First, the obligatory administrative stuff: I’ve never written a timeline before, so please be gentle when telling me how much I suck. This timeline will describe an alternate Taiping Rebellion, that being the civil war which tore China apart in the mid-19th century. I’ve never been much for the “1899: Important Thing Happened” style of alternate history, so I’m going to take a kind of history book approach to what happened, with occasional first-person bits. Additionally, there won’t be one big point when everything changes; rather, there will be a series of small unfortunate events (unfortunate if you’re a fan of the Qing Dynasty, that is). The real exciting stuff will start around 1850, but this post will mostly be about setting the stage for what’s to come. And . . . that’s it for the obligatory administrative stuff! So we begin.
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Introduction: The Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, and the Other Guy
Excerpted from “Hong Xiuquan: The Man, the King, the God,” by Honda Keisuke. People’s University of Tokyo Press, 1979.
- 洪秀全 (Hong Xiuquan) was a man who could safely be discounted. For there were millions of others exactly like him. Born in the village of 福源水(Fuyuanshui) in Guangdong on January 1st, 1814 as 洪仁坤 (Hong Renkun), his parents, 洪兢扬 (Hong Jingyang) and 王氏 (Wang Shi) were members of the semi-proletariat middle-peasant class. Hong Xiuquan thus came of age under the thumb of the imperialist exploiting classes, who for centuries had held the laboring peasant masses in a state of feudal quasi-serfdom.
Hong was by all accounts a dutiful student, although his formal education was cut short at the age of fifteen, when his parents could no longer afford tuition fees. He continued studying on his own, and in 1836 traveled to the provincial capital of 广州 (Guangzhou) to take the civil service examinations. He returned home empty-handed, as did more than 95% of all those who attempted to earn degrees. Hong’s humble class origins worked against him; although examples of poor men who earned a degree and went on to fame and fortune were heavily publicized, in reality most of the degrees went to privileged scions of the reactionary elite classes. Hong sat the exams three more times, failing on each occasion. It was after his third failure that he had his first dreams, or “revelations” as they would later be called. Although previous scholarship has placed Hong Xiuquan in the role of proto-Marxist revolutionary, I will use a post-Modernist-neo-structuralist-anti-colonialist-deconstructo-formulistic Fourth Wave Marxism-Fukuzawaism (1) approach to argue that in fact, Hong was . . .
Excerpted from “The Birth of the Red Heresy,” by Paolo Bellucci. University of Florence Press, 1950. (2)
- In 1837, after failing the civil service examinations for the third time, Hong Xiuquan slipped into a fit of delirium, probably brought on by a combination of stress and shame. In the words of the famous Austrian psychoanalyst Adolf Hitler (3), it was “the panic attack that changed the world.” The series of dreams that Hong had in this state have been written about and dramatized a thousand times. This volume will content itself with the facts. Hong later claimed that in his dreams he saw an old man complaining that men were worshipping demons instead of him, followed by Confucius being tortured for his sins and then repenting. In his most vivid hallucination, Hong dreamt of being brought to heaven on the wings of angels and meeting a golden-bearded man who ordered him to rid the world of evil, after which he took out Hong’s organs and replaced them with new ones. Most critically, the bearded man addressed Hong as “Younger Brother.”
Hong saw no greater meaning in these dreams for six years, until in 1843 he failed the examinations for the fourth time. It was then that his cousin Li Jingfang gave him the book 劝世良言 (Quan shi liang yan, or Good Words to Exhort the World), a Christian tract by the writer Liang Afa. Thus was the Red Heresy born; Hong immediately connected the tenets of Christianity to his dreams from six years earlier. He saw himself as the adopted younger brother of Jesus Christ, who had been sent by God to rid China of Confucianism and found a new heavenly kingdom. Hong’s first converts were his cousins Feng Yunshan and Hong Rengan, who had also repeatedly failed the civil service examinations. After being forced out of their village by Confucians, the three men traveled to 广西 (Guangxi Province), where they began to preach and by 1850 had assembled a group of at least 10,000 converts, known as the 拜上帝会 (Bai Shangdi hui, or God-Worshippers Society).
