promises were not kept, especially in the later stages of the rebellion, when the leaders of the rebellion enjoyed extravagantly luxurious lives in their palaces, paying little attention to the lives of their subjects (Xia 1998). These slogans, however, proved to be extremely popular in the beginning of the rebellion, injecting hope and will to fight to the early rebels. The concepts of fraternity and egalitarianism, vaguely reminiscent of similar ideas in authentic Christianity, resounded particularly well within Hakka communities as these communities were under constant pressure of survival and less bound by the strongly hierarchical traditional Chinese culture. Furthermore, the tight Hakka clan structure meant that the conversion of a particularly influential patriarch was often followed by the conversion of a whole clan as such clan leaders would actively proselytize their clans and let the whole clan join the rebellion (Xia 1998; Wang 2012). In fact, Hong himself started converting and recruiting followers from his immediate family, including importing early converts Li Minfang and Hong Rengan (Xia 1998).
Hong Xiuquan actively utilized his modified form of Christianity to recruit rebels. Using religious ideology for one’s own purpose had always been a rather common phenomenon in China. However, the Taiping Rebellion’s ideology was singular among such ideologies. Hong’s ideology was systematic, structured and closely associated with the reality (Wang 2012). It played a very instrumental role at the start of the rebellion. Hong cunningly combined Christianity with his own interpretation, creating a promising future prospect that really grasped the hearts of the Hakka people, uniting the Hakka clans and insidiously changing their mindsets, rendering them loyal to the command of Hong, their predestined saviour. Consequently, Hong’s interpretation of Christianity became so popular that it drew hordes of Hakka peasants to fight for him, a person who did not otherwise exhibit much potential. His clever utilization of the Christian ideology enabled him to gather a formidable force. By the time of the Jintian Uprising, Hong had garnered the loyalty of a few thousand mostly Hakka supporters (Xia 1998).
Some may view the ‘Christian’ ideology as some trivial existence during the rebellion, without which the Taiping Rebellion would still occur more or less in its current form. Such view would serious underscore the contribution made by the new ideology in uniting the Hakka people together and transforming them into warriors with high morale, fighting for a better world. A contrast can be made with the Native-Hakka Armed Conflicts in Guangdong Province. The Native-Hakka armed conflicts between the Cantonese, the Teochew (the two ‘natives’) and the Hakka lasted for decades and were extremely violent in nature. During the conflicts, sporadic fights and battles occurred throughout the province, leading to a casualty of several hundred thousand as the losing side were often massacred. Moreover, as the Hakka did not have a strong base such as Guangzhou or Chaozhou like the other two groups, Hakka villagers evacuating from sieged villages very commonly died of starvation as they had nowhere to escape (Li 2006). The oppressed and disadvantaged situation that the Hakka experienced was not dissimilar to the situation described before the Taiping Rebellion in Guangxi. However, these armed conflicts never progressed into organized peasant uprisings like the Taiping Rebellion without the vibe injected by a new and captivating ideology. It illustrated that without Christianity, it would be extremely difficult for Hong to gain power and influence among his followers and the Taiping ideology was an integral part of the rebellion.
Other examples can be given as well. The Taiping Rebellion was not the only peasant uprising in the late nineteenth century in China. Roughly concurrent to the Taiping Rebellion was the Dungan Revolt in Northwest China. As briefly mentioned above, this rebellion was associated with the Chinese Muslims. A comparison of the two rebellions may allow us to further discern the Christian influence of the Taiping Rebellion.
The Dungan Revolt was characterized by its anarchy. The whole revolt did not seem to have a clearly defined goal, despite its huge scale (Xiao 2009). The Chinese Muslims ravaged the provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu, practically looting and pillaging every county they seized (Wu 1983). However, the organization of the revolt was extremely loose and factorial. Infightings among different factions and betrayals were routine (Xiao 2009). Moreover, there was no universally accepted leader and no plan to topple the Qing government in Beijing (Xiao 2009). No attempt was made to establish a functioning government in the occupied territories and there was little concern for the sustainability of the revolt, demonstrated by indiscriminate slaughtering of the Han (Wu 1983). Essentially the whole revolt could be aptly regarded as resembling an extremely aggravated case of bandit infestation. The Chinese Muslims in the Northwest were similar to the Hakka in terms of their low education and literacy levels. However, in sharp contrast to the anarchy exhibited by the Dungan Revolt, Hong Xiuquan’s application of his ideology was so successful that the Taiping Rebels remained a unified force under a common leader, fighting for a common goal, at least in the initial stage. He established administrative systems in the occupied territories, and wrote policies in accordance with his vision of the Heavenly Kingdom such as <The Field Policies of the Heavenly Kingdom> (《天朝田亩制度》), and actively tried to promote his ‘Christian’ belief (Wang 2012). Such attainments would probably never be achieved and the Taiping Rebellion would perhaps look much more like the Dungan Revolt without Hong’s ideological input.
