The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement is a movement that cannot be ignored in China's modern history. The campaign lasted 14 years and involved 17 provinces in China. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the local Han bureaucracy of the Qing Dynasty arose, and the centralization of power collapsed. Since then, Chinese revolutionaries have all flaunted the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. As a peasant uprising in modern times, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement brought many new factors, which made the nature of the movement more complicated and controversial.
Since the Qin Dynasty, any dynasty in China has had a large-scale peasant uprising. It is very difficult to fight against a large empire that rules the world and has centralized power, and it is not as simple as burning and looting. In general, there is a need for a religious organization that connects tens of millions of poor people and makes them strive for a common goal.
Chen Sheng's wuguang uprising relied on traditional sayings; by the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Taoism had become the organizer of the uprising. During the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, religions spread from the West became weapons for organizing the masses, such as Tianli Sect, White Lotus Sect, and Ming Sect. The leader of the uprising did not really believe in this religion, but he must be able to use the organizational skills of the religion.
In the mid-19th century, the religion that was introduced to China on a large scale was Christianity. Although the Qing Dynasty promoted the "closed country", many missionaries still operated in the southeast coastal areas relatively covertly, and they distributed missionary pamphlets to the people. The belief of the Chinese people is "animism", as long as it is mysterious, it is faith, which opens the door to the spread of Christianity. However, because of "animism", everyone's belief is only superficial, only a ritual belief.
Despite this, the influence of Christianity in China continues to expand. In 1832, a peasant named Liang Fa in Guangdong accepted Christianity, and wrote the Bible as the original book "Good Words for the World", which began to be widely distributed in Guangdong. The book is easy to understand, widely disseminated, and has a great impact. Hong Xiuquan, on the other hand, came into contact with Christianity from this book.
Hong Xiuquan, born in Hua County, Guangdong, is a Hakka family whose family is a family of cultivators. Hong Xiuquan received the lessons of Confucian culture from an early age and worked hard for the imperial examination. In 1827, he participated in the county examination of Hua County and ranked among the best. But in the reference to the Guangzhou government test fell behind. During his time in Guangzhou, he received the book "Good Advice to the World", but did not read it deeply. After that, he served as a school teacher in the village. Later, he took two more government examinations, both of which ended in failure.
In 1836, Hong Xiu failed the test and returned home seriously ill, unconscious, thinking that he was going to die with the world. At this time, he had a long dream, dreaming that he had gone to heaven and met the Heavenly Father, armed with a sword and the king of Yama and other demon wars. After waking up, Hong Xiuquan behaved strangely and insanely. He thought that the purpose of his coming to earth was to eradicate all demons and create a peaceful and prosperous world. To this end, he also wrote a poem: "Holding three feet of mountains and rivers, drinking and harmonizing with the four seas." Sweep the net of demons and evil spirits, and collect the treacherous and fallen heavenly Luo. East, west, south, and north, the sun, moon, and stars play triumphant songs. Tiger Howling Dragon Yin Guang World, Taiping Yi Ping Le. ”
Hong Xiuquan also connected the king of Yanluo with the real society, believing that this king of Yanluo was the Manchu Qing Dynasty. King Yan Luo nominally administers justice in Hell, but in Hong Xiuquan's dream he is the greatest demon. At that time, the Qing Dynasty was already very corrupt, and the phenomenon of local guards and self-theft was very serious, which left a deep impression on Hong Xiuquan.
In 1843, Hong Xiuquan's distant relative Li Jingfang came to visit Hong Xiuquan and persuaded Hong Xiuquan to read the "Good Words of Persuasion to the World" carefully, and Hong Xiuquan obeyed. After reading it, Hong Xiuquan was inspired by a lot, believing that the so-called snake demon was the king of Yama, and Jehovah was the Heavenly Father, and it was the snake demon that made the world chaotic. He also considers himself a messenger sent by the Father to earth with the aim of creating a new world.
