Taiping Rebellion
Taiping cannonade against the Qing war-junks besieging the Heavenly Kingdom capital.
Date December 1850 – August 1864 Location Southern China Result Qing Dynasty victory Fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Weakening of the Qing Dynasty
Belligerents
Qing Dynasty Later stages:  France[citation needed]  United Kingdom[citation needed]	Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Xianfeng Emperor Tongzhi Emperor Empress Dowager Cixi Zeng Guofan Sengge Rinchen Guam Wing Zuo Zongtang Auguste Léopold Protet † Charles George Gordon Frederick Townsend Ward (mercenary) † Henry Andres Burgevine (mercenary) †	Hong Xiuquan Yang Xiuqing Xiao Chaogui † Feng Yunshan † Wei Changhui Shi Dakai † Li Xiucheng †
Strength
2,000,000–5,000,000 regulars ~340,000 militia	1,000,000–3,000,000 regulars
Casualties and losses
Over 50,000 soldiers killed[citation needed]	Around 75,000 soldiers killed[citation needed]
Total dead~20,000,000 including civilians and soldiers (best estimate)

The Taiping Rebellion was a widespread civil war in southern China from 1850 to 1864, led by heterodox Christian convert Hong Xiuquan, who, having received visions, maintained that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ,^[1] against the ruling Manchu-led Qing Dynasty. About 20 million people died, mainly civilians, in one of the deadliest military conflicts in history.^[2]

Hong established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom with its capital at Nanjing. The Kingdom's army controlled large parts of southern China, at its height containing about 30 million people.^{[citation needed]} The rebels attempted social reforms believing in shared "property in common"^[1] and the replacement of Confucianism, Buddhism and Chinese folk religion with a form of Christianity. The Taiping troops were nicknamed "Longhairs" (simplified Chinese: 长毛; traditional Chinese: 長毛; pinyin: Chángmáo) by the Qing government. The Taiping areas were besieged by Qing forces throughout most of the rebellion. The Qing government crushed the rebellion with the eventual aid of French and British forces.^{[citation needed]}

In the 20th century, Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Chinese Nationalist Party, looked on the rebellion as an inspiration, and the Chinese paramount leader Mao Zedong glorified the Taiping rebels as early heroic revolutionaries against a corrupt feudal system.^[3]

History[link]

Origins[link]

China, under the Qing Dynasty in the mid-19th century, suffered a series of natural disasters, economic problems and defeats at the hands of the Western powers; in particular, the humiliating defeat in 1842 by the United Kingdom in the First Opium War. The Qing government, ethnically Manchu, were seen by much of the Chinese population, who were mainly Han Chinese, as ineffective and corrupt foreign rulers. Anti-Manchu sentiment was strongest in the south among the laboring classes and it was these disaffected who flocked to join the charismatic visionary Hong Xiuquan, a member of the Hakka ethnic group which had emigrated to the south in the Song dynasty. Having arrived too late to acquire the best land, they were engaged in constant conflicts.^[4] Among these serious problems were the prevalence of female infanticide, creating massive imbalances with shortages of women being worst in the primary Taiping centers.

Contemporary drawing of Hong Xiuquan, dating from about 1860

At the age of thirty-seven, after failing on multiple occasions to pass the imperial examinations (about 5 percent of those who attempted the examinations passed them), which would have allowed access to the ranks of the ruling scholarly elite, Hong experienced a lengthy illness. After spending many days in bed, he recovered with a changed personality. He had received a pamphlet from a Protestant Christian missionary in 1836 after his last failed attempt at the imperial examination, and his cousin Li Ching-fang noticed the pamphlet on a bookshelf inside Hong's house. After reading it Li suggested that Hong should read the material. After studying the material, Hong Xiuquan claimed that the illness he had following his imperial examinations was in fact a vision to the effect that he was the younger brother of Jesus,who was sent to rid China of the "devils," including both the corrupt Manchu rulers and Confucius. After this vision, he felt it was his duty to spread Christianity (in the form that he developed) and overthrow the foreign rule of the Qing government. Hong's associate Yang Xiuqing was a former firewood merchant from Guangxi, who claimed to be able to act as a voice of God, in order to direct the people and gain political power.^[5]

The sect's power grew in the late 1840s, initially by suppressing groups of bandits and pirates; persecution by Qing authorities spurred the movement into a guerrilla rebellion and then into widespread, bloody civil war.

Early years[link]

The revolt began in Guangxi province. After a previous small-scale battle resulting in a rebel victory in late December 1850, in early January 1851, a ten thousand-strong rebel army organized by Feng Yunshan and Wei Changhui routed government troops stationed in the town of Jintian (present-day Guiping, Guangxi). Taiping forces successfully drove back the imperial reprisal against the Jintian Uprising.

Middle years[link]

Royal seal of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

In 1853 Hong Xiuquan withdrew from active control of policies and administration, ruling exclusively by written proclamations that often had religious content. Hong disagreed with Yang Xiuqing in certain matters of policy and became increasingly suspicious of Yang's ambitions, his extensive network and spies, and his declarations when "speaking as God". Yang and his family were put to death by Hong's followers in 1856, followed by the killing of troops loyal to Yang.^[6]

With their leader largely out of the picture, Taiping delegates tried to widen their popular support with the Chinese middle classes and forge alliances with European powers, but failed on both counts. The Europeans decided to stay neutral. Inside China the rebellion faced resistance from the traditionalist middle class because of the rebels' hostility to Chinese customs and Confucian values. The land-owning upper class, unsettled by the Taipings' peasant mannerisms and their policy of strict separation of the sexes, even for married couples, sided with government forces and their Western allies.

In 1859 Hong Rengan, a cousin of Hong Xiuquan, joined the Taiping forces in Nanjing and was given considerable power by Hong Xiuquan. He developed an ambitious plan to expand the Kingdom's boundaries. In 1860 the Taiping rebels were successful in taking Hangzhou and Suzhou to the east (see Second rout of the Jiangnan Daying), but failed to take Shanghai (Battle of Shanghai (1861)), which marked the beginning of the decline of the Kingdom.

Fall of the Kingdom[link]

An attempt to take Shanghai in August 1860 was repulsed by a force of Qing imperial troops and European officers under the command of Frederick Townsend Ward.^[7] This army would later become the "Ever Victorious Army", led by "Chinese" Gordon, and would be instrumental in the defeat of the Taiping rebels. Imperial forces were reorganized under the command of Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, and the imperial reconquest began in earnest. By early 1864 imperial control in most areas was well established.

