The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Rebellion and the Blasphemy of Empire (review)

The Taiping rebellion generated a massive peasant movement that in the second part of the nineteenth century transformed the society of China and its imperial institution. Several arguments can be made as to the fundamental cause of a historical event of such tragic magnitude. Perhaps it was a combination of socio-economic and political factors that gave impetus to the creation of the movement's ideology. Or perhaps religion was an essential factor. In The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Thomas H. Reilly claims that religion must be considered when trying to understand the hostility of Hong Xiuquan and his Taiping followers toward the Qing imperial institution. In this book Reilly offers an interesting critical study of the theologicalreligious approach to the appreciation of the Taiping movement, including a critical analysis of Confucian doctrine, an important aspect of official imperial religion:

Previous rebellions had declared their contemporary dynasties corrupt and therefore in need of renewal; the Taiping, by contrast, declared the long-standing imperial order blasphemous and in need of replacement. In the Taiping movement and religion we witness a new development in Chinese history: a radical change in popular thought regarding the authority of the emperor and the legitimacy of the imperial order.

(p. 4)

It is also mentioned that Hong Xiuquan proclaimed drastic changes in Chinese society upon the establishment of his Taiping dynasty: "The Taiping was the first movement to advocate not just the removal of [the] then-ruling emperor or the end of one in particular but, along with this, the abolition of the entire imperial system and the institution of a whole new religious and political order" (p. 5).

The book consists of five chapters preceded by an introduction. Three useful additions are also included: notes on the contributors, a glossary, a list of works cited, and an index. The author stresses the importance of the theological aspect of the Taiping rebellion and the religious character of Hong Xiuquan's ideology. Reilly discusses the influence of the two Western religious traditions, Protestant and Roman Catholic, and the integral role of preaching from the Bible in China from the early years of the nineteenth century. For Reilly the Bible was of major importance in the establishment of the theocratic society of the Taiping. This new society followed the ideas proclaimed by Hong and the leaders of the God Worshippers Society. These were based on the Ten Commandments, which Hong believed were necessary for the authentic worship of Shangdi. Hong directed his attacks against the perverse doctrines of the Confucian literati, who, according to Hong, had deceived and destroyed the true religious order, bringing corruption and death to the people of China:

The Ten Commandments were the theological and ideological basis of the Taiping mission. The first three Commandments (those which speak against the worship of other gods, idolatry, and blaspheming the name of God) dictated the destruction of the old imperial order and the shattering of that order as represented in its images.

(p. 133)

It is clear, as Reilly points out, that Hong's strong interest in Mosaic Law helped to shape the Taiping religious view.

Hong is said to have favored the term Shangdi; this was probably the result of his contacts with the Protestant missionaries in Canton. One possible source was a book by Liang A-fa, Good Words to Admonish the Age. But the influence of this book is inconclusive, since Liang did not really favor the use of Shangdi. Hong's contacts with foreign missionaries such as Karl Gützlaff and one Reverend Roberts, among others, were perhaps more significant, however. In any case, Hong's objective in choosing this term for the Taiping deity was to give evidence of his commitment to punish the emperor and point to the possible blasphemous implications of the imperial title.

Reilly states that a purpose of his book is to understand the reasoning...