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A Study on Political Thoughts Produced in the Taiping Rebellion

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ISSN 1927-0232 [Print] Higher Education of Social Science ISSN 1927-0240 [Online] Vol. 6, No. 2, 2014, pp. 84-88 www.cscanada.net DOI:10.3968/j.hess.1927024020140602.4427 www.cscanada.org A Study on Political Thoughts Produced in the Taiping Rebellion WEI Xiaoyang[a],* [a]School of Political Science and Public Management, Southwest Heavenly Kingdom was a regime established by farmers University, Chongqing, China. in the late Qing Dynasty through peasant uprising, the *Corresponding author. largest peasant war in the history of China. The Taiping Received 17 December 2013; accepted 20 January 2014 Rebellion lasted fifteen years, during which a wealth of political thoughts have been produced and these thoughts Abstract have promoted the development and progress of China’s The Taiping Rebellion which happened in the past China politics as well as inspired the morale of poor masses at lasted fifteen years, during which a wealth of political that period to fight against imperialism and feudalism. In thoughts have been produced and these thoughts have general, the political thoughts produced during the Taiping promoted the development and progress of China’s Heavenly Kingdom period have undergone a process of politics as well as inspired the morale of poor masses in gradual development, which are of great significance and that period to fight against imperialism and feudalism. In inspiration to the development of contemporary Chinese general, the political thoughts produced during the Taiping politics. Hong Xiuquan and Hong Rengan are two main Heavenly Kingdom period have undergone a process of representatives of this Rebellion, with The Land System of gradual development, which are of great significance and the Heavenly Kingdom and New Administrative Paper as inspiration to the development of contemporary Chinese the main works. politics. Hong Xiuquan and Hong Rengan are two main representatives of this Rebellion, with The Land System of 1. SOCIAL BACKGROUND the Heavenly Kingdom and New Administrative Paper as the main works. The political thoughts produced in the Taiping Heavenly Taiping Heavenly Kingdom; Hong Kingdom are closely related to China’s social background Key words: at that time. Therefore, before analyzing these political Xiuquan; Hong Rengan thoughts, it is highly necessary for us to briefly review the situation in all aspects of Chinese society. WEI Xiaoyang (2014). A Study on Political Thoughts Produced in the Taiping Rebellion. Higher Education of Social 1.1 Economy Science, 6 (2), 84-88. Available from: http://www.cscanada.net/ index.php/hess/article/view/j.hess.1927024020140602.4427 In the Highlights of Chinese Culture, Liang Shuming DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/j.hess.1927024020140602.4427 points out that we can witness a periodic law existing in China’s feudal history—“Peace follows turbulence and turbulence follows peace”. The main reason is that since the Qin and Han dynasties, China had not gone through INTRODUCTION any major revolution in terms of production mode, and the On January, 1851, the Taiping Rebellion broke out in national economic situation depended on the concentration & China, which was the result of the acuteness of class and distribution of land. In Qing society (1940s 1950s), conflict between landlords and peasants in the late the arable land was limited and concentrated in the feudal Chinese society, and was also the reflection of hands of few wealthy landowners; population was on the sharpening of social conflict between the invading a rise, and a large number people became unemployed, forces of capitalism and the masses. Besides, the Taiping so the disparities between the rich and poor were very Copyright © Canadian Research & Development Center of Sciences and Cultures 84 WEI Xiaoyang (2014). Higher Education of Social Science, 6(2), 84-88 large. Meanwhile, the massive importation of opium an unexpected pamphlet—“Good Words to Persuade the led to an outflow of silver and devaluation of coins, World”, which was aimed to spread Christianity, but he which further led to soaring prices and oddly heavy did not pay much attention at the very beginning. Later, he land tax. Peasants led an increasingly impoverished life. went through a turning point of his life in 1837 when he Moreover, what is worthy of mentioning is that at that became seriously ill after failing the imperial examination. time floods and droughts frequented China for successive During that period, he dreamed a lot of weird dreams. years. And disaster-afflicted areas were so vast that they And he reread the book— “Good Words to Persuade the even included the provinces in the Yellow River Basin World”. Soon he founded the Society of God Worshippers. and the Yangtze River Basin. All the above-mentioned Hong took in and made some changes about certain circumstances are from the perspective of economy. doctrines and rituals