The Heavenly Kingdom's Policies
The rebels announced social reforms, including strict separation of the sexes, abolition of foot binding, land socialization and "suppression" of private trade. In religion, the Kingdom tried to replace