Why did Hong Xiuquan choose to launch the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement in Jintian Village, Guiping, Guangxi?

This matter, first of all, should start with Hong Xiuquan's decision to "go to Guangxi" that year.

It is not easy to preach in Guangdong. Why not try it in Guangxi?

Hong Xiuquan founded the God Worship Society in Hua County in 1843. At this time, he was just a religious scholar, dissatisfied with the disappointment of the imperial examination, so he dumped Confucius' memorial tablet. The main reason for this idea is to only respect God and engage in his missionary work.

It can be said that Hong Xiuquan's initial intention to worship God was not for rebellion. He didn't have so much courage, but wanted to improve his social status by religious means, probably because he learned something about the Pope in the Christian books he came into contact with, so he longed for it.

1In March, 844, Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan, as the original founders of God-worshipping Sect, began to publicize their teachings near Guangzhou, and then went to Qingyuan, Yingde, Qujiang and Lianshan for activities. However, they were not restored by the masses, and few people joined the church.

Lao Hong got off to a bad start in missionary work and was very depressed, so he said to Feng Yunshan, who was also helpless, "Brother, why don't we go to Guangxi?" Hong Xiuquan had this idea, not because he understood the sharp social contradictions in Guangxi at that time as many articles analyzed, nor because Lao Hong was thinking about rebellion at this time. After all, he is just a poor scholar on a whim, without such a broad social vision and keen observation. The reason why he made this decision is actually very simple.

At that time, Hong Xiuquan's cousin Wang Shengjun moved to Gu Village in your county. When visiting relatives, I accidentally came to Guangxi, entered Guangxi from Lianshan, took a path out of Fengchuan, and went west along the river. Hong Xiuquan lived in Gu Village for half a year. During this half year, he taught in a private school and developed a congregation of hundreds of people who worshipped God. Mainly to publicize and persuade people to "repent and do good", so as to achieve "no disaster and no difficulty, and those who do not worship God will hurt people", and there is no idea of rebellion.

When I arrived in Guangxi, I started with an unplanned trip to visit relatives. I happened to find that missionary work here was much smoother than that in Guangdong, so I went deeper.

The sharp social contradictions in Guangxi prompted Hong Xiuquan to embark on the road of anti-Qing.

In his constant religious activities, Hong Feng came into contact with the deeper social situation in Guangxi at that time. Bankrupt farmers lead a very hard life, and people have five ways to live. Moreover, there are quite a few members of the Heaven and Earth Society in Guangxi, and the rebels emerge one after another. It is common for people to gather against the government.

This social reality gradually changed the mentality of two people, so they joined hands. Feng Yunshan went deep into Guangxi and continued to preach in Zijingshan, Guiping, while Hong Xiuquan returned to his hometown in Guangdong, continuing to absorb foreign ideas and supplementing and revising his teachings.

1847 In August, he came to Gui County, Guangxi for the second time to give gifts to Gu Cun, but at this time he still didn't want to rebel. But to his surprise, Feng Yunshan developed a congregation of more than 2,000 people in Bauhinia Mountain, so he gladly went to visit Feng Yunshan.

The arrival of leaders promoted the development of worship of gods, and your county gradually spread to Wuxuan, Xiangzhou, Pingnan, Bobai, Luchuan and even Xinyi, Guangdong. In these places, branches of god worshippers have been established one after another, and local people call god worshippers "god guys".

In fact, Hong Xiuquan never had the idea of rebellion. He was "forced" to rebel step by step by his congregation. As I said before, the people in Guangxi live a miserable life, and the activities of the Heaven and Earth Society are frequent, so it is very common to struggle with the government. With the continuous expansion of worship organizations, people in this social background will inevitably struggle with other forces around them because of missionary work, and then these struggles will eventually go against the government. Religion itself is the object of vigilance of feudal rulers, so worship of god will eventually become an uprising, which is driven by the current situation in Guangxi.

Hakka is an important reason for Hong Xiuquan's uprising in Guangxi. The first reason why Feng Yunshan went to Zijing Mountain to develop worship of gods was that he was connected with Hakka language. Guangxi is densely populated, but there is little arable land. As a result, the conflict between "locals" and "tourists" for land, water and mountains has become dramatic. In these struggles, Hakkas are deeply oppressed by the government and local tycoons.

After meeting with Feng Yunshan in Zijingshan, Lao Hong soon launched the Wang Gan Temple in Xiangzhou, which actually belongs to all religions, because more and more Hakkas will worship God, and the oppressed people hope to "eliminate disasters" and regard worshipping God as their spiritual pillar.

Worship to God is Hong Xiuquan's accidental work. Missionaries met in Guangxi and developed into the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom at that time, which was the aspiration of the poor people under the sharp background of social contradictions at that time. In the whole process, Hong Xiuquan did not intend to intervene, and his role was also a symbol of the leader. After reading for decades, it is Feng Yunshan who can write the doctrine, and he led the people to the road of rebellion. Later, Yang, Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai joined in. Comrade Lao Hong has never had such great ambitions and such a strong strategic vision. He is more like an upstart who discovered a gold mine and won the title of leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.