of Western Christianity, creating an organizational tool and a form of ideology adapted to the 1.2 Politics uprising of Chinese peasants. During the period of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Qing “God is the only power”. This is the core of Hong government can be regarded as an absolute monarchy. Its Xiuquan’s religious thoughts. Hong Xiuquan established political organizations were more complete than those in God as the representative of Chinese farmers’ interests, the previous dynasties with the emperor holding all the and made advantage of it to fight against the tyrannical military and political powers. As far as the autocracy is ruling of the Qing monarchy. Hong was convinced that concerned, if the leader was honest and open, the country God was the only immortal. So according to him, the ruler would thrive; If the leader was incompetent, the country of Qing dynasty blasphemed God by falsely claiming that would decline. Unfortunately, since the ruling of Emperor he was the God; instead, Hong believed that the ruler was Jiaqing, all the emperors had been incompetent. So we can a “demon” in essence who must be completely eradicated. easily understand the decadent of Qing government—the Hong Xiuquan self-proclaimed that he was the second monarchy. Besides, Western imperialism started to invade son of God, the Jesus’ brother, who had the overwhelming China, so China’s monarchy began to fade away. While power to eradicate demons and was assigned to the earth disturbance and unrest repeated in China, corruption to get rid of demons. problem worsened among Qing government officials, hence public discontent continued to accumulate. This is 2.2 Thoughts on Equality the social background from the perspective of politics. By associating the equality teachings of Christianity with China’s traditional family ethics and the demand for 1.3 National Conflict equality from the majority of farmers, Hong Xiuquan put Ever since the demise of Ming dynasty and the rise of Qing forward four equality thoughts with the characteristics of dynasty, the thought of “rebelling the Qing dynasty and the times, namely, political equality, economic equality, rebuilding the Ming dynasty” had been existent. Moreover, gender equality and ethnic equality. Hong Xiuquan after the occurrence of Opium War, the corruption of Qing regarded that people in the world were all the children of government inspired Han people to overthrow the ruling of God, so people should be on an equal footing, enjoying Manchu people. In this sense, the national conflict between political rights and sharing public wealth. Moreover, he Han and Manchu reached an unprecedented level. This is believed that nations should live in harmony. In short, Hong the background of ethnic relations. Xiuquan moved the equality in heaven down to earth and criticized the privilege of feudal monarchy, by the means 2. THE POLITICAL THOUGHTS OF of which he inspired Chinese peasants to fight against oppression and exploitation from Qing government. HONG XIUQUAN 2.3 Thoughts on Reform 2.1 Religious Thoughts Shortly after completely abandoning the fantasy of Hong Xiuquan (1814-1864) was a farmer born in Hua gaining fame through imperial examination and creating County, Guangdong Province. Since he used to work his own religious thoughts, Hong Xiuquan accomplished as a farmer and had a better understanding of farmers’ three famous books which were Yuan Dao Jiu Shi Ge, sufferings and needs, a solid foundation was laid for him Yuan Dao Jing Shi Xun and Yuan Dao Jue Shi Xun. In to mingle with the farmers. At the first beginning, Hong the three books, we can see his major thoughts on reform Xiuquan intended to seek fame through the imperial from Hong. In general these are as follows: examination, but he repeatedly failed, which made him 2.3.1 Promoting Reforms discontent with the ruling of Qing government. What is Hong Xiuquan once wrote in Yuan Dao Jing Shi Xun that more, his dissatisfaction with the Qing government was the brutal social reality and people’s coldness and hatred enhanced by the incompetence and corruption of the were all owing to the private ownership of land. In this government, so he joined in the peasants’ struggle to fight kind of society, people fought each other for land, and no against the ruling of Qing government. In 1836, he got light could be seen. Therefore, only by reforming would 85 Copyright © Canadian Research & Development Center of Sciences and Cultures A Study on Political Thoughts Produced in the Taiping Rebellion we see light. Besides, Hong pointed out that in order to The central issue of this document is to solve the land build a harmonious society where people would become problem of farmers. It is the first land program for peasant members in a big family, staging reforms could play a revolution in modern Chinese history, and is also the part, so that a disturbing society could turn into a decent program guiding Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to build its and fair one.
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