Re: Hong Xiuquan

["Dixie" <Dixie@singnet.com.sg>]

Hi Pitt,

I hope my earlier replies did not sound harsh. If they did, they were not
meant to be so.

> China would have been ruled by tyrannical "christian" emperor.
Non-Christian
> Chinese would have been crucified en mass.

Europe have been ruled by tyrannical Christian kings before too. But as
time passes and
the world progresses, the succeeding rulers may modified their way of rule.

> I am amazed that the modernisation of China could be attributed to Hong.
His
> men went to war believing that modern weapons couldn't harm them with the
> grace of the Christian God! Taiping Rebellion was unnecessary, the Qing
> Dynasty was tumbling anyway from the invasions of the western and
Japanese
> powers. China didn't really modernise until the Communists took over.

During the Taiping period and the lands where they administered, the
Taiping leaders adopted
many new policies which were later essential to the modernization of China.
Some of which are:
- the prohibition of opium smoking, gambling, prostitution, polygamy
- disallowed the sale of slaves, and use of torturous and cruel punishment
for offences
- promote the equality of sexes: foot-binding among women was abolished,
women were appointed
as administrators and army officers; women have the right to take
examinations for higher offices 
- for the first time, women rode on horsebacks in the towns, something not
seen in China before
- land redistribution (during Qing era, rich landlords own hugh land
properties, leaving the rest very poor)
- semi-solar calendar was adopted
- railways, hospitals and banks were built
- the development of industry was proposed
- a Taiping republic/democracy was proposed

Today, the Taiping Rebellion is honored by the communist government in
China, which view it as a prototype
revolution of peasants in the modern world.

Sun Yatsen was greatly impressed by the exploits of Hong Xiuquan and was
determined to be Hong No 2 when 
he was a young boy. 
Zhu De, the founder of the famous People's Liberation Army, idolised Shi
Dakai, the greatest Taiping general, during
his younger days. Shi, apparently, retreated to Sichuan towards the end of
the Taiping era. Zhu was born in Sichuan
where his grandfather had migrated to from Guangdong..


- Dixie