Hong Xiuquan

  • Hong Xiuquan
  • 洪秀全
Heavenly King of Great Peace
Alleged[a] drawing of Hong Xiuquan, dating from around early 1850s.
Taiping Heavenly King
Reign11 January 1851 – 1 June 1864
PredecessorKingdom established
SuccessorHong Tianguifu
BornHong Huoxiu (洪火秀)
(1814-01-01)1 January 1814
Hua County, Guangdong, Qing China
Died1 June 1864(1864-06-01) (aged 50)
Tianjing, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
SpouseLai Xiying (賴惜英)[2] or Lai Lianying (賴蓮英)[3]
Issue
  • Princess Hong Tianjiao (洪天姣)[3]
  • Hong Tianguifu, Junior Heavenly King[3]
  • Hong Tianming, Ming King (明王 洪天明)[3]
  • Hong Tianguang, Guang King (光王 洪天光)[3]
  • Hong Tianyou, Junior East King (幼東王 洪天佑)
Names
Hong Xiuquan (洪秀全)
Era name and dates
太平天囯: 11 January 1851 – 1 June 1864
HouseHong
FatherHong Jingyang (洪鏡揚)[3]
MotherMadam Wang (王氏)
ReligionSyncretism of Christian protestantism and Chinese folk religion (God Worshipping Society)
Hong Xiuquan
Chinese
Courtesy name
Chinese
Birth name
Chinese

Hong Xiuquan[b] (1 January 1814[2] – 1 June 1864), born Hong Huoxiu[c] and with the courtesy name Renkun, was a Chinese revolutionary and religious leader who led the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty. He established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom over large portions of southern China, with himself as its "Heavenly King".

Born into a Hakka family in Guangdong, Hong claimed to have experienced mystical visions after failing the imperial examination. He came to believe that his celestial father he saw in the visions was God the Father, his celestial elder brother was Jesus Christ, and he had been directed to rid the world of demon worship. He rejected Confucianism and began propagating a fusion of Christianity, Daoism and millenarianism, which Hong presented as a restoration of the ancient Chinese faith in Shangdi.[4][5][6] His associate Feng Yunshan then founded the God Worshipping Society to spread Hong's teachings. By 1850, Hong's sect had over 10,000 followers and increasingly came into conflict with Qing authorities.

In January 1851, Hong organized a rebel army and routed the Qing forces at Jintian, marking the beginning of the Taiping Rebellion. He then declared himself the Heavenly King of the Heavenly Kingdom of Peace. Taiping rebels captured the city of Nanjing in March 1853 and declared it the Heavenly Capital of the kingdom, after which Hong withdrew to his new palace and began ruling through proclamations. He became increasingly suspicious of Yang Xiuqing, his fellow Taiping leader, and engineered Yang's murder in a 1856 purge that spiraled into the further purge of more Taiping leaders. The kingdom gradually lost ground and in June 1864, in the face of Qing advance, Hong died following a period of illness and was succeeded by his son, Hong Tianguifu. Nanjing fell a month later.

  1. ^ Bohr, P. Richard (2009). "Did the Hakka Save China? Ethnicity, Identity, and Minority Status in China's Modern Transformation". Headwaters. 26. College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University: 13.
  2. ^ a b Jen 1973, p. 10.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "洪天贵福亲书自述、诗句" (PDF). jds.cssn.cn (in Chinese). 1 September 1997.
  4. ^ Spence (1996), pp. 78–80.
  5. ^ Kilcourse (2016), p. [page needed].
  6. ^ Reilly (2004), p. 4.


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