{"id":347,"date":"2019-11-17T13:21:34","date_gmt":"2019-11-17T13:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/?p=347"},"modified":"2019-11-17T13:21:34","modified_gmt":"2019-11-17T13:21:34","slug":"killer-words-language-in-the-taiping-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/2019\/11\/killer-words-language-in-the-taiping-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"Killer Words: Language in the Taiping Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) was a bloody period of conflict in Chinese history, with one man \u2013 Hong Xiuquan \u2013 at the center of this conflict. Hong Xiuquan was the leader of the <\/span>Taipings<\/span> 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\u2019s remains, not in any material force but in the written words of the <\/span>Taipings<\/span> culture. What I hope to imprint upon readers is the magnitude of the written works of the <\/span>Taipings<\/span> and how they conflicted with Chinese Imperial thought during the mid-1800s.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, before the focus can be put on the <\/span>Taipings<\/span>, 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 <\/span>China\u2019s<\/span> first evangelists, Liang Afa1<\/a><\/sup><\/span>. 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.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Afa\u2019s<\/span> works were mostly influential in that they brought the first teachings of Christianity to a large amount of people in China. His work \u2013 <\/span>Good Words to Admonish the Age<\/span><\/i> \u2013 was the very work that introduced Hong Xiuquan to the ideas of Christianity2<\/a><\/sup><\/span>. Said book was a loose collection of Bible passages \u2013 jumping from the beginning in Genesis to Jesus\u2019s Sermon on the Mount \u2013 while composed in a way to emphasize the Protestant views of individual salvation, instead of salvation of a people or nation3<\/a><\/sup><\/span>. That being said, <\/span>Good Words<\/span><\/i> 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<\/a><\/sup><\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Reverend <\/span>Gutzlaff\u2019s<\/span> Bible translation held two influential markings for Chinese culture: One was its narrative structure; and the other was the meaning behind the characters4<\/a><\/sup><\/span>. 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 \u2013 the good nations5<\/a><\/sup><\/span>. This was also balanced by said deity being a patron of art, music, food, marriage, and wellbeing \u2013 all aspects critical to Chinese culture4<\/a><\/sup><\/span>. <\/span>Gutzlaff\u2019s<\/span> Bible also provided some historical basis, with events happening to specific people of a specific group and nationality4<\/a><\/sup><\/span>. In short, <\/span>Gutzlaff\u2019s<\/span> Bible allowed for a historical narrative while also imparting the importance of culture, religion, society, and politics to a people who lacked this from <\/span>Afa\u2019s<\/span> works5<\/a><\/sup><\/span>, all of which gave Hong Xiuquan much of the basis for the Taiping religion5<\/a><\/sup><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>This is not the full extent of their works though.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Reverend <\/span>Gutzltaff\u2019s<\/span> translations inspired many other translations, all of which contributed to the rise of the Taiping religion and uprising4<\/a><\/sup><\/span>. The main show of \u201cblasphemy\u201d – as seen by the Chinese imperial forces \u2013 was for the name of God that the Taiping\u2019s used: Shangdi or Sovereign on High6<\/a><\/sup><\/span>. This name is usually reserved for the Emperor and first appeared in <\/span>Afa’s<\/span>\u00a0Good Works, though the debate in what to call God went on for some time7<\/a><\/sup><\/span>. 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<\/a><\/sup><\/span>\u00a0and 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<\/a><\/sup><\/span>. This was a direct attack on the Chinese imperial family as well as the culture and society that it promoted \u2013 which was a key goal of the Taiping movement8<\/a><\/sup><\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That was simply the start of Hong <\/span>Xiuquan\u2019s<\/span> blasphemy. In the Taiping work <\/span>The Principles of the Heavenly Nature <\/span><\/i>Chinese culture and history is also made an example of \u2013 with Taoism in the Ch\u2019in Dynasty (c. 221-206) and Buddhism in the Han Dynasty (c. 206-220) being made into examples of times when \u201cdemons infiltrated the hearts of man\u201d9<\/a><\/sup><\/span>. 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 <\/span>Taipings<\/span> were able to gather a large amount of traction in their rebellion against the Imperial Forces.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In conclusion, the words of the <\/span>Taipings<\/span> \u2013 such as the chosen names of God \u2013 had <\/span>numerous<\/span> cultural and societal problems, all of which contributed to the Taiping Rebellion.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

  1. Reilly, Thomas H., <\/span><\/span>The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Rebellion and the Blasphemy of Empire<\/span><\/span><\/em> (University of Washington Press,2014) p.78\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  2. Reilly, Thomas H., <\/span><\/span>Taiping Heavenly Kingdom<\/em>, <\/span><\/span>p.64<\/span><\/span><\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  3. Ibid<\/em>, p.64<\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  4. Ibid<\/em>, p.79<\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  5. Ibid<\/em>, pp.78-79<\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  6. Ibid<\/em>, p.92<\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  7. Ibid<\/em>, pp.80-91<\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  8. Ibid, p.93<\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  9. de Barry, Theodore, Chan, Wing-<\/span><\/span>tsit<\/span><\/span>, Tan, Chester, <\/span><\/span>Sources of Chinese Tradition Vol. II <\/span><\/span><\/em>(New York and London, 1960), p.36<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) was a bloody period of conflict in Chinese history, with one man \u2013 Hong Xiuquan \u2013 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, … Continue reading “Killer Words: Language in the Taiping Movement”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":355,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions\/355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}