CHAPTER FIVE

THE TAIGU SCHOOL (太古学派) AND THE YELLOW CLIFF TEACHING (黄崖教): ANOTHER CASE OF TRANSFORMATION FROM CONFUCIAN ACADEMIC GROUP TO RELIGIOUS SECT, (韩秉方, “太古学派与黄崖教—又一个儒家学术团体向宗教演化的典型”)

Han Bingfang

Abstract

The Yellow Cliff Teaching (Huangya jiao 黄崖教)—also known as the Great Accomplishment Teaching (Dacheng jiao 大成教), the Kongtong Teaching (Kongtong jiao 崆峒教) or the Taizhou Teaching (Taizhou jiao 泰州教)—was a popular religious sect that evolved from the Taigu School (Taigu xuepai 太古学派). Its founder was Zhou Taigu (周太古), who posed as the master of the learning handed down from “Fuxi (伏羲), the King Wen of Zhou (周文王), the Regent of Zhou (周公), Confucius and Zhou Dunyi (周敦颐)” and left one book entitled The Remaining Writings of Zhou Taigu (Zhoushi yishu 周氏遗书). This sect was carried by Jizhong (张积中) and Li Guangxin (李光炘), the two great disciples of Zhou, and lasted as long as four genera- tions. The doctrine of this sect was characterized by its self-imposed mandate of recreating the learning of past sages. Furthermore, it established its own creed named the “learning of force and sincerity” (Qiang cheng zhi xue 强诚 之学). This sect absorbed ideas from both Buddhism and Daoism and incor- porated them; then, it developed into a religion. At the turn of Qing and Republican , it spread in secret in the southeastern coastal regions and exerted great influence. Later, it came to public attention because of the “case of Yellow Cliff heterodoxy” that shocked the reign and the people. This paper traces the complete process of how the Taigu School transformed into a religious sect. Keywords: the Taigu School; the Yellow Cliff Teaching; Confucianism

(268, original page number, similarly hereinafter) In the tenth month of the fifth year of Tongzhi (1866), an incident—the “case of Yellow Cliff heterodoxy”—occurred at the Yellow Cliff Mountain, located at the border between Feicheng and Changqing Counties in Province. This case aroused the attention of both the imperial court and the public. 208 han bingfang

At that time, the Nian Rebellion was very active in the vast “Jiang- huai 江淮”—the region between the Yangtze River and the River Huai, in Henan and Shandong provinces. Wars constantly broke out and the local society was not yet pacified. Zhang Jizhong (张积中), a Confucian scholar from Yizheng in , taught at the Yellow Cliff Mountain, where he built a stronghold on the slope of hill and organized a group that was versed in both letters and martial arts, and consisted of scholars, peasants, merchants and soldiers. Later, Yan Jingming, governor of Shandong, judged this group to be a “heresy that colludes with rebels” and sent troops to exterminate it. (223) From their stronghold on the hill, these members fought against the government forces with desperate courage. Although they were very brave, the spirit of chivalry was no match for the official armed troops and finally the stronghold and its members were annihilated. Then, Zhang Jizhong led the remaining male and female followers to immolate themselves. None surrendered to the authorities. The Qing troops allowed its soldiers to loot the area, and the number of inno- cent people killed was more than ten thousand. The massacre caused a great sensation. Since then on, in this field of study, there had been a longstanding debate about the political and the academic attributes of the Yellow Cliff Teaching (Huangya jiao 黄崖教). Some called it the Great Accom- plishment Teaching (Dacheng jiao 大成教), the Kongtong Teaching (Kongtong jiao 崆峒教) or the Taizhou Teaching (Taizhou jiao 泰州教) and argued it was a religion. Meanwhile, others denied it had any reli- gious nature and named it the New Taizhou School (Xin taizhou xuepai 新泰州学派) or the Taigu School (Taigu xuepai 太古学派). This paper observes: Zhou Taigu founded this sect, recruited fol- lowers and created an independent doctrine; his successors—Zhang Jizhong and Li Guangxin (李光炘)—carried forward Zhou’s ideas and developed this sect into a new school, an academic group that exerted certain degree of influence. Nevertheless, we must admit that since its creation, this school was enveloped in a shroud of mystery and its religious attributes were constantly growing as the academic group expanded. The Society of Yellow Cliff Mountain in particular, which was founded by Zhang Jizhong, had all characteristics of religion and could be called the Yellow Cliff Teaching.1

1 Historical records in this paper were collected by Han Binfang (韩秉方) and Ma Xisha (马西沙). Han Binfang did the actual writing.