The Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) was a bloody period of conflict in Chinese history, with one man – Hong Xiuquan – at the center of this conflict. Hong Xiuquan was the leader of the Taipings and the one who lead his followers to combat the Emperor and his forces, eventually dying for all his efforts. Yet, the impact of the Taiping’s remains, not in any material force but in the written words of the Taipings culture. What I hope to imprint upon readers is the magnitude of the written works of the Taipings and how they conflicted with Chinese Imperial thought during the mid-1800s.
However, before the focus can be put on the Taipings, one must first focus on the first Chinese printed bibles and Christian based manuscripts. These were the translations provided by Reverend Karl Gutzlaff, as well as the writings of China’s first evangelists, Liang Afa1. The problem that arose because of these translations and writings is because of the various wording and translations done, which had a greater impact on the culture of China as a whole.
Afa’s works were mostly influential in that they brought the first teachings of Christianity to a large amount of people in China. His work – Good Words to Admonish the Age – was the very work that introduced Hong Xiuquan to the ideas of Christianity2. Said book was a loose collection of Bible passages – jumping from the beginning in Genesis to Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount – while composed in a way to emphasize the Protestant views of individual salvation, instead of salvation of a people or nation3. That being said, Good Words does not delve into the realms of politics, society, culture, and the role that religion plays in them, and as such suffered amongst the Chinese for this3.
Reverend Gutzlaff’s Bible translation held two influential markings for Chinese culture: One was its narrative structure; and the other was the meaning behind the characters4. When Gutzlaff translated the Bible into Chinese, he did so in way that told a story. A story of a deity who punished or destroyed evil nations, while rewarding his chosen nations – the good nations5. This was also balanced by said deity being a patron of art, music, food, marriage, and wellbeing – all aspects critical to Chinese culture4. Gutzlaff’s Bible also provided some historical basis, with events happening to specific people of a specific group and nationality4. In short, Gutzlaff’s Bible allowed for a historical narrative while also imparting the importance of culture, religion, society, and politics to a people who lacked this from Afa’s works5, all of which gave Hong Xiuquan much of the basis for the Taiping religion5. This is not the full extent of their works though.
Reverend Gutzltaff’s translations inspired many other translations, all of which contributed to the rise of the Taiping religion and uprising4. The main show of “blasphemy” – as seen by the Chinese imperial forces – was for the name of God that the Taiping’s used: Shangdi or Sovereign on High6. This name is usually reserved for the Emperor and first appeared in Afa’s Good Works, though the debate in what to call God went on for some time7. Nonetheless, applying the characters of the name Shangdi was controversy in Chinese culture, as the Emperor was a holy figure with the mandate from heaven6 and a key aspect of the Chinese Imperial Culture. As such, it was blasphemous to consider anyone – or anything – as equal to or greater than the Emperor. Hong Xiuquan took this a step further, applying the name of Huang Shangdi (Supreme Sovereign on High) to god, yet another character from the imperial title6. This was a direct attack on the Chinese imperial family as well as the culture and society that it promoted – which was a key goal of the Taiping movement8.
That was simply the start of Hong Xiuquan’s blasphemy. In the Taiping work The Principles of the Heavenly Nature Chinese culture and history is also made an example of – with Taoism in the Ch’in Dynasty (c. 221-206) and Buddhism in the Han Dynasty (c. 206-220) being made into examples of times when “demons infiltrated the hearts of man”9. The implications here is that the evils of non-Christian – more specifically non-Protestant – based religions have been infecting China for centuries, and now is the time to fight back. With words like this, and more, the Taipings were able to gather a large amount of traction in their rebellion against the Imperial Forces.
In conclusion, the words of the Taipings – such as the chosen names of God – had numerous cultural and societal problems, all of which contributed to the Taiping Rebellion.
- Reilly, Thomas H., The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Rebellion and the Blasphemy of Empire (University of Washington Press,2014) p.78 [↩]
- Reilly, Thomas H., Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, p.64 [↩]
- Ibid, p.64 [↩] [↩]
- Ibid, p.79 [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩]
- Ibid, pp.78-79 [↩] [↩] [↩]
- Ibid, p.92 [↩] [↩] [↩]
- Ibid, pp.80-91 [↩]
- Ibid, p.93 [↩]
- de Barry, Theodore, Chan, Wing-tsit, Tan, Chester, Sources of Chinese Tradition Vol. II (New York and London, 1960), p.36 [↩]