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The Brothers K's avatar

Oh man, this article really took me back. I used to read about him in high school and came to a similar set of conclusions as you did—though not with this level of detail. One small nitpick, though: I think it’s worth emphasizing that Hong actively rejected Confucianism. Not surprising given his repeated failures in the imperial civil service exams, and the entire system that upheld them was rooted in Confucian classics and ideals.

That said, the “Chinese” elements in his syncretic theology don’t really stem from Confucianism but rather a fusion of Taoist mysticism, Buddhist eschatology, and early pre-Confucian theology and social structure &organization as found in ancient Chinese cosmological texts—ironically, many of which are embedded within the Confucian canon, like the Four Books and Five Classics. So in a sense, he may have mined from pre-Confucian worldviews while rejecting the Confucian moral framework those same texts came to represent. So imagine reading only the Old Testament to construct an entirely different theology, all while rejecting the mainstream religious interpretation that incorporates it.

It also gets really interesting when you look at how Hong might’ve conceptualized the Christian God. His references to "Shangdi" (The Lord on High), sometimes referred to as "Di" or "Tian"—a term for a supreme heavenly deity found in pre-Confucian belief systems—suggest he fused the idea of the Christian God with native Chinese monotheistic traditions. Historically, “Shangdi” was first used by Jesuits to refer to the Christian God when they began their missionary work in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. But the term was changed in favor of “Tianzhu” (Lord of Heaven) in 1715 by Pope Clement XI, because TL;DR: the Christian God is the creator of the universe, whereas Shangdi is merely a divine ruler within an existing cosmology.

However, Protestant missionaries, the ones from whom Hong learned Christianity, continued using "Shangdi" into the 19th century, only clarifying their meaning 13 years *after* the rebellion ended to distinguish the Christian God from the original Chinese cosmological figure. So all this fusion and confusion—perhaps throw in widespread discontent with the current social order in the form of the ruling Qing in its latter years and the accompanying racism towards the ruling Manchus for safe measure—ended up creating proto-unitarian millenarian theology that evolved based on Hong's own understanding of it. Also, a bit of a tangent, but the character of Hong's own surname is the same as "flood", as in the Great Flood of Noah, a wild coincidence that he emphasized a lot and set the tone for the amount of death and destruction that followed in his wake as his rebellion unfolded.

Anyways, end of ramble. Thanks again for writing this—it was a great read and brought a lot back to mind!

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Michael P. Marpaung's avatar

Thanks for your comment here, especially the part on Taiping theology. I didn't know about the 'Shangdi v. Tianzhu' thing, so I'm glad to have read this. Very informative :)

Also, I think you're right to point out Hong's active rejection of Confucianism as well as the elements of Taoism and other Eastern religions in his beliefs. The description of the Taiping beliefs as "proto-unitarian theology" made me smile because if you think about it, the Taiping isn't all that different from the heterodox branches of Christianity that were popping in the United States like Mormonism or the Jehovah's Witnesses. It's not a coincidence that Hong learned his Christianity from American missionaries instead of European ones.

Speaking of, I also left out how Roberts, the same missionary who refused Hong baptism, actually did work with the Taiping as an advisor. But a combination of doctrinal differences and personal issues (Roberts accused Hong of murdering his servant) led to a falling out between the two. I thought it was an interesting tidbit, but I couldn't find a place to fit that in my article.

Thanks again for this comment. Like you, I also learned about Hong in high school. IB History class, to be more specific. I remember it was basically grouped in with all the late Qing conflicts and how it gave way for the Xinhai Revolution (and later Mao's rise to power). But the whole "Hong as Jesus Christ's younger brother" business became a meme in our class and made Hong the most memorable part of that class.

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The Brothers K's avatar

Glad to know I wasn't the only one who memed him back in the day with my classmates hahaha (former Catholic schoolboy here). That aside, I've long felt like the omission—if not neglect—to mention those details through which we could approach it from a more holistic angle kind of flattened the complexity of the actual events. We miss how Christian theology, as introduced by missionaries, was reinterpreted and ultimately grafted onto an indigenous spiritual framework that had existed for millennia, and how it paired so well with the broader context of widespread discontent with the societal decay brought about by Western imperialism and corruption of an aging imperial dynasty to create the perfect, apocalyptic storm.

It becomes less about “failed exam taker crashes so hard he wrote Jesus fanfiction that killed 30 million people” (but yes, also that) and more about how religion, myth, and revolution can spiral into something cataclysmic when people are desperate for salvation, structure, and meaning—and how far they were willing to go to achieve that. Like the most evil reflection of how belief carries the broken.

And what's wild is, Hong’s story isn’t even unique in Asia. Similar movements and events happened across the region's history, born from the same volatile cocktail of colonial trauma, spiritual upheaval involving a radical form of Christian salvationism, and popular unrest. Though arguably, his just happened to be the most extreme.

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Chicago Talk Show Host's avatar

Well written, Germanicus! Learned a whole lot from this and it's helpful in expanding consciousness. I don't know much about Chinese history but I'm glad to read about it. I do see the parallels with testing here and there, despite the time gap: these tests are remarkably limited in what they claim to "test" and it is not free from considerable flaws.

Thanks for the shout out! I'm thrilled to be a part of your work here!

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The Brothers Krynn's avatar

Interesting tid-bit about the Hakka, I should reference this article when it comes time to write next about 3 Kingdoms or write about Journey. Thanks for this Michael! I really liked this article, it was interesting!

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Michael P. Marpaung's avatar

You're welcome :)

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Lausanne Davis Carpenter's avatar

Oh, my, my....

I had no idea the Tionghoa were not Han. Your description of the Hakka makes a lot of sense of their migration tendency/history.

On this Brother of Christ - removing Christ's divinity - that makes this "brotherhood" much easier to concoct.

Now, this "demon-slaying sword" - I thought "this sounds like story foder" before I read your closing remarks. LOL!

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Michael P. Marpaung's avatar

Tionghoa (also Zhongguo) is basically the Chinese word for "China". So it's related to the Han but not quite. I guess it would be the difference between "Russia" the state/empire and "Russians" the people. Though I would also add that the "Han" is not just one single group. There are a lot of "Han subgroups", of which the Hakka is one of them. From what I can tell, the Northern and the Southern Chinese basically speak different languages and are basically different ethnic groups in the way (for example) the English and the Irish are different yet they are all considered as "Han". It's weird.

As for Christology, it seems like groups like to downplay either Christ's divinity or His humanity. When you see groups like the Taiping I can't help but feel that Christianity did take root in China, just not necessarily in the way that the missionaries had hoped.

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Lausanne Davis Carpenter's avatar

I did an independent study course in seminary on the history of Christianity in Central Asia/China. Mind you, this was back in the mid-90s (!!) so there was no internet and few books on the subject. It happened that I was able to spend a week at the School of African & Oriental Studies' Library in London where I dug deep into the archives to find snippets about the Nestorian missionaries of 7th and 8th centuries. They arrived at about the same time the new Muslims were running the Sassanids out of Persia... I don't know if it is directly connected, but since Nestorian Christians were a large minority there - maybe some of those missionaries were a part of the exodus from Persia... which is also where we get the Parsis (Zoroastrians) of India... 7th century was a big year and its all so interconnected...

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