Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 2
Page 34
Now, those whose minds have been deluded by the demons always say that only the monarch can worship the Lord God. However, the Lord God is the universal Father of all in the mortal world. Monarchs are his able children, the good his filial children, the commoners his ignorant children, and the violent and oppressive his disobedient children. If you say that monarchs alone can worship the Lord God, we beg to ask you, as for the parents of a family, is it only the eldest son who can be filial and obedient to his parents?
Again it has been falsely said that to worship the Great God is to follow barbarians’ ways. They do not know that in the ancient world monarchs and subjects alike all worshiped the Lord God. As for the great Way of worshiping the Lord God, from the very beginning, when the Lord God created in six days Heaven and earth, mountains and seas, man and things, both China and the barbarian nations walked together in the great Way; however, the various barbarian countries of the West have continued to the end in the great Way. China also walked in the great Way, but within the most recent one or two thousand years, China has erroneously followed the devil’s path, thus being captured by the demon of hell. Now, therefore, the Lord God, out of compassion for humanity, has extended his capable hand to save the people of the world, deliver them from the devil’s grasp, and lead them out to walk again in the original great Way. [1a—b]
A Form to Be Observed in Repenting Sins
Let the suppliant kneel down in the sight of Heaven and pray to the Lord God to forgive his sins. He may use a written form of prayer, and when the prayer is over, he may either take a basin of water and wash his whole body clean, or he may perform his ablutions in the river, which will be still better. After repenting his sins, let him morning and evening worship the Lord God, beseeching that the Lord God look after him, and grant him His Holy Spirit to transform his heart. When taking his meals, he should give thanks to God, and every seventh day worship and praise God for His grace and virtue. Let him also constantly obey the ten Heavenly Commandments. Do not on any account let him worship all the false spirits that are in the world, still less let him do any of the corrupt things of the world. In this manner, the people may become the sons and daughters of the Lord God. While in the world the Lord God will look after them, and after ascending to Heaven the Lord God will graciously love them, and in high Heaven they will eternally enjoy bliss. [2a—b]
The Ten Heavenly Commandments
Honor and worship the Lord God. . . .1
Do not worship false gods. . . .
Do not take the name of the Lord God in vain. . . .
On the seventh day, worship and praise the Lord God for his grace. . . .
Be filial and obedient to thy Father and Mother. . . .
Do not kill or injure men. . . .
Do not indulge in wickedness and lewdness. In the world there are many men, all brothers; in the world there are many women, all sisters. For the sons and daughters of Heaven, the men have men’s quarters and the women have women’s quarters; they are not allowed to intermix. Men or women who commit adultery or who are licentious are considered monsters; this is the greatest possible transgression of the Heavenly Commandments. The casting of amorous glances, the harboring of lustful imaginings about others, the smoking of opium, and the singing of libidinous songs are all offenses against the Heavenly Commandment.
Do not steal or rob. Poverty and riches are granted by the Lord God, and whosoever steals or plunders the property of others transgresses the Heavenly Commandment.
Do not tell [or spread] falsehoods. All those who speak wildly, falsely, or treacherously, and those who use coarse and vile language transgress against the Heavenly Commandment.
Do not think covetous thoughts. When a man looks upon the beauty of another’s wife or daughter and then covets that man’s wife or daughter; when a man looks upon the richness of another man’s possessions and then covets that man’s possessions; or when a man engages in gambling and buys lottery tickets and bets on names,2 all these are transgressions of the Heavenly Commandment. [6b–8a]
[Xiao Yishan, Taiping Tianguo congshu, ser. 1, ce 1, pp. 1a–2b, 6b–8a]
A PRIMER IN VERSE (YOUXUE SHI)
This official text, first published in 1851, offers simple and concise formulations—easily put to memory—of basic religious and moral principles that the Taiping leaders wished to inculcate in their followers. Although opposed to Confucianism insofar as it was identified with the established regime or took on the appearance of a religious cult, the Taipings accepted much that is readily recognizable as Confucian in social and political ethics.