3. The Bad Side
However, with the development of the rebellion, the Christian ideology that once provided momentum to the rebellion increasingly failed to cope with the changing nature of the rebellion.
Compared with numerous other peasant rebellions in the long history of China, a key feature distinguishes the Taiping rebellion from the others, i.e. during the course of the rebellion, the rebels actively sought to proselytize the ordinary Chinese populace and replace the traditional Chinese beliefs. As noted in the previous section. Proselytization was evident from the start of the rebellion. After all, the aim of the rebellion was to build God’s Heavenly Kingdom on earth (Reilly 2004). Hong founded the Worshipping God Society (拜上帝会) and the earliest two thousand members of the rebels were all converts who joined the society. Mass proselytization ensued whenever the rebels occupied new territories.
In order to advance towards this ultimate goal of establishing the Heavenly Kingdom, the rebels actively denounced the traditional Chinese beliefs such as Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Acts of the destruction of the tablets and temples were observed in occupied territories (Boardman 1951). The zealous rebels not only destroyed many formal religious establishments, but also sought to change the daily religious practises of ordinary Chinese people. For example, statues venerated in private houses were smashed by the rebels (Deng 2002). The iconoclastic activities were very extensive and the worshipping of all deities except for the one and true ‘Christian God’ was officially and explicitly prohibited by the rebels. Hong also dictated that idolaters were subject to being bitten by snakes and bugs to try to deter people from worshipping other deities (Jin 2009; Wang 2012).
These behaviours angered the educated Chinese literati, making them develop less favourable opinions towards the rebels (Kuhn 1967). Although attempts were made to reconcile the ideology with the Chinese belief system, such as to liken the new religion and the vague pre-Zhou dynasty concept of Shangdi (上帝), they were not accepted by the Chinese literati (Boardman 1951). While it might be acceptable for the largely illiterate Hakka rebels to blindly believe in the authenticity of Hong’s words, it took much more to convince the more literate population of Jiangsu and Zhejiang etc. Hong’s strategy of likening Shangdi and Christian God had little effect among the educated population who had a deeper understanding of the Chinese culture. The ideology of the Taiping rebellion was so alien to ordinary Chinese that it rendered its propaganda of overthrowing the barbarian rulers unappealing since the rebels were worse in terms of preserving Chinese culture and traditions (Boardman 1951). Such perception costed the Taiping Rebellion the potential support of the ordinary Chinese and the powerful landed gentry class were in particular upset and antagonized by the horrendous conducts of the rebels (Jin 2009). The rebels were viewed as ruthless and relentless destructors of the Chinese culture and this finally led to widespread spontaneous resistance against the rebellion, with local defence systems (团练) formed around the country (Kuhn 1967). Eventually, some of the local defence systems organized into forceful armies such as the Xiang Army and the Huai Army, later proven to be the nemeses of the Taiping Rebels, eventually annihilating them altogether (Xia 1998). The prevalence of these local defence systems was the best testament to the unpopularity of the Taiping Rebellions in these parts of China.
From a purely utilitarian point of view, it is difficult to envision why the Taiping rebels decided to adopt such a radical approach to the traditional Chinese belief systems. While the largely uneducated Hakka rebels could be easily tricked into abandoning the traditional Chinese belief systems and such acts could enhance coherence and solidarity among them, the practical purpose of such acts was annulled when the power base of the Heavenly Kingdom shifted to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the two provinces which had long been the stronghold of traditional Chinese culture (Wang 2012). The only plausible explanation is that the rebels were so heavily fixated on their ‘Christian ideology’ that they blindly applied it and were not concerned with changing circumstances. The old way of radical proselytization and iconoclasm, backed by Hong’s ideology had by this time become harmful to the rebellion.