Retaking of Suzhou city by Qing troops.

Hong Xiuquan declared that God would defend Nanjing, but in June 1864, with Qing imperial forces approaching, he died of food poisoning as a consequence of eating wild vegetables when the city ran low on food supplies. He was sick for 20 days before succumbing and a few days after his death Qing forces took the city. His body was buried in the former Ming Imperial Palace where it was later exhumed by Zeng Guofan to verify his death, and then cremated. Hong's ashes were later blasted out of a cannon in order to ensure that his remains have no resting place as eternal punishment for the uprising.

Four months before the fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Hong Xiuquan abdicated in favour of Hong Tianguifu, his eldest son who was 15 years old. Hong Tianguifu was unable to do anything to restore the Kingdom, so the Kingdom was quickly destroyed when Nanjing fell in July 1864 to the imperial armies after vicious street-by-street fighting. Most of the princes were executed by Qing forces in Jinling, Nanjing.

Aftermath[link]

Although the fall of Nanjing in 1864 marked the destruction of the Taiping regime, the fight was not yet over. There were still several hundred thousand Taiping rebel troops continuing the fight, with more than a quarter-million Taiping rebels fighting in the border regions of Jiangxi and Fujian alone. It would take more than half a decade to finally put down all remnants of the Taiping Rebellion: it was not until August 1871 that the last Taiping rebel army led by Shi Dakai's commander, General Li Fuzhong (李福忠) was completely wiped out by the governmental forces in the border region of Hunan, Guizhou and Guangxi.

In 1865, Liu Yongfu escaped in command of a splinter group he called his Black Flag Army (Chinese: 黑旗军; pinyin: Hēiqí Jūn; Vietnamese: Quân cờ đen) recruited largely from soldiers of ethnic Zhuang background, and crossed from Guangxi into Upper Tonkin in the Empire of Annam, where his forces were engaged by the French. He later became the second and last leader of the short-lived Republic of Formosa (5 June–21 October 1895).

A historic monument to the Taiping Rebellion in Mengshan town, in Wuzhou, Guangxi, which was an early seat of Government of the Taiping

Other "Flag Gangs" armed with the latest in arms, disintegrated into bandit groups that plundered remnants of the Lan Xang kingdom, and then were engaged by incompetent forces of King Rama V (r. 1868–1910) until 1890, when the last of the groups eventually disbanded. Their victims did not know where the bandits had come from, and, as they were plundering Buddhist temples, confused them with Chinese Muslims from Yunnan called Hui in Mandarin and Haw in the Lao language (Thai: ฮ่อ,^[8]) which resulted in the protracted series of conflicts being misnamed the Haw wars.

Death toll[link]

Most accurate sources put the total number of deaths during the 15 years of the rebellion at about 20-30 million civilians and soldiers.^[2][9] Most of the deaths were attributed to plague and famine. At the Third Battle of Nanking in 1864, more than 100,000 were killed in three days.

The rebellion happened at roughly the same time as the American Civil War. Though almost certainly the largest civil war of the 19th century (in terms of numbers under arms), it is debatable whether the Taiping Rebellion involved more soldiers than the Napoleonic Wars earlier in the century, and so it is uncertain whether it should be considered the largest war of the 19th century.^{[citation needed]}

Other rebellions[link]

A battle of the Panthay Rebellion.

The Nien Rebellion (1853–1868), and several Muslim rebellions in the southwest (Panthay Rebellion, 1855–1873) and the northwest (Dungan revolt, 1862–1877) continued to pose considerable problems for the Qing Dynasty.

The Panthay Rebellion's leader Du Wenxiu was in contact with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He was not aiming his rebellion at the Han Chinese, but was anti-Qing and wanted to destroy the Manchu government.^[10][11] Du's forces led multiple non-Muslim forces, including Han Chinese, Li, Bai, and Hani peoples.^[12] They were assisted by non-Muslim Shan and Kakhyen and other hill tribes in the revolt.^[13]

The other Muslim rebellion, the Dungan revolt was the reverse: It was not aimed at overthrowing the Qing Dynasty since its leader Ma Hualong accepted an imperial title. Rather, it erupted due to inter-sect fighting between Muslim factions and Han Chinese. Various groups fought each other during the Dungan revolt without any coherent goal.^[14] According to modern researchers,^[15] the Dungan rebellion began in 1862 not as a planned uprising, but as a coalescence of many local brawls and riots triggered by trivial causes. Among these were false rumours spread that the Hui Muslims were aiding the Taiping rebels. However, the Hui Ma Hsiao-shih claimed that the Shaanxi Muslim rebellion was connected to the Taiping.^[16]

The Heavenly Kingdom's policies[link]

Miniature of the Palace of Heavenly Kingdom in Nanjing

The Heavenly King's throne in Nanjing

The rebels announced social reforms, including strict separation of the sexes, abolition of foot binding, land socialization and "suppression" of private trade. In religion, the Kingdom tried to replace Confucianism, Buddhism and Chinese folk religion with a form of Christianity, holding that Hong Xiuquan was the younger brother of Jesus. Troops were nicknamed "Longhairs", because they sported a traditional Confucian hairstyle which was different from the Qing queue. Qing government papers refer to them as "hairy rebels" (simplified Chinese: 发贼; traditional Chinese: 髮賊, pinyin: fàzéi).

Within the land it controlled, the Taiping Heavenly Army established a theocratic and highly militarized rule. However, the rule was remarkably ineffective, haphazard and brutal; all efforts were concentrated on the army, and civil administration was non-existent. Rule was established in the major cities and the land outside the urban areas was little regarded. Even though polygamy was banned, Hong Xiuquan had numerous concubines. Many high-ranking Taiping officials kept concubines as a matter of prerogative, and lived as de facto kings.

The military[link]

Taiping Heavenly Army[link]

The army was the rebellion's key strength. It was marked by a high level of discipline and fanaticism.^{[citation needed]} They typically wore a uniform of red jackets with blue trousers, and grew their hair long so in China they were nicknamed "Longhairs". The large numbers of women serving in the Taiping Heavenly Army also distinguished it from other 19th-century armies.

Combat was always bloody and extremely brutal,^{[citation needed]} with little artillery but huge forces equipped with small arms. The Taiping Army's main strategy of conquest was to take major cities, consolidate their hold on the cities, then march out into the surrounding countryside to recruit local farmers and battle government forces. Estimates of the overall size of the Taiping Heavenly Army varied from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000.

