Confucian Texts the Primary Sources

Confucian Texts

The primary sources included in The Search for Modern China illustrate the character of the Taiping rebellion. Spence correctly portrays the movement as a peasant revolution, one with obvious affinity for Christian ideology. However, Christian theology and precepts are conveyed in ways meaningful for a specific Chinese audience. Text 8.4, "The Ten Commandments," is clearly a retelling of the Biblical Ten Commandments from the Old Testament. The Taiping Ten Commandments are here presented in verse form, more lyrically than they are told in the Bible. The Commandments are themselves nearly identical, from demanding the worship of only one God to admonishments against adultery. However, these precepts are laden with imagery and diction that derives from indigenous Chinese religions like Taoism. For example, the commandment against secondary gods is phrased as the eschewing of "corrupt spirits." Christianity pervades the Taiping Ten Commandments, however, including the mentioning of Mount Sinai (143). Similarly, text 8.5 concerns precepts for proper behavior, which is derived equally from the New Testament as from the Old. Creation occurs in six days, and Jesus "willingly gave his life to redeem us from sin," (143). These two texts illustrate how the Chinese peasant classes embraced Christianity, incorporating it into Chinese indigenous religions. Rebels like Qing found solace in religious visions, which gave meaning to a social movement and offered hope for disenfranchised people. Moreover, as Spence shows, the adoption of Christian theology and ideology serves as an apt contrast against Ming authority. The Taiping Revolution was in large part a rebellion against established the Chinese aristocracy, so Christian imagery fit into place perfectly in the Taiping mindset. For instance, the Manchus were pitted against the one true God, "a God whose purity and presence had existed in China until the forces of Confucian belief swayed the Chinese away from the true path of righteousness," (173).