Hong Xiuquan Biography

Hong Xiuquan was a Chinese religious prophet and revolutionary, who led the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing Dynasty. He had established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom over several parts of southern China, over whom he ruled as the ‘Heavenly King’. He also proclaimed to be the brother of Jesus Christ. Xiuquan was raised and educated as a Confucianist. He was unable pass the civil service examination despite four attempts, which led to his nervous breakdown. Soon, he had a vision, where he saw a man with a golden beard telling him that the land needs to be purified and also said that men were worshipping demons instead of him, and therefore, they should be exterminated. He interpreted it as a message from God and Jesus, and assumed himself to be the second son of God. He also began considering himself a Christian, and began regarding his country’s culture as work of evil. He also insisted that the Confucian symbols should be destroyed. He began preaching as well as burning Buddhist and Confucian statues and books he found. When he had over 10,000 followers, he began the Taiping Rebellion, after declaring his own dynasty, which was centered on the captured city of Nanjing. The rebellion went on for 15 years and caused the death of around 20-30 million people.