The organization of a Taiping army corps was thus:

• 1 general
• 5 colonels
• 25 captains
• 125 lieutenants
• 500 sergeants
• 2,500 corporals
• 20,000 infantry

These corps were placed into armies of varying sizes. In addition to the main Taiping forces organized along the above lines, there were also thousands of pro-Taiping groups fielding their own forces of irregulars.

Ethnic structure of the army[link]

Regaining the provincial city Anqing.

Ethnically, the Taiping Heavenly Army was formed at the outset largely from these groups: the Hakka, a Han Chinese subgroup, the Cantonese, another Han Chinese subgroup that were the local residents of Guangdong province and the Zhuang (a non-Han ethnic group), which were minority groups as compared to the Han Chinese subgroups that form dominant regional majorities across south China. It is no coincidence that Hong Xiuquan and the other Taiping royals were Hakka.

As a Han sub-group, the Hakka were frequently marginalized economically and politically, having migrated to the regions they inhabit only after other Han groups were already established there. For example, when the Hakka settled in Guangdong and parts of Guangxi, speakers of Yue Chinese (Cantonese) were already the dominant regional Han group there and had been for some time, just as speakers of various dialects of Min are locally dominant in Fujian province. The Hakka settled throughout southern China and beyond, but as latecomers they generally had to establish their communities on rugged, less fertile land scattered on the fringe of the local majority group’s settlements. As their name ("guest households") suggests, the Hakka were generally treated as migrant newcomers, often subject to hostility and derision from local majority Han populations. Consequently, the Hakka, to a greater extent than other Han Chinese, have been historically associated with popular unrest and rebellion.

Retaking of Nanking by Qing troops.

The other significant ethnic group in the Taiping army were the Zhuang, an indigenous people of Tai origin and China's largest non-Han ethnic minority group. Over the centuries Zhuang communities had been adopting Han Chinese culture. This was possible because Han culture in the region accommodates a great deal of linguistic diversity, so the Zhuang could be absorbed as if the Zhuang language were just another Han Chinese dialect (which it is not). As Zhuang communities were integrating with the Han at different rates, a certain amount of friction between Han and Zhuang was inevitable, with Zhuang unrest on occasion leading to armed uprisings.^[17] The second tier of the Taiping army was an ethnic mix that included many Zhuang. Prominent at this level was Shi Dakai, who was half-Hakka, half-Zhuang and spoke both languages fluently, making him quite a rare asset to the Taiping leadership.^{[citation needed]}

In the later stages of the Taiping Rebellion, the number of Han Chinese in the army from Han groups other than the Hakka increased substantially. However, the Hakka and the Zhuang (who constituted as much as 25% of the Taiping Army), as well as other non-Han ethnic minority groups (many of them of Tai origin related to the Zhuang), continued to feature prominently in the rebellion throughout its duration, with virtually no leaders emerging from any Han Chinese group other than the Hakka.^{[citation needed]}

Social structure of the Taiping Army[link]

Socially and economically, the Taiping rebels came almost exclusively from the lowest classes. Many of the southern Taiping troops were former miners, especially those coming from the Zhuang. Very few Taipings, even in the leadership caste, came from the imperial bureaucracy. Almost none were landlords and in occupied territories landlords were often executed.

Generals[link]

In fact, the military ability of the generals of the Taiping Rebellion was higher than that of the Qing government's generals, for example:

Early (1851–1854): Xiao Chaogui, Wei Changhui, Shi Dakai, Qin Rigang, Lin Qirong, Lai Hanying, Zeng Tianyang, Li Kaifang, Luo Dagang, Tang Zhengzai

Middle (1855–1859): Li Xiucheng, Chen Yucheng, Yang Fuqing, Wei Jun, Li Shixian, Ye Yunlai, Huang Chengzhong, Liu Chunlin

Late (1860–1864): Li Rongfa, Lai Wenguang, Chen Kunshu

Imperial Army[link]

A scene of the Taiping Rebellion.

Opposing the rebellion was an imperial army with a size of two to five million regulars along with hundreds of thousands of regional militias and foreign mercenaries operating in support. Among the imperial forces was the elite Ever Victorious Army, consisting of Chinese soldiers led by a European officer corps (see Frederick Townsend Ward and Charles Gordon), backed by British arms companies like Willoughbe, Willoughbe & Ponsonby. A particularly famous imperial force was Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army.

Although keeping accurate records was something imperial China traditionally did very well, the decentralized nature of the imperial war effort (relying on regional forces) and the fact that the war was a civil war and therefore very chaotic meant that reliable figures are impossible to find. The destruction of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also meant that any records it possessed were destroyed.

Zuo Zongtang from Hunan province, who was also known as General Tso, was another important Qing general who contributed in suppressing the Taiping Rebellion.

Total war[link]

Extent of Taiping control in 1854 (in red).

The Taiping Rebellion was the first instance of total war in modern China. Almost every citizen of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was given military training and conscripted into the army to fight against Qing imperial forces.

During this conflict both sides tried to deprive each other of resources to continue the war and it became standard practice to destroy agricultural areas, butcher the population of cities and in general exact a brutal price from captured enemy lands in order to drastically weaken the opposition's war effort.^{[citation needed]} This war was total in the sense that civilians on both sides participated to a significant extent in the war effort and in the sense that armies on both sides waged war on the civilian population as well as military forces.

In art and popular culture[link]

In art[link]

The rebellion is featured on the Tiananmen Square's Monument to the People's Heroes and many other public places in Beijing and Nanjing.

