When it comes to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, many people's first reaction may be those magnificent descriptions in history textbooks. In this short "kingdom of heaven" in history, there is an incredible decree - husband and wife are not allowed to sleep together! Yes, you heard it right, even legal couples can't sleep together at night. Doesn't that sound incredible? The British were also confused back then, and directly asked Yang Xiuqing what was going on. Yang Xiuqing's answer is even more ridiculous.
Hong Xiuquan, formerly known as Hong Renji, is a Guangdong scholar who has failed in consecutive imperial examinations. After repeated failures in the imperial examinations, he was filled with disappointment with the Manchu government and society as a whole. At the critical moment, Hong Xiuquan had a strange dream, in which he was told to take on the responsibility of driving out the evil in the world. In this way, an ordinary peasant scholar began his journey to change Chinese history.
Hong Xiuquan came into contact with the teachings of Christianity and incorporated certain ideas of Confucianism to create the Worship of God. The fact that he claimed to be the younger brother of Jesus was enough to shock people at the time. His Reformation was not only spiritual, but also involved all aspects of social and political affairs. With his strong personal charm and the power of religious beliefs, Hong Xiuquan succeeded in gathering a large number of followers, which was the prototype of the later Taiping Heavenly Kingdom army.
At the beginning of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, many subversive policies were proposed, including the nationalization of land, the abolition of the imperial examination system, and the equality of men and women, all of which were very avant-garde at the time. Especially in terms of women's rights, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has paid unprecedented attention. Not only did women not bind their feet, but they could also participate in labor and fighting, which was undoubtedly a revolution in the Qing Dynasty society, which was extremely oppressive by feudal etiquette and religion.
However, some of the policies of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were also highly controversial, the most incomprehensible of which was the clause that "husbands and wives were not allowed to sleep together". According to historical records, this policy was to reduce the fertility of the population in order to better control and manage. But this explanation is obviously not entirely convincing. At that time, the British questioned this strange regulation, and Yang Xiuqing's explanation made people laugh and cry, saying that it was to prevent people from forming a party and rebelling in private at night. Isn't that far-fetched, you say?
During the brief existence of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Hong Xiuquan's regime actually showed great radicalism and revolution, but at the same time it exposed huge shortcomings in management. Due to the lack of effective governance experience and internal disagreements, the internal contradictions of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom intensified. Especially under the leadership of Hong Xiuquan, the operation of the government is quite mysterious and arbitrary, and all kinds of strange policies emerge one after another.
And the military operations of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were also full of twists and turns. At first, due to the corruption and incompetence of the Qing government, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom army was almost overwhelmed, and at one point captured Nanjing, designated it as Tianjing, and established its own center of power. However, the good times did not last long, and internal divisions and external pressures caused the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to begin to decline. In the end, under the double blow of internal and external troubles, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was completely destroyed in 1864.
Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was short-lived, it left a deep mark on Chinese history. It was the first large-scale uprising in modern Chinese history with peasants as the main body, and a series of reform ideas put forward by it, especially on land, bureaucracy, and social justice, had a profound impact on the subsequent reform and opening up. It also exposes the many contradictions and challenges faced by traditional Chinese society in the face of modernization.
Why did the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom prohibit husbands and wives from sleeping together? Behind this policy was the extreme method of social control of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom at that time. In their view, it is necessary to maintain the stability of the regime through strict social norms and behavioral controls. This extreme control was also one of the reasons for the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. People's free will and basic living habits are seriously suppressed, and in the long run, they can only arouse the resentment and resistance of the people.
In addition to these political and military stories, there are many lesser-known cultural and social phenomena during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. For example, the "Heavenly Dynasty Tianmu System" promoted by them tried to break the traditional feudal land ownership and achieve equal distribution of land. Although this system was not fully implemented, its ideas had a certain enlightening effect on later land reform.
The story of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is full of drama and complexity, from the dream of a peasant scholar to the establishment of an independent regime with a population of millions, and finally to its collapse. In this process, countless farmers and believers paid with their lives, and their dreams and ideals were short-lived, but they were deeply imprinted in the long river of Chinese history.