Praising God
The Lord God-on-High, the divine Being
Is respectfully worshiped in all countries.
Men and women throughout the world,
Pay homage to Him morning and evening.
All that we see, above and below,
Basks in the Lord’s favor.
In the beginning it took only six days
For the creation of all things to be completed.
Is there anyone, circumcised or uncircumcised,
Not created by God?
Give thanks [to Him] for the Heavenly favor
That you may obtain everlasting glory.
Praising Jesus Christ
Jesus was a Crown Prince,
Whom God sent to earth in ancient times.
He sacrificed His life for the sins of men,
Being the first to offer meritorious service.
It was hard to bear the Cross;
Grieving clouds darkened the sun.
The noble Prince from Heaven,
Died for you—men and women.
Having returned to Heaven after His resurrection,
In His glory, He holds all power.
Upon Him we are to rely—
Be saved and enter Paradise!
Praising Parents
[Just as] the storing up of grain provides against starvation,
[So] the raising up of children provides against old age.
He who is filial to his parents will have filial sons.
Thus, mysteriously, is recompense made.
You should ask yourself,
How you were able to grow up.3
Respect the teaching of the Fifth Heavenly Commandment;
Honor and wealth will shower down on you from the Heavenly Court.
The Imperial Court
The imperial court is an awesome place.
With fear and trembling heed the imperial authority as if it reached into your very presence.
The power of life and death belongs to the Son-of-Heaven.
Among the officials none should oppose Him.
The Way of a King
If one man, aloft, upholds the Right,
The myriad states all enjoy repose.4
Let the king alone hold power;
And all slander and depravity will disappear forever.
The Way of the Minister
The more virtuous the master, the more honest will be His ministers. Wise kings produce good officials.
Yi [Yin] and [Duke] Zhou have set the example [for ministers].
Upholding justice, they maintained discipline at court.
The Way of the Family
Kinsfolk within the household—
Be cheerful and happy!
Be harmonious and united as one body,
Blessings will shower down upon you from Heaven.
There follow similar maxims for eleven other family relationships from mother and son to older and younger sister-in-law, as well as injunctions with regard to sexual chastity and fidelity and disciplining of the senses. For the most part these are of a traditional Chinese character, and largely Confucian, like the verses above. Finally the primer concludes with the following:
Paradise
Whether to be noble or mean is for you to choose.
To be a real man you must make an effort to improve yourself.
Follow the teaching of the Ten Commandments;
You will enjoy the blessings of Paradise.
[Xiao Yishan, Taiping Tianguo congshu, ser. 1, ce 4, pp. 1a–5b, 14a–b]
THE TAIPING ECONOMIC PROGRAM
The following selection is taken from The Land System of the Heavenly Kingdom (Tianchao tianmu zhidu), which was included in the list of official Taiping publications promulgated in 1853. Its precise authorship is uncertain, and there is no evidence of a serious attempt having been made to put this system into effect in Taiping-controlled areas. Nevertheless, as a statement of Taiping aims, the document carried with it all the weight of Hong Xiuquan’s authority and that of the Eastern King, Yang Xiuqing, then at the height of his power. It reflects one of the chief appeals that the movement made to the Chinese peasantry.
The plan set forth here amounts to a blueprint for the total organization of society, and especially of its human resources. If its initial concern is with the land problem, as the title indicates, it quickly moves on to other spheres of human activity and brings them under a single pattern of control. The basic organization is military in nature, reminiscent of the farmer-soldier militia of earlier dynasties. In its economic egalitarianism, totalitarian communism, authoritarian hierarchy, and messianic zeal, this Taiping manifesto foreshadows aspects of the Chinese Communist movement of the twentieth century, while at the same time it echoes reformers and rebels of the past. Most typically it recalls the fondness of earlier Chinese thinkers for a neat, symmetrical system embodying the supreme values of Chinese thought: order, balance, and harmony.