In popular culture[link]

• Robert Elegant's 1983 novel Mandarin depicts the time of the Taiping Rebellion from the unusual point of view of a Jewish family living in Shanghai at the time.
• Flashman and the Dragon (1986) — A portion of the memoirs of the fictional Harry Paget Flashman recount his adventures during the Second Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion.
• In 1988, Hong Kong's TVB produced Twilight of a Nation, a 45 episodes television drama about the Taiping Rebellion.
• Rebels of the Heavenly Kingdom by Katherine Paterson is a young adult novel set during the Taiping Rebellion (Puffin, 1995, ISBN 0-14-037610-0).
• Robert Carter's historical novel Barbarians (Orion, 1998, ISBN 0-7528-1339-0), deals in detail with the rebellion and the politics surrounding it.
• In 2000, China's CCTV produced Taiping Tianguo, a 46 episodes television series about the Taiping Rebellion.
• Christopher West's novel The Third Messiah (2000) features a cult whose leader believes himself to be a reincarnation of Hong Xiuquan, leader of the Taiping rebels.
• The Consumer Goods' song "Taiping Riverboat" from their 2006 album "Pop Goes the Pigdog!" tells of the construction of Nanjing and the subsequent defense of the Heavenly Kingdom through a first-person narrative.
• The Warlords, a 2007 historic legend film set in the 1860s and concerning the Taiping Rebellion, presents one General Pang Qinyun, leader of the Shan Regiment, as the man responsible for the capture of Suzhou and Nanjing.
• The Hong Kong TVB television drama, Rosy Business made references to the Taiping Rebellion.
• A strategy computer game based on the Taiping Rebellion has been made in China, and is primarily available in mainland China and Taiwan. The player can play as either the Qing government or the Taiping rebels.
• Taiping society, in some sources^[which?] the Heavenly King himself, is given credit for developing the popular Chinese game of Mahjong.
• Lisa See's novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan takes place in China during the reign of Emperor Xianfeng; the title character is married to a man who lives in Jintian and the characters get caught up in the revolution.
• Amy Tan's novel The Hundred Secret Senses takes place in part during the time of the Taiping Rebellion.
• Richard Berg's boardgame, Manchu, covers the entire rebellion.
• Li Bo's Tienkuo The Heavenly Kingdom, an historical novel set during the Taiping period and written by a professional historian of China.
• Dean Barrett's novel, Mistress of the East, (Blue Moon Books, NY) in which one of Frederick Ward's lieutenants is captured by an all-female unit of Taipings and eventually falls in love with a Taiping woman warrior and joins them in their doomed struggle against the Manchus.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Taiping Rebellion

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Additional sources[link]

• In Chinese: 余杰：读潘旭澜著《太平雜说》
  • Google translation
• In Chinese: 撕下历史的“面膜”——读潘旭澜教授《太平杂说》
  • Google translation
• TaipingRebellion.com Detailed information on the Taiping Rebellion

Jet Li 李连杰
Jet Li at the premiere of Fearless in 2006.
Chinese name	李連杰 (Traditional)
Chinese name	李连杰 (Simplified)
Pinyin	Lǐ Liánjié (Mandarin)
Jyutping	Lei5 Lin4 Git6 (Cantonese)
Ancestry	Beijing, China
Born	(1963-04-26) April 26, 1963 (age 49) Beijing, China
Other name(s)	Lee Yeung Chung / Li Yangzhong 李陽中 (Traditional) 李阳中 (Simplified) Lǐ Yángzhōng (Mandarin) Lei5 Joeng4 Zung1 (Cantonese) (Chinese producer pseudonym)
Occupation	Actor Martial artist Film producer
Years active	1982–present
Spouse(s)	Huang Qiuyan (1987–1990) Nina Li Chi (1999–present)
Official Website	www.jetli.com
Awards Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actor 2008 The Warlords Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards Best Actor 2006 Fearless Golden Horse Awards Special Award 1995 Other awards Shanghai Film Critics Awards 2008 Best Actor (The Warlords)

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

Li Lianjie ([lì ljǎntɕjɛ̌]; born April 26, 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a naturalized Singaporean^[1][1] film actor, film producer, Chinese martial artist, wushu champion, and international star who was born in Beijing.

After three years of intensive training with Wu Bin, Li won his first national championship for the Beijing Wushu Team. After retiring from Wushu at age 19, he went on to win great acclaim in China as an actor making his debut with the film Shaolin Temple (1982). He went on to star in many critically acclaimed martial arts epic films, most notably the Once Upon A Time In China series, in which he portrayed folk hero Wong Fei-hung.

Li's first role in a Hollywood film was as a villain in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), but his first Hollywood film leading role was in Romeo Must Die (2000). He has gone on to star in many Hollywood action films, including Kiss of the Dragon and Unleashed. He co-starred in The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) with Jackie Chan, The Expendables (2010) with Sylvester Stallone, and as the title character villain in The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor (2008) opposite Brendan Fraser. He also appeared in the Hong Kong film Ocean Heaven (2010), directed and written by Xue Xiaolu.

Early life and martial arts career[link]

Li Lianjie was born in Beijing, People's Republic of China, the youngest of two boys and two girls. His father died when he was two years old, leaving the family struggling.^[2]

Li was eight when his talent for wushu was noticed at a summer course at school, and he began his practice there.^[3] Li participated in the sport of wushu in the non-sparring event. He began his wushu on the Beijing Wushu Team, an athletic group organized to perform martial arts forms during the All China Games. He was coached by renowned wushu coaches Li Junfeng and Wu Bin,^[4] who made extra efforts to help the talented boy develop. Wu Bin even bought food for Li's family because they could not afford to buy meat, which was essential for the good physical condition of an athlete.^[4] As a member of the team, he received wushu training and went on to win fifteen gold medals and one silver medal in Chinese wushu championships, where, despite his young age, he competed against adults.^[5]

According to Li, once, as a child, when the Chinese National Wushu Team went to perform for President Richard Nixon in the United States, he was asked by Nixon to be his personal bodyguard. Li replied, "I don't want to protect any individual. When I grow up, I want to defend my one billion Chinese countrymen!"^[7]

Li is a master of several styles of wushu, especially Changquan (Northern Longfist Style) and Fanziquan (Tumbling fist). He has also studied other arts including Baguazhang (Eight trigram palm), Taijiquan (Supreme ultimate fist), Xingyiquan (Shape intent fist), Zuiquan (Drunken fist), Yingzhaoquan (Eagle claw fist) and Tanglangquan (Praying mantis fist). He did not learn Nanquan (Southern fist), because his training focused only in the Northern Shaolin Styles. He has also studied some of wushu's main weapons, such Sanjiegun (Three section staff), Gun (staff), Dao (Broadsword), Jian (Straight sword) and many more.^[8]

It is Jet Li's authentic martial arts prowess that enabled his rise to domestic and international fame.^[9]

Acting career[link]

Chinese films[link]

Jet Li
Jet Li's hand print and autograph at the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong.
Traditional Chinese	李連杰
Simplified Chinese	李连杰
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Lǐ Liánjié - Wade–Giles Li Lien-chieh Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping Lei5 Lin4 Git6 - IPA [le̬i lɪ̏ŋkìt]
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	李陽中
Simplified Chinese	李阳中
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Lǐ Yángzhōng - Wade–Giles Li Yang-chung - IPA [lì jɑ̌ŋtʂʊ́ŋ] Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping Lei5 Joeng4 Zung1 - IPA [le̬i jœ̏ŋtsʊ́ŋ] - Yale Romanization Lee Yeung Chong