Excerpted from “Bad Houseguests: The History of the Kejia People,” by Allison Seymour. New York: Goldman, Sachs and Company, 2002.
- Although much has been written about the religious dimensions of the Taiping Rebellion, relatively little mention has been given to its origins as an ethnically-based movement. In fact, Hong Xiuquan, his cousins, and the core of the Taiping army and administration were members of the 客家 (Kejia) minority. The 客家 (Kejia, or Hakka, literally meaning “guest people”) have a long and complicated history . . .
The earliest supporters of the Taiping Rebellion came not only from the Kejia, but from another prominent ethnic minority in Southern China – the 壮 (Zhuang) people. In effect the Taiping Rebellion began as an uprising by disaffected minority peasants, spurred into action by their charismatic leader.
NOTES
(1) This would be 福澤諭吉 (Fukuzawa Yukichi), who in the real world was an incredibly influential Japanese philosopher, educator, and political theorist. I have plans for him.
(2) Hong’s heterodox interpretation of Christianity has been dubbed “The Red Heresy” due to a mistake made by his former teacher, American missionary Issachar Jacox Roberts. As Hong’s fame grew, so too did Roberts’, and in 1858 he published a book detailing his experiences entitled My Name is Red. This title was chosen based on Roberts’ mistaken belief – his Chinese wasn’t that great – that the “Hong” in Hong Xiuquan was written with the character 红, which means red. In fact it’s written with the character 洪, which means vast or grand. Roberts was unaware of this fact, and even if he had been, My Name is Vast just doesn’t sound as good. Like all misunderstandings it spread rapidly, unchecked by the truth, and even today Hong Christianity is commonly referred to as the “Red Heresy,” and the Great Kingdom of Heavenly Peace is often simply known as “Red China.”
(3) I couldn’t resist. Sorry. Naturally I was going to write “the famous Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud,” but I thought of that other famous Austrian and immediately had a mental image of Hitler stroking his mustache and saying to some hapless patient, “So . . . tell me about your mother.”
* Careful readers will notice that everything so far pretty much happened in real life – there’s not too much alternate in this history yet. Sorry. I did it this way because the Taiping Rebellion isn’t as well known in the West as it might be, and thus I thought it was important to establish the context in which it occurred. Next update coming tomorrow.
**********************
Introduction: The Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, and the Other Guy
Excerpted from “Hong Xiuquan: The Man, the King, the God,” by Honda Keisuke. People’s University of Tokyo Press, 1979.
- 洪秀全 (Hong Xiuquan) was a man who could safely be discounted. For there were millions of others exactly like him. Born in the village of 福源水(Fuyuanshui) in Guangdong on January 1st, 1814 as 洪仁坤 (Hong Renkun), his parents, 洪兢扬 (Hong Jingyang) and 王氏 (Wang Shi) were members of the semi-proletariat middle-peasant class. Hong Xiuquan thus came of age under the thumb of the imperialist exploiting classes, who for centuries had held the laboring peasant masses in a state of feudal quasi-serfdom.
Hong was by all accounts a dutiful student, although his formal education was cut short at the age of fifteen, when his parents could no longer afford tuition fees. He continued studying on his own, and in 1836 traveled to the provincial capital of 广州 (Guangzhou) to take the civil service examinations. He returned home empty-handed, as did more than 95% of all those who attempted to earn degrees. Hong’s humble class origins worked against him; although examples of poor men who earned a degree and went on to fame and fortune were heavily publicized, in reality most of the degrees went to privileged scions of the reactionary elite classes. Hong sat the exams three more times, failing on each occasion. It was after his third failure that he had his first dreams, or “revelations” as they would later be called. Although previous scholarship has placed Hong Xiuquan in the role of proto-Marxist revolutionary, I will use a post-Modernist-neo-structuralist-anti-colonialist-deconstructo-formulistic Fourth Wave Marxism-Fukuzawaism (1) approach to argue that in fact, Hong was . . .