A potential counter-argument could be that similar iconoclastic activities happened during other rebellions as well, e.g. the Dungan Revolt in Northwest China, which was not under the influence of Hong’s ideology. While it is true that the Dungan Revolt involved mass destruction of Chinese religious establishments (Xiao 2009), there was no evidence that it was deliberately and systematically conducted, like what happened during the Taiping Rebellion. Furthermore, the iconoclastic activities of the Dungan Revolt did not serve any particular objective. There was no proselytizing attempt although some non-Muslim Chinese did convert due to fear (Wu 1983). The iconoclastic activities were best regarded as savage behaviour stemming from ethnic hatred and complete chaos during the revolt. Additionally, in any case the Dungan Revolt was subject to foreign ideological influence, i.e. Wahhabism and enjoyed little support among non-Muslim Chinese as well (Gillete 2008).
Another rebellion may better serve the role of a more typical Chinese rebellion for the purpose of comparison. The Panthay Rebellion in Yunnan, which happened around the same time as the Taiping Rebellion, led by the Chinese Muslims too presented a rather different picture. The leader of the rebellion, Du Wenxiu, was a xiucai, and a devout believer of a monotheistic religion, like Hong Xiuquan. However, upon close examination of the rebellion, the propaganda slogan was to ‘Eliminate the Manchus (锄满)’, with no reference to establishing grand new institutions. Du Wenxiu did encourage the development of Islam to a certain extent. For instance, the first <Quran> printed in China was published in 1862 under his rule. However, there was no overt attempt to fundamentally challenge the time-honoured institutions in China and Du was content to allow the Han and the Yi to keep practising their respective religions without much interference (Xiao 2009). The Panthay Rebellion had better chance of success in this regard as the leaders were more concerned with gaining political and military power rather than ideological unity. Accordingly, the Panthay Rebellion did not encounter the same degree of resistance by the local defence systems experienced by the Taiping Rebellion (Xiao 2009). In contrast, the Taiping rebellion had a strong ideological focus and a vision to establish the Heavenly Kingdom on earth, led by the son of Jehovah – Hong Xiuquan, whose concept should be accepted without questioning by every decent person living under his just rule, even if the odds of doing so were clearly against his favour.
Being at least nominally Christian, it seemed natural for the rebels to invite their powerful Western religious brethren to aid them. Why was it not the case?
While the ideology of the rebels’ was certainly not Chinese enough to obtain support from the Chinese people, it was unfortunately too un-Christian to establish friendship with Western nations at the same time. Hong himself heavily relied on a book <Quan Shi Liang Yan> (《劝世良言》) written by a Chinese Christian convert of very modest educational background (Kuhn 1977) and he never paid any serious attention to the Bible (Boardman 1951). His fellow rebels were mostly illiterate peasants who received very little education and there was ample evidence that the Christian ideology had being re-interpreted by them, e.g., Yang Xiuqing, Hong’s right-hand man often claimed that God assumed his body and he gave out divine instructions in this state (Wellers 1987). Despite wild discrepancies between the Taiping Christianity and Christianity in the Western nations, the rebels were initially well received by Christian nations with America, Britain and France dispatching missionaries to the rebels (Zhang 2013). The Westerners once considered treating the Taiping rebels as potentially better partners to deal with than the Qing officials (Boardman 1951). However, the initial feeling of co-religiosity soon waned due to closer observation of the rebellion. It was reported that Hong considered his own version of ‘Christianity’ the most correct one and more authoritative than any knowledge or instruction a Western missionary could bring (Yap 1954). Upon finding out the true nature of the ideology of the rebellion, some Christian missionaries offered to guide it back to orthodox Christianity. Hong, however, was very adamant and firmly adhered to his own interpretation (Zhang 2013). By doing so, Hong effectively severed the link of his ideology with all other forms of Christianity, resulting in losing potential powerful allies.