The fame gained by his sports winnings led to a career as a martial arts film star, beginning in mainland China and then continuing into Hong Kong. Li acquired his screen name in 1982 in the Philippines when a publicity company thought his real name was too hard to pronounce. They likened his career to an aircraft, which likewise "takes-off" as quickly, so they placed the name Jet Li on the movie posters. Soon everybody was calling him by this new name, which was also based on the nickname, "Jet," given to him as a young student, due to his speed and grace when training with the Beijing Wushu team. He made his debut with the 1982 film Shaolin Temple. Some of his more famous Chinese films include:

• The Shaolin Temple series (1, 2 and 3), which are considered to be the films which sparked the rebirth of the real Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng, China;
• The Once Upon a Time in China series (Chinese title: Wong Fei Hung), about the legendary Chinese folk hero Master Wong Fei Hung.
• Fist of Legend (Chinese title: Jing Wu Ying Xiong), a remake of Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury.
• The Fong Sai Yuk films about another Chinese folk hero.

Li starred in the 1995 film High Risk, where Jet Li plays a Captain who becomes disillusioned after his wife is murdered by crime lords. Along the way, he pairs up with a wacky sell-out actor, Frankie (played by Jacky Cheung), and proceeds to engage in a series of violent battles in a high-rise building. The setting is similar to that of Die Hard and both their Chinese film titles. This movie is notable in that director Wong Jing had such a terrible experience working with Jackie Chan in Jing's previous film City Hunter that he chose to make Cheung's character a biting satire of Chan. Jet Li would later publicly apologize to Chan for taking part in it.

Li has two wuxia feature films scheduled for release in 2011, The Sorcerer and the White Snake and Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, the latter is helmed by Tsui Hark.

In order to promote tai chi, in 2012 Jet Li will star in a film titled Tai Chi and will co-produce the movie with Chen Kuo-Fu. Li will portray Tai Chi master Yang Lu-ch'an.^[10][11]

American films[link]

In 1998, he made his American film debut in Lethal Weapon 4 which also marked the first time he had ever played a villain in a film. He agreed to do Lethal Weapon 4 after the producer Joel Silver promised to give him the leading role in his next film, Romeo Must Die (2000) alongside late singer Aaliyah. The film became a box office hit.

Li turned down Chow Yun-fat's role in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) because he promised his wife that he would not make any films during her pregnancy.^[12] He also turned down the role of Seraph in The Matrix trilogy, based on his belief that the role was not one which required his skills and that the films were iconic and stunning enough without adding his name to the cast list.

In 2001, he appeared in two more Hollywood films: The One which was the first of his films with Jason Statham and Kiss of the Dragon opposite Bridget Fonda which did moderately well at the box office. In July 2001, Li agreed to produce and star in an action film with Jackie Chan which was to be released in 2002 or 2003, but no further news of their collaboration surfaced until 2006. In 2002, the period martial arts epic film Hero was released in the Chinese market. This film was both a commercial and critical success and became the highest-grossing motion picture in Chinese film history at the time.^[13] In 2003 he reunited with producer Joel Silver for the action thriller film Cradle 2 The Grave where he starred alongside rapper DMX and fellow martial artist Mark Dacascos. In 2004, Li lent his likeness, voice and provided motion capture work for the video game Jet Li: Rise to Honor.

Li took on a more serious role in the 2005 film, Unleashed (a.k.a. Danny the Dog), where he portrayed an adult with the mentality of a child who has been raised like an animal. Although his martial arts skills were utilized extensively, it was a somber film with more depth than had been previously seen in Li's films, and co-starred dramatic actors Bob Hoskins and Morgan Freeman.

In 2006, the martial arts film epic Fearless, was released worldwide. Although he will continue to make martial arts films, Fearless is his last wushu epic. In Fearless, he played Huo Yuanjia, the real-life founder of Chin Woo Athletic Association, who reportedly defeated foreign boxers and Japanese martial artists in publicized events at a time when China's power was seen as eroding. Together with the film Fist of Legend, Li has portrayed both Chen Jun, the student and avenger of Huo Yuanjia (aka Fok Yun Gap), as well as Huo Yuanjia himself. Fearless was released on January 26, 2006 in Hong Kong, followed by a September 22, 2006 release in the United States where it reached second place in its first weekend.

I stepped into the martial arts movie market when I was only 16. I think I have proved my ability in this field and it won't make sense for me to continue for another five or 10 years. Huo Yuanjia is a conclusion to my life as a martial arts star.^[14]

Li has stated in an interview with the Shenzhen Daily newspaper that this will be his last martial arts epic, which is also stated in the film's television promotions. However, he plans to continue his film career in other genres. Specifically, he plans to continue acting in action and martial arts films; epic films deal more with religious and philosophical issues.

Li's 2007 Hollywood film, War, was released in August of that year, and re-teamed him with actor Jason Statham, who previously starred with him in The One, and action choreographer Corey Yuen. War raked in a disappointing $23 million at the box office, becoming one of Li's lowest grossers in America; however, it was a hit on video, accumulating nearly $52 million in rental revenue, more than doubling its box office take.^[15] With the exception of Romeo Must Die and the worldwide release of Hero, most of Li's American films have been only modest hits like Kiss Of The Dragon, The One, Unleashed, Cradle 2 the Grave, and the worldwide release of Fearless.

In late 2007, Li returned again to China to participate in the China/Hong Kong co-production of the period war film The Warlords with Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro. This film with its focus on dramatics rather than martial arts netted Li the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor.

Li and fellow martial arts veteran Jackie Chan finally appeared together onscreen for the first time in The Forbidden Kingdom, which began filming in May 2007 and was released to critical and commercial success on April 18, 2008. The film was based on the legend of the Monkey King from the Chinese folk novel Journey to the West.^[17][18] Li also starred as the lead villain in the fantasy action film The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor with actors Brendan Fraser, Isabella Leong and Michelle Yeoh.^[19]

After a one-year hiatus from filmmaking, Jet Li returned to acting in 2009, portraying a mercenary in the film The Expendables, teaming up with action stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, and Randy Couture. It was the third time he had teamed up with Statham.