Of course, Hong Xiuquan was not yet dead set on Keju. In 1843, he took part in the imperial examination again, but failed. So Hong Xiuquan decided to break with Confucianism, he baptized himself, became a believer, and opposed all idolatry. After that, Hong Xiuquan began to preach, and the first person to accept it was Li Jingfang, and the two went to the iron shop to build two swords, indicating the slaying of demons and exorcism. Later, Hong Xiuquan's cousin Hong Renjie and his stepmother's relative Feng Yunshan also believed Hong Xiuquan, and these two became the core figures of the later Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
After Hong Xiuquan's baptism, he demolished the statue of Confucius in the private school, and as a result, he also lost his livelihood. The following year, Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan left their hometown for Guangzhou, but Hong Renjie was unable to go because of the obstruction at home. The two did not go well in Guangzhou, so they planned to go to The Village of Shigu in Guiping County, Guangxi, where Hong Xiuquan's distant relatives, the Huang clan, lived and had been baptized by Hong Xiuquan. When they arrived at Shigu Village, Hong Xiuquan and the two were warmly received, and Hong Xiuquan also wrote the "Original Path salvation training" to spread his own teachings and precepts.
The Original Path of Salvation has a total of six precepts, namely, to abstain from sexual immorality, not to disobey one's parents, not to kill, not to steal, not to engage in witchcraft, and not to gamble. History proves that Hong Xiuquan's development in Guangxi is the right one. Guangxi's economy is backward, and its mountainous areas are inhabited by many Miao, Yao and Hakka, who are limitedly influenced by Confucian culture and are prone to new ideas. Soon after in Shigu Village, Hong Xiuquan's followers grew to more than 100 people.
In the process of preaching, Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan were separated. Feng Yunshan went to Guiping County, and then went to the Zijing Mountains with Zhang Yongxiu, and Hong Xiuquan thought he had returned home, so he also returned to his hometown. Feng Yunshan spread religion in the Zijing Mountains area, and the number of believers was increasing, so he founded the "Worship god Society" here. The worshippers are basically low-level people, either peasants or hard laborers.
After the Opium War, the British fought pirates in the South China Sea, and the emissaries were forced to go north along the main stream of the Pearl River, so they poured into Guangxi. These pirates plus many joined local secret societies, such as the Heaven and Earth Society. These associations were first founded in the early Qing Dynasty, and their main slogan was "Anti-Qing and Restoration", which became the focus of the Qing Dynasty. By the middle and late Qing Dynasty, although these societies were still under the banner of "anti-Qing and restoration", they had actually evolved into underworld organizations, often blocking roads and robbing houses.
After these organizations entered Guangxi, they often harassed the villages of ethnic minorities and Hakka people, so the local villagers formed groups that helped each other, carrying weapons when they were farming, ready to fight. Hong Xiuquan later traveled to Guangxi to look for Feng Yunshan, where he was blackmailed by these community personnel on the way, and his sword was robbed. At that time, the poor people of Guangxi were not only threatened by the society, but also oppressed by bureaucratic landlords. This is also the reason why they are easily receptive to Christianity.
In 1847, Hong Xiuquan came to Zijing Mountain and joined Feng Yunshan. At this time, the worship of God will begin to develop rapidly. However, the God-worshipping Society also ran into crisis. First, the church's financial activities are limited, and Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan have repeatedly encouraged members to donate assets, but it is obviously not enough. Second, the government often arrests members and lets Hong Xiuquan wait to redeem them, which is a kind of extortion. Hong Xiuquan told everyone that this is God's test for everyone, and I hope that everyone can persist.
Bauhinia Mountain
Subsequently, local officials of the Qing Dynasty began to vigorously suppress local triad forces, which facilitated the development of the Worship of God Society. In order to escape the disaster, many members of the society chose to join the worship of God. At this time, there were some backbone members of the Worship of God Society, such as Xiao Chaogui, Yang Xiuqing, Shi Dakai, etc., all of whom were from poor people, and they followed Hong Xiuquan around and began to closely organize the Worship of God Society.
After the government suppressed the underworld forces, it also targeted the Worship of God Society, after all, the Worship of God Society is also an illegal organization of the people. In this situation, Hong Xiuquan felt that the crisis was getting worse and worse. So he began to organize the members of the church by means of military organization, so that they could unify the orders. By 1850, Hong Xiuquan had broken with the Qing Dynasty, and he ranked himself alongside Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang, making the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty his goal.
Later, the Qing Dynasty sent local troops to besiege Hong Xiuquan's Worship of God. However, the God Worship Society moved quickly and was well organized, and soon broke through the encirclement of the Qing army. In the course of the battle, Hong Xiuquan announced the establishment of the "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom", and a vigorous peasant movement began. It can be seen that the rise of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is closely related to the tight organization of the Worship of God Society.
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