The case of Yang Xiuqing should be analysed further as it caused the Taiping ideology to work against the rebellion even among the Hakka, who had been pious believers of the ideology. Yang Xiuqing, the East King of the Heavenly Kingdom claimed that God assumed his body and he gave out divine instructions when possessed, in the name of Hong’s divine father. He ordered Hong to do whatever he wanted as Hong’s divine father, upsetting the power structure of the rebels (Wellers 1987). With the benefit of hindsight, there was no doubt that this was political manoeuvring and not some sort of supernatural phenomenon. Such claim was very rare, if ever existed, in the history of China before the Taiping Rebellion as the traditional Son of Heaven (天子) concept provided no place for a father of the Son of Heaven in the earthly world. Its absurdity notwithstanding, the fact that the claim received wide acceptance among the rebels attested to the immense influence the ‘Christian’ ideology had on the rebels. Hong later ordered Yang killed when ‘God’ became too greedy (Deng 2002). As the rebels were largely driven by the promising ideology of the rebellion, the slaughtering of God’s avatar shattered their confidence in the rebellion, causing the rebels to become demoralized (Deng 2002). This sequence of events showed that the exploitation of the loophole in the ideology of the Taiping Rebellion had a disastrous impact on the rebellion. When the ugly reality behind the glamorous ideology was exposed, the earlier positive influence brought by the ideology reversed and instead adversely influenced the diehard followers of the rebellion, the Hakka people. Eventually, the internal conflicts escalated further and further, causing the implosion of the rebellion.
4. Conclusion:
The Taiping Rebellion was remarkable, from its miraculous inception and explosive growth to its tumultuous struggle and quick downfall. The influence of the Taiping ideology is evident in every phase of the rebellion, first initiating and aiding the rebellion, and then working to its detriment. The ideology does not explain everything during the rebellion but was nevertheless something that should not be ignored. This essay has provided an overlook of the impact of Hong’s Christianity influenced ideology on the evolution of the Taiping Rebellion. Although the multifaceted effect of Christianity on the Taiping Rebellion was certainly not limited to what was discussed in the essay, it shows how Christianity was intricately interwoven with the fortune of the Taiping Rebellion. The ‘Christian’ ideology’s involvement in the rebellion provides a unique window to peep through and observe the increasing degree of globalization in late Qing China.
Reference List:
Boardman, EP 1951, ‘Christian Influence Upon the Ideology of the Taiping Rebellion’, Far Eastern Quarterly, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 115-124.
Deng, X 2002, ‘基督教在太平天国起义中的地位和作用’, Chuanshan Journal, no. 3, pp. 128-131.
Gillette, M 2008, ‘Violence, the State, and a Chinese Muslim Ritual Remembrance’, The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 67, no. 3, pp. 1011-1037.
Jin, Z 2009, ‘太平天国对江南社会的冲击与影响’, Journal of Hengshui University, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 77-80, 91.
Kuhn, PA 1967, ‘The T'uan-lien Local Defense System at the Time of the Taiping Rebellion’, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 27, pp. 218-255.
Kuhn, PA 1977, ‘Origins of the Taiping Vision: Cross-cultural Dimensions of a Chinese Rebellion’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 350-366.
Lee, JTH 2001, ‘The Overseas Chinese Networks and Early Baptist Missionary Movement Across The South China Sea’, Historian, vol 63, no. 4, pp. 753-768.
Li, G 2006, ‘客家:社会身份、土客械斗与华南地方军事化——兼评刘平著《被遗忘的战争》’, Studies in Qing History, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 116-124.
Reilly, TH 2004, The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Rebellion and the blasphemy of empire. University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA.
Tapp, N 1989, ‘The Impact of Missionary Christianity Upon Marginalized Ethnic Minorities: The Case of the Hmong’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 70-95.
Wang, M 2012, 太平天国的权力结构和农村政治. China Social Sciences Publishing House, Beijing, China.
Weller, RP 1987, ‘Historians and Consciousness: The Modern Politics of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’, Social Research, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 731-755.
Wu, W 1983, ‘关于陕甘回民起义中回汉“联合”问题的商榷’, Journal of Northwest Minorities University (Philosophy and Social Science), no. 2, pp. 58-63.
Xia, C 1998, ‘客家人与太平天国农民运动’, Southeast Academic Research, vol. 1, no. 5, pp. 86-90.
Xiao, N 2009. ‘杜文秀起义研究’, Thesis (M.A.), Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Yap, PM 1954, ‘The Mental Illness of Hung Hsiu-ch'üan, Leader of the Taiping Rebellion’, The Far Eastern Quarterly, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 287-304.
Zhang, Y 2013. ‘太平天国与西方基督教的关系问题商榷’, Journal of Jiangxi Normal University (Social Sciences), vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 113-118, 144.