Personal life[link]

Jet Li with Jackie Chan in Hong Kong.

Li is a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism.^[20] His master is Lho Kunsang^[21] of the Drikung Kagyu lineage of the Kagyu school.^[22]

In 1987, Li married Beijing Wushu Team member and Kids from Shaolin co-star Huang Qiuyan,^[23] with whom he has two daughters, Si and Taimi.^[24] They divorced in 1990. Since 1999, he has been married to Nina Li Chi (born Li Zhi), a Shanghai-born, Hong Kong-based actress. He has two daughters with her as well, Jane (born 2000) and Jada (born 2002).^[25]

Li was in the Maldives when a tsunami hit during the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Although it was widely reported at the time that he had died during the disaster,^[26] he only suffered a minor foot injury, caused by a piece of floating furniture, while he was guiding his 4-year-old daughter Jane and the nanny holding his 1-year-old daughter Jada to safety. The four of them were by the pool and slightly above the beach when the wave came ashore.^[27]

In 2009, Li, who previously had American citizenship, after years working in the United States, was thought to have renounced his American citizenship and taken up Singaporean citizenship,^[1][28] although no official confirmation has been provided by Singapore authorities.^[29] On July 28, 2009, the chairman of One Foundation (the Charity fund of Jet Li) announced that Jet Li had indeed become a Singaporean citizen.^[1] He was said to have chosen Singapore for its education system for his two daughters.^[1]

In 2009, Li launched his own fitness program that he named "Wuji".^[30] The programme consists of elements of martial arts, yoga and pilates; Adidas launched a special clothing line for it that bears the initials of "JL".^[31][32]

In his free time he likes to play badminton, table tennis, volleyball, ride his bicycle, read and meditate. He collects rare Tibetan beads. He says he is never bored in his free time.^[33][34]

Views on life and martial arts[link]

Li as a Buddhist believes that the difficulties of everyday life can be overcome with the help of religious philosophies.^[36] He thinks that fame is not something he can control; therefore, he does not care about it.^[37]

According to Li, everything he has ever wanted to tell the world can be found in three of his films: the message of Hero is that the suffering of one person can never be as significant as the suffering of a nation; Unleashed shows that violence is never a solution and Fearless tells that the biggest enemy of a person is himself. Li thinks that the greatest weapon is a smile and the largest power is love.^[38]

About Wushu, Li said that he believes the essence of martial arts is not power or speed but inner harmony and considers it a sad development that today's Wushu championships place greater emphasis on form than on the essence of being a martial artist. He believes Wushu now lacks individuality and competitors move like machines, whereas according to his views Wushu should not be considered a race where the fastest athlete wins. He would like to see Wushu as a form of art, where artists have a distinctive style. Li blames the new competition rules that, according to him, place limitations on martial artists.^[39]

Li believes that Wushu is not primarily for self-defense and instead of trying to play the hero people should think about peaceful resolutions of conflicts and call the police if necessary: "A gun outdoes years of martial arts training in a split second. Like I've said many times before, it is important to differentiate between movies and reality. The hero in movies may be able to knock the gun off his opponent and save the day, but in real life – probably that is not the case."^[40] He has also stated that he has never had to use his martial arts skills in a real life fight and he does not wish to, either.^[35]

Philanthropy[link]

Li has been a "philanthropic ambassador" of the Red Cross Society of China since January 2006. He contributed 500,000 yuan (US$62,500) of box office revenues from his film Fearless to the Red Cross' psychological sunshine project, which promotes mental health.^[41]

In April 2007, touched by his life-shaking experience in the Maldives when he was close to dying during the 2004 tsunami, Li formed his own non-profit foundation called The One Foundation.^[42][43] The One Foundation supports international disaster relief efforts in conjunction with the Red Cross as well as other efforts, including mental health awareness and suicide prevention. Since the starting of the foundation, Li has been involved with recovery efforts in seven disasters, including the 2008 Sichuan earthquake^[27] and Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan.^[44] Wu Jing was a One Foundation volunteer and helped in the effort.^[45]

Li discussed his commitment to philanthropy in an interview with the December 2009 issue of Alliance magazine, stating that "grassroots non-government organizations can help the government in its blind spots. Government relief is not always detail-oriented. Grassroots NGOs can’t be as big as a government effort, but they need to be flexible and independent."^[46]

In September 2010, Jet Li was appointed by the International Red Cross as the first Good Will Ambassador. He posted online saying "Today I signed a deal with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies – IFRC - to become the FIRST goodwill ambassador in the history of this humanitarian organization. I am very honored! At the same time, I will not pause to celebrate, but instead keep pushing forward.. and do my best to help the world! Thank you all once again for your support and belief in me!"^[47]

It was also announced that Jet Li would be meeting Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to talk about charity work. "Three days ago, I received an email from Gates, hoping I could make time because he and Buffett hoped I could go for a 30-minute chat before the dinner about the future we face as human beings, so I will go," Li said.^[48]

Filmography[link]

Considering US box office statistics, the most successful Jet Li film as of August 2010 is Lethal Weapon 4, which grossed over 130 million dollars domestically, while the second is The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor with over 102 million dollars.^[49] Hero is the third most successful foreign language film in the US,^[50] and one of the best critically acclaimed Li movies.^[51] Fearless is the sixth most successful foreign language film of all time in the US.^[50] From a critical point of view, the best acclaimed Li movie is Fist of Legend (Rotten Tomatoes: 100%) and the worst is War (Rotten Tomatoes: 12%).^[51]

See also[link]

• Cinema of China;
• Cinema of Hong Kong.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Ducker, Chris, and Stuart Cutler. The HKS Guide to Jet Li. London: Hong Kong Superstars, 2000.
• Marx, Christy. Jet Li. Martial Arts Masters. Rosen Publishing Group, 2002. ISBN 0-8239-3519-1.
• Parish, James Robert. Jet Li: A Biography. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002. ISBN 1-56025-376-2.
• Farquhar, M.(2010) ‘Jet Li: "Wushu Master" in Sport and Film’ in Jeffreys, Elaine. & Edwards, Louise (eds.), Celebrity in China, Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong pp. 103–124. ISBN 962-209-088-5

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jet Li

• Official website
• Jet Li at the Internet Movie Database
• Jet Li's Foundation: The One Foundation Project
• Jet Li Biography (HKCinema)
• Jet Li Biography (HKFilm)
• Jet Li discusses The One Foundation
• Interview At FarEastFilms.com