Nevertheless, we can appreciate how conservative Confucians would have recoiled at the thought of so much economic regimentation. Zeng Guofan, leader in the struggle against the Taipings, commented, “The farmer cannot till his own land and [simply] pay taxes on it; the land is all considered to be the land of the Heavenly King [and all produce goes directly to the communal treasury]. The merchant cannot engage in trade for himself and profit thereby; all goods are considered to be the goods of the Heavenly King.”
The organizational note is struck at the outset with an explanation of the system of army districts and military administration (omitted here). We reproduce below only the basic economic program.
All officials who have rendered meritorious service are to receive hereditary stipends from the court. For the later adherents to the Taiping cause, every family in each military district (jun) is to provide one man to serve as a militia man. During an emergency they are to fight under the command of their officers to destroy the enemy and to suppress bandits. In peacetime they are to engage in agriculture under the direction of their officers, tilling the land and providing support for their superiors.
All land [in the country] is to be classified into nine grades. . . .
The classification of the land into nine grades that follows is based on that found in the “Tribute of Yu” section of the Classic of Documents (Shujing); the general method of land allocation follows the principle set forth in the Rites of Zhou, Di guan, xia, SBBY 4: 24.
The distribution of all land is to be based on the number of persons in each family, regardless of sex. A large family is entitled to more land, a small one to less. The land distributed should not be all of one grade but mixed. Thus for a family of six, for instance, three are to have fertile land and three barren land—half and half of each.
All the land in the country is to be cultivated by the whole population together. If there is an insufficiency [of land] in this place, move some of the people to another place. If there is an insufficiency in another place, move them to this one. All lands in the country are also to be mutually supporting with respect to abundance and scarcity. If this place has a drought, then draw upon the abundant harvest elsewhere in order to relieve the distress here. If there is a drought there, draw upon the abundant harvest here in order to relieve the distress there. Thus all the people of the country may enjoy the great blessings of the Heavenly Father, Supreme Ruler and Lord God-on-High. The land is for all to till, the food for all to eat, the clothes for all to wear, and money for all to spend. Inequality shall exist nowhere; none shall suffer from hunger or cold. . . .
Mulberry trees are to be planted along the walls [of villages] throughout the country. All women are required to grow silkworms, to do weaving, and to make clothes. Every family of the country is required to raise five hens and two hogs, in keeping with the proper breeding seasons.5
During the harvest season, the Group Officer6 should direct [the grain collection by] the sergeants. Deducting the amount needed to feed the twenty-five families until next harvest season, he should collect the rest of the produce for storage in state granaries. The same method of collection is applicable to other kinds of products, such as barley, beans, ramie fiber, cotton clothes, silk, domestic animals, silver and copper cash, and so on, for all people under Heaven are of one family belonging to the Heavenly Father, the Supreme Ruler, the Lord God-on-High. Nobody should keep private property. All things should be presented to the Supreme Ruler, so that He will be enabled to make use of them and distribute them equally to all members of his great world-family. Thus all will be sufficiently fed and clothed. . . .
The Group Officer must keep a record of the amount of grain and cash he has collected and report them to the Treasurers and Receiving and Disbursing Tellers. A state treasury and a church are to be established among every twenty-five families, under the direct administration of the Group Officer. All expenditures of the twenty-five families for weddings, births, or other festival occasions are to be paid for out of the state treasury. But there is to be a fixed limit; not a penny is to be spent beyond that. . . . Thus, throughout the land in the contracting of marriages, wealth need be no consideration.
In the twenty-five family units pottery-making, metalworking, carpentry, masonry, and other such skilled work should be performed by the sergeants and militiamen in the off-seasons from farming and military service.