Excerpted from “The Birth of the Red Heresy,” by Paolo Bellucci. University of Florence Press, 1950. (2)
- In 1837, after failing the civil service examinations for the third time, Hong Xiuquan slipped into a fit of delirium, probably brought on by a combination of stress and shame. In the words of the famous Austrian psychoanalyst Adolf Hitler (3), it was “the panic attack that changed the world.” The series of dreams that Hong had in this state have been written about and dramatized a thousand times. This volume will content itself with the facts. Hong later claimed that in his dreams he saw an old man complaining that men were worshipping demons instead of him, followed by Confucius being tortured for his sins and then repenting. In his most vivid hallucination, Hong dreamt of being brought to heaven on the wings of angels and meeting a golden-bearded man who ordered him to rid the world of evil, after which he took out Hong’s organs and replaced them with new ones. Most critically, the bearded man addressed Hong as “Younger Brother.”
Hong saw no greater meaning in these dreams for six years, until in 1843 he failed the examinations for the fourth time. It was then that his cousin Li Jingfang gave him the book 劝世良言 (Quan shi liang yan, or Good Words to Exhort the World), a Christian tract by the writer Liang Afa. Thus was the Red Heresy born; Hong immediately connected the tenets of Christianity to his dreams from six years earlier. He saw himself as the adopted younger brother of Jesus Christ, who had been sent by God to rid China of Confucianism and found a new heavenly kingdom. Hong’s first converts were his cousins Feng Yunshan and Hong Rengan, who had also repeatedly failed the civil service examinations. After being forced out of their village by Confucians, the three men traveled to 广西 (Guangxi Province), where they began to preach and by 1850 had assembled a group of at least 10,000 converts, known as the 拜上帝会 (Bai Shangdi hui, or God-Worshippers Society).
Excerpted from “Bad Houseguests: The History of the Kejia People,” by Allison Seymour. New York: Goldman, Sachs and Company, 2002.
- Although much has been written about the religious dimensions of the Taiping Rebellion, relatively little mention has been given to its origins as an ethnically-based movement. In fact, Hong Xiuquan, his cousins, and the core of the Taiping army and administration were members of the 客家 (Kejia) minority. The 客家 (Kejia, or Hakka, literally meaning “guest people”) have a long and complicated history . . .
The earliest supporters of the Taiping Rebellion came not only from the Kejia, but from another prominent ethnic minority in Southern China – the 壮 (Zhuang) people. In effect the Taiping Rebellion began as an uprising by disaffected minority peasants, spurred into action by their charismatic leader.
NOTES
(1) This would be 福澤諭吉 (Fukuzawa Yukichi), who in the real world was an incredibly influential Japanese philosopher, educator, and political theorist. I have plans for him.
(2) Hong’s heterodox interpretation of Christianity has been dubbed “The Red Heresy” due to a mistake made by his former teacher, American missionary Issachar Jacox Roberts. As Hong’s fame grew, so too did Roberts’, and in 1858 he published a book detailing his experiences entitled My Name is Red. This title was chosen based on Roberts’ mistaken belief – his Chinese wasn’t that great – that the “Hong” in Hong Xiuquan was written with the character 红, which means red. In fact it’s written with the character 洪, which means vast or grand. Roberts was unaware of this fact, and even if he had been, My Name is Vast just doesn’t sound as good. Like all misunderstandings it spread rapidly, unchecked by the truth, and even today Hong Christianity is commonly referred to as the “Red Heresy,” and the Great Kingdom of Heavenly Peace is often simply known as “Red China.”
(3) I couldn’t resist. Sorry. Naturally I was going to write “the famous Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud,” but I thought of that other famous Austrian and immediately had a mental image of Hitler stroking his mustache and saying to some hapless patient, “So . . . tell me about your mother.”
* Careful readers will notice that everything so far pretty much happened in real life – there’s not too much alternate in this history yet. Sorry. I did it this way because the Taiping Rebellion isn’t as well known in the West as it might be, and thus I thought it was important to establish the context in which it occurred. Next update coming tomorrow.