Hong Xiuquan 洪秀全
Contemporary drawing of Hong Xiuquan, dating from around 1860
Reign	11 January 1851 – 1 June 1864
Predecessor	(none)
Successor	Hong Tianguifu
Issue
Hong Tianguifu, Heavenly King of Great Peace Hong Tianming, Ming King Hong Tianguang, Guang King
Full name
Hong Xiuquan
Era name and dates
太平天囯: 11 January 1851 – 1 June 1864
Father	Hong Jingyang 洪競揚
Mother	Madam Wang 王氏
Born	(1814-01-01)1 January 1814 Hua County, Guangdong, Qing Dynasty
Died	1 June 1864(1864-06-01) (aged 50) Tianjing, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864), born Hong Renkun, style name Huoxiu (火秀), was a Hakka Chinese who led the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing Dynasty, establishing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom over varying portions of southern China, with himself as the "Heavenly King" and self-proclaimed brother of Jesus Christ.

Early life and education[link]

Hong Xiuquan's name at birth was "Hong Huoxiu", the third son of a poor Hakka family.^[1] He was born in Fuyuanshui Village, Hua County now part of Huadu District Guangzhou), Guangdong to Hong Jingyang and Madam Wang. His grandfather was Hong Guoyou, who was, like his ancestors, a farmer. He later moved to Guanlubu Village. His wife was Lai Xiying.

Hong showed an interest in scholarship at an early age, so his family made financial sacrifices to provide a formal education to him, in the hope that he could one day complete the civil service examinations.^[1] Hong started studying at a school called Book Chamber House at the age of seven. He was able to recite the Four Books after five or six years. At around the age of 15 his parents were no longer able to afford his education, so he became a tutor to children in his village and continued to study privately. He took the local preliminary civil service examinations and came first; so, at the age of 22, in 1836, he took the provincial examinations in Guangzhou. Unsurprisingly, he failed the imperial examinations, which had a pass rate of less than 1%.^[2] He retook the test four times, but never succeeded. This was partly due to being unable to secure a bribe to the examination officials.

Visions and iconoclasm[link]

On his visit to Guangzhou to take the civil service examination in 1836, Hong heard a Christian missionary preaching about his religion. While there, Hong received translations and summaries of the Bible written by the Christian missionaries Edwin Stevens and his assistant, Liang Fa. Hong may have briefly looked over these pamphlets, but did not pay much attention to them at the time.^[1] Hong failed to pass the examinations in 1836.

In 1837 Hong again attempted to take the imperial examinations, but apparently suffered a nervous collapse when he failed them again. During his recovery in 1837, he had a number of vivid and terrifying dreams, which he interpreted as mystical visions. In his dreams Hong was visited by two figures, an old, paternal figure and an elder brother-figure.^[1] In one dream the old man who complained to Hong about men worshiping demons rather than him. In a second dream, Hong saw Confucius being punished for his faithlessness, after which he repented. In another dream, Hong dreamt of angels carrying him to heaven, where he met the elder-brother figure wearing in a black dragon robe with a long golden beard who gave him a sword and a magic seal, and told him to purge China of demons. Several years later, he would interpret this to mean that God the Heavenly Father (whom he identified with Shangdi from Chinese tradition) wanted him to rid the world of demon worship.^[3] In order to complete his mission of ridding the world of demons, the elder brother-figure changed Hong's name to "Hong Xiuquan".^[1] His friends and family said that after this episode he became authoritative, solemn and taller in height. After failing his forth examination in 1837, Hong stopped studying for the imperial examinations and sought work as a teacher. For the next several years Hong taught at several schools around the area of his hometown.

It was not until six years later that Hong took time to carefully examine the Christian tracts he had received. After reading these tracts Hong came to believe that they had given him the key to interpreting his visions: the old man was God, and the elder brother that he had seen was Jesus Christ. This interpretation led him to believe that he was a Chinese son of God, and that he was the younger brother of Jesus. After coming to this conclusion Hong began destroying idols and enthusiastically preaching his interpretation of Christianity.^[1]

Hong began by burning all Confucian and Buddhist statues and books in his house, and began to preaching to his community about his visions. His earliest converts were relatives of his who had also failed their examinations and belonged to the Hakka minority, Feng Yunshan and Hong Rengan. He collaborated with them to destroy idols in small villages to the ire of local citizens and officials. Hong and his converts' acts were considered sacrilegious and they were persecuted by Confucians who forced them to leave their positions as village tutors. Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan fled the district in 1844, walking some 300 miles to the west to Guangxi, where the large Hakka population was much more willing to receive his teachings.^[3] As a symbolic gesture to purge China of Confucianism, he asked for two giant swords, three chi (about 1 metre) long and nine jin (about 5.5 kg), called the "demon-slaying swords" (斬妖劍), to be forged.^[4]

The God Worshippers[link]

Hong then preached on Mount Zijing (紫荊山) in Guiping District (桂平縣) to a large number of charcoal-burners. Most of these people also belonged to the Hakka minority and readily joined him. He preached a mixture of communal utopianism, evangelism, and Christianity. While proclaiming sexual equality, the sect segregated men from women and encouraged all its followers to pay their assets into a communal treasury.^[5] By the end of the 1840s, Hong had a sizeable following which he called the God Worshippers (拜上帝會), but local officials still attempted to suppress his religious movement after his move to Guangxi.^[3]

Hong stayed at the Yuan Floral Hall (袁氏花廳) in Shiling (c. 1845 - 1847) where he studied, preached, developed his revolutionary theory and wrote many of his famous works.^[6]

In 1847 Hong studied with the American Southern Baptist missionary, Reverend Issachar Jacox Roberts, for two months in Guangzhou, during which time he gained most of his knowledge of Christianity.^[3] He formally studied the Old Testament. After Hong asked Roberts for aid in maintaining his sect, Roberts (wary of people converting to Christianity for economic aid) refused to baptise him.^[7]

Most of Hong Xiuquan's knowledge of the scriptures came from the books known as "Good Words to Admonish the Age" by the Chinese preacher Liang Fa as well as a localized Bible translated into Chinese. Many Western missionaries grew jealous of Hong and his local ministry. These missionaries were fond of spreading rumors about him, one such rumor being that he had not been baptized.

