Origins of the Taiping Rebellion
- Created by: louisemeller
- Created on: 13-11-15 13:33
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- Origins of the Taiping Rebellion (Hong XiuQuan)
- Economic
- Econmic downturn
- Silver drain
- Higher taxes
- Econmic downturn
- Social
- Widespread opium addiction
- Drug and sex industries in Canton
- Ethnic conflict: Hakka vs Punti
- Local wars and ethnic fragmentation- feuds between villages
- Hakka immigrants from north- customs set them apart from Han Chinese and hill tribes
- Economic competition between Hakkas and dominant majority
- Armed conflicts since c.1842
- Hakkas= minority. Hong was a Hakka
- Had to 'fit' with native culture
- Local wars and ethnic fragmentation- feuds between villages
- Population explosion C18 and C19
- Hong was educated in common body and canonical literature
- Unexpected that he would abandon his literary heritage and culture
- Religious
- Hong's conversion
- 1844- tour of southern provinces
- 1847- two months with missionary Issachar Jacox Roberts
- Taught him fundamental protestantism
- Visions- Heavenly King and second son of God
- 1837- met Heavenly Father and Heavenly Elder Brother
- Heavenly and Earthly missions- destroy demons
- Hong preached own version of Old Testament and became a militant evangelist
- Created an iconoclastic monotheism strong enough to create Taiping theocracy
- Too blasphemous for missionary support
- Half-borrowed and half-recreated Christianity for Taiping purposes
- Protestant OT encouraged a militant people to march against oppressors
- Created an iconoclastic monotheism strong enough to create Taiping theocracy
- Ill/ delirious for 40 days= visions of heaven
- Converted Kwangsi Hakkas over next decade
- Hong's only known exposure to Christianity pre-1840= 'Good Words to Admonish the Age'
- Written by a Cantonese Christian convert
- Introduced concept of Jesus as saviour
- Written by a Cantonese Christian convert
- Hong's writings
- Convinced that Christian revelation would transform Chinese spiritual life if it were widespread
- Revealing in terms of intitutionalis-ing his vision
- Little emphasis on the nation but large focus on families and individuals
- Hong's conversion
- Political
- Number of examination candidates increased
- Qing failed to increase number of degrees and government posts
- Provincial exam statistics
- 1558= 2,700 candidates, 75 graduates
- 1729= 9,000 candidates, 78 graduates
- 1844- 7,500 candidates, 72 graduates
- Hong Xiuquan- examination failures c.1830, 1836, 1837, 1843
- Could not gain bacc. degree or elite status
- Late 1840s- Politicisation of God Worshippers
- Hong wrote poems of political implication
- Number of examination candidates increased
- Western/ external forces
- First Opium War (1839-42)
- 'Unequal Treaties'
- China and West met under 'traumatic circumstances' C19
- Ideas can be transmitted through:
- Precise language of textual material impinged upon host culture
- Process whereby foreign material becomes important to groups outside of original receiving group
- Economic
- Notes from: Fairbank, 'China: A New History'
- Notes from: Kuhn, 'Origins of the Taiping Vision: Cross-Cultural Dimensions of a Chinese Rebellion'
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