In conducting the different kinds of festival ceremonies for the twenty-five families under his administration, the Group Officer should hold religious services to pray to the Heavenly Father, the Supreme Ruler and Lord God-on-High. All the bad customs of the past must be completely abolished.
[Xiao Yishan, Taiping Tianguo congshu, ser. 1, ce 4, pp. 1a–3a]
THE PRINCIPLES OF THE HEAVENLY NATURE (TIANQING DAOLISHU)
This official work, dated 1854, was written after the Taipings had established their capital at Nanjing and the first flush of victory had given way to a seeming letdown in morale, discipline, and zeal for the cause. It served to restate the religious creed of the Taipings and emphasize those qualities—self-sacrifice, loyalty, and solidarity—that had contributed to their amazing successes. The appeal throughout is to a dedicated and crusading military elite.
Another important purpose of the book was to enhance and consolidate the position of the Taiping leadership, especially that of the Eastern King, Yang Xiuqing, who was virtual prime minister of the regime and the one who inspired the writing of this document. We see here in a strange new garb the old conception of the ruler as commissioned with divine powers to unite the world and establish peace. Both Hong and Yang are thus represented as in some degree sharing the role of Jesus Christ as saviors of the world. Since it would not have done for any of the “kings” to engage openly in such self-glorification, nominal authorship is attributed to the “marquises” and “chancellors” who constituted the next-highest ranks in the Taiping hierarchy.
Extant editions of the text appear to date from about 1858, by which time rivalries and mistrust had split the leadership, Yang had been assassinated, and his assassin, the Northern King, murdered by Hong. Though there are many direct and indirect evidences of dissension, the text has not been amended or adjusted to these later developments except to strip the Northern King of his rank.
The translation here has been adapted from that of C. T. Hu for the documentary history of the Taiping Rebellion prepared by the Modern Chinese Histor
y Project of the Far Eastern and Russian Institute, University of Washington.
We marquises and chancellors hold that our brothers and sisters have been blessed by the Heavenly Father and the Heavenly Elder Brother, who saved the ensnared and drowning and awakened the deluded; they have cast off worldly sentiments and now follow the true Way. They cross mountains and wade rivers, not even ten thousand li being too far for them to come, to uphold together the true Sovereign. Armed and bearing shield and spear, they carry righteous banners that rise colorfully. Husband and wife, men and women, express common indignation and lead the advance. It can be said that they are determined to uphold Heaven and to requite the nation with loyalty. [a–b]
In the ten thousand nations of the world everyone is given life, nourished, protected, and blessed by the Heavenly Father, the Supreme Ruler and Lord God-on-High. Thus the Heavenly Father, the Supreme Ruler and Lord God-on-High, is the universal father of man in all the ten thousand nations of the world. There is no man who should not be grateful, there is no man who should not reverently worship Him. . . . [4a–5a]
There follow citations from the Confucian classics referring to the Lord-on-High (Shangdi), which are taken here as showing that God was known to and worshiped by the ancient Chinese. Subsequently, however, various forms of idolatry arose.
However, worldly customs daily degenerated. There were even those who likened themselves to rulers, and, being deluded in heart and nature, arrogant yet at fault, and falsely self-exalted, forbade the prime minister and those below to sacrifice to Heaven. Then [these men] competed in establishing false gods and worshiping them, thus opening up the ways of the devilish demons. The people of the world all followed in like fashion, and this became firmly fixed in their minds. Thereupon, after a considerable time, they did not know their own errors. Hence the Heavenly Father, the Lord God, in view of mortal man’s serious crime of disobedience, at his first anger, sent down forty days and forty nights of heavy rain, the vast waters spreading in all directions and drowning mortal man. Only Noah and his family had unceasingly worshiped the Heavenly Father, the Supreme Ruler and Lord God-on-High; therefore, relying on the Heavenly grace, they were fortunate and they alone were preserved. In this, the first instance of the Heavenly Father’s great anger, was the great proof of his great powers displayed.