Hong and his cousin were both baptized according to the way prescribed in the pamphlet "Good words to admonish the age" ^[8]

When Hong returned to Guangxi, he found that Feng Yunshan had accumulated a following of around 2,000 converts. Guangxi was a dangerous area at this time with many bandit groups based in the mountains and pirates on the rivers. Perhaps due to these more pressing concerns, the authorities were largely tolerant of Hong and his followers. However, the instability of the region meant that Hong's followers were inevitably drawn into conflict with other groups, not least because of their predominately Hakka ethnicity. There are records of numerous incidents when local villages and clans, as well as groups of pirates and bandits, came into conflict with the authorities, and responded by fleeing to join Hong's movement. The rising tension between the sect and the authorities was probably the most important factor in Hong's eventual decision to rebel.

Rebellion and the Heavenly Kingdom[link]

By 1850 Hong had between 10,000 and 30,000 followers. The authorities were alarmed at the growing size of the sect and ordered them to disperse. A local force was sent to attack them when they refused, but the imperial troops were routed and a deputy magistrate killed. A full-scale attack was launched by government forces in the first month of 1851. In what came to be known as the Jintian Uprising, named after the town of Jintian (present-day Guiping, Guangxi) where the sect was based. Hong's followers emerged victorious and beheaded the Manchu commander of the government army. Hong declared the founding of the "Heavenly Kingdom of Transcendent Peace" on 11 January 1851.

Despite this evidence of forward planning, Hong and his followers faced immediate challenges. The local Green Standard Army outnumbered them ten to one, and had recruited the help of the river pirates to keep the rebellion contained to Jintian. After a month of preparation the rebels managed to break through the blockade and fight their way to the town of Yongan (not to be confused with Yong'an), which fell to them on 25 September 1851.

Hong and his troops remained in Yongan for three months, sustained by local landowners who were hostile to the Manchu-ruled Qing Dynasty. The imperial army regrouped and launched another attack on the rebels in Yongan. Having run out of gunpowder, Hong's followers fought their way out by sword, and made for the city of Guilin, to which they laid siege. However, the fortifications of Guilin proved too strong, and Hong and his followers eventually gave up and set out northwards, towards Hunan. Here, they encountered an elite militia created by a local member of the gentry specifically to put down peasant rebellions. The two forces fought at Soyi Ford on 10 June 1852 where the rebels were forced into retreat, and 20% of their troops were killed. However, in March 1853, Hong's forces managed to take Nanjing and turned it into the capital of their movement.

After establishing his capital at Nanjing Hong implemented and ambitious programme of reforms. He created an elaborate civil bureaucracy, reformed the calendar used in in his kingdom, outlawed opium use, and introduced a number of reforms designed to make women more socially equal to men.^[1] Hong ruled by making frequent proclamations from his Heavenly Palace, demanding strict compliance with various moral and religious rules. Most trade was suppressed and property socialized. Polygamy was forbidden and men and women were separated, although Hong and other leaders maintained groups of concubines.

Yang Xiuqing, also known as the "East King", was a fellow Taiping leader who had directed successful military campaigns and who often claimed to speak with the voice of God. Hong became increasingly suspicious of Yang's ambitions and his network of spies. In 1856, he had Yang and his family murdered.

Following a failed attempt by the Taiping rebels to take Shanghai in 1860, Qing government forces, aided by Western officers, slowly gained ground.

Death[link]

Some sources say Hong committed suicide by taking poison on 1 June 1864 at the age of 52 after Qing authorities finally gained a decisive military advantage and all hope of maintaining his kingdom was lost. However, in other sources, he was said to have died of illness.^[9] Hong Rengan, Hong Xiuquan's cousin, said his illness was caused by "eating manna" - a command taken from the Bible that Hong had given to his people as they starved.

On 30 July 1864, Qing general Li Chendian found Hong's badly decomposed body in the palace of Nanjing.

Hong was succeeded by his teenage son, Hong Tianguifu. The Taiping Rebellion was suppressed by Qing forces later in 1864.

Publications[link]

• Imperial Decree of Taiping (《太平詔書》) (1852)
• The Instructions on the Original Way Series (《原道救世訓》系列) (1845–1848): included in the Imperial Decree of Taiping later. The series is proclaimed by the People's Republic of China's National Affairs Department to be Protected National Significant Documents in 1988.
  • Instructions on the Original Way to Save the World (《原道救世訓》)
  • Instructions on the Original Way to Awake the World (《原道醒世訓》)
  • Instructions on the Original Way to Make the World Realize (《原道覺世訓》)
• New Essay on Economics and Politics (《資政新篇》) (1859)

Quotes[link]

The following poem, titled Poem on Executing the Evil and Preserving the Righteous (斬邪留正詩), written in 1837 by Hong, illustrates his religious thinking and goal that later led to the establishment of the "Heavenly Kingdom of Taiping". Note that in the seventh line, the name of the then yet-to-come kingdom is mentioned. This, and other poems of his, are considered by some scholars^[who?] to be of low quality, because the lack of use of classical phrases.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy[link]

Views and opinions on Hong differ greatly.

The Communists under Mao Zedong generally admired Hong and his movement as a legitimate peasant uprising that anticipated their own.^[10] Sun Yat-sen came from the same area as Hong and was said to have identified with Hong since his childhood days.^[10]

In 1959 the People's Republic of China established a small museum, Hong Xiuquan's Former Residence Memorial Museum (洪秀全故居紀念館), in his birthplace, where there is a longan tree planted by him. The museum's plate is written by the famous literary figure Guo Moruo (1892–1978). The residence and Book Chamber Building were renovated in 1961.

Hong has been compared to Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi in that he rallies a large number of people behind a religious or spiritual cause to challenge the status quo, although Li's political intentions have been of intense debate.^{[citation needed]}

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Anderson, Flavia (1959). "The Rebel Emperor," Doubleday & Company
• China at War: An Encyclopedia. Ed. Li Xiaobing. United States of America: ABC-CLIO. 2012. ISBN:978-1-59884-415-3. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
• Gray, Jack (1990). Rebellions and Revolutions: China from the 1800s to the 1980s, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-821576-2.
• Spence, Jonathan D. (1996). God's Chinese Son:The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan, W.W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-03844-0

Additional sources[link]

	China portal
	Biography portal
	Politics portal

• In Chinese:余杰：读潘旭澜著《太平杂说》
• Google translation
• Chinese:撕下历史的“面膜”——读潘旭澜教授《太平杂说》
• Google translation
• [1] Hong Xiuquan Comic in English
• [2] 洪秀全漫画