As the most influential civil secret organization in the Qing Dynasty, the origin and development of the Tiandihui have attracted much attention. Many people have a stereotype of the Heaven and Earth Society, believing that it was an underground armed force dedicated to fighting against the Qing court and restoring the Ming Dynasty. However, this is not the original intention of the establishment of the Heaven and Earth Society, its origin is just a group of low-level people spontaneously organized in order to help each other and tide over the difficulties together.
According to the records of Qing history, the Tiandihui can be traced back to the 26th year of Qianlong (1761) when it was founded in Zhenpu Township, Chun'an County, Fujian. The founder, Wan Tixi, was a monk with a common surname of Wan, and when he saw that the people at the bottom were oppressed under the heavy extortion of the Qing court, he came up with the idea of organizing fellow villagers to support each other. He gathered villagers to gather secretly to learn martial arts from each other to distract the Qing court, and this spontaneous mutual aid organization soon grew in the local area.
Wan Tixi not only called on the township, but also organized small-scale uprisings on several occasions in an attempt to change the situation of the local poor. Although these uprisings were quickly put down, the seeds of the Heaven and Earth Society had taken root among the people. In the late Qianlong period, as the corruption of the Qing court intensified and the people were struggling to make a living, the Heaven and Earth Society gradually developed and grew in the southern region and became the main force against the tyranny of the Qing court. In order to escape the persecution of the Qing Dynasty, a large number of people who joined the Tiandihui set off a wave of "going to the South Seas" and went to Southeast Asia to make a living.
In this wave of immigration, there is one person whose experience is striking - Luo Fangbo, a native of Meixian County, Guangdong. Luo Fangbo has been studious and diligent since he was a child, and he is determined to change his fate through the imperial examination. However, the government and the opposition were stupid, and he couldn't even pass the township test, and he completely lost hope in his career. By chance, he became acquainted with fellow countryman Wu Yuansheng and joined the Heaven and Earth Society, and the two had planned an uprising together, but it was quickly suppressed. Wu Yuansheng fled to Borneo (present-day Kalimantan) in South Seas, where he founded a trading company, and business gradually prospered.
Luo Fangbo later fled to Borneo and joined Wu Yuansheng's company. With his extraordinary talent, Luo Fangbo soon replaced Wu Yuansheng and became the de facto helmsman of the company. He was deeply sympathetic to the poverty of the local Chinese and determined to improve their living conditions, and after investigation, Luo Fangbo discovered that Borneo was rich in gold, so he founded a gold mining company, using the gold trade to get rich and give back the wealth to the local people.
After the living environment improved, Luo Fangbo set out to solve the law and order problem in Borneo. He united the Chinese forces and joined forces with the local sultan regime to quell the bandits and pirates rampant on the island and win the hearts and minds of the people. Seeing that Luo Fangbo's strength was growing, the king of the sultan took the initiative to surrender and cede the throne to him. In 1777, Luo Fangbo established the Republic of Lan Phong in Dong Van Loh (present-day Pontianak Province) and served as the leader of the country.
The Republic of Lan Pong was the first republican regime established by overseas Chinese in Chinese history, and at its peak, its territory even exceeded that of two Japans.
As an emerging country, the Republic of Lanfang faces numerous threats from within and without. In order to obtain the protection of a great power and consolidate the status of the country, Luo Fangbo immediately sent envoys to the Qing Dynasty to ask Emperor Qianlong to claim the title of vassal, but Emperor Qianlong did not take this remote and small country into account at all, regarded it as a nest of pirates, and rejected Luo Fangbo's request.
Despite this, in order to protect himself, Luo Fangbo still declared that the Republic of Lanfang was already a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, which played a certain deterrent effect and made the Dutch colonists who had always coveted the Republic of Lanfang temporarily jealous. The two sides have come and gone in trade, and Luo Fangbo is also willing to develop economic and trade relations with the Qing Dynasty.
However, after a long time, the Qing Dynasty still did not officially recognize the status of the Lanfang Republic, and Luo Fangbo deeply regretted this. On his deathbed, he told his countrymen that no matter who succeeded to the throne as the leader of the country, they should take the return to the Qing Dynasty as a top priority, in order to obtain the protection of a great power.
After Luo Fangbo's death, the Lanfang Republic maintained a relatively stable rule for a time. However, in the late 19th century, the Qing Dynasty's national power was declining and it was no longer able to intervene in Nanyang affairs. The Dutch colonists took advantage of the invasion, and the Republic of Lanfang experienced a long struggle. Despite the heroic resistance of the Chinese people, due to the disparity in strength, it was finally completely occupied by the Dutch East Indies government in 1884, and the Republic of Lanfang, which had existed for nearly 110 years, came to an end.
Despite this, Luo Fangbo's deeds and the history of the Republic of Lan Fang still have a profound impact on the local area. To this day, there are still a considerable number of Chinese descendants living here on Kalimantan Island, who insist on using the Chinese language and continuing the language and cultural traditions of their ancestors. They have not forgotten Luo Fangbo's teachings back then, and regard the history of the Lanfang Republic as their pride.
Although Luo Fangbo and others failed to establish a long-term peace and stability in Nanyang, they made unremitting efforts and great sacrifices for the cause of national freedom and people's liberation, and the Heaven and Earth Society, as an important node in the process of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, has eternal historical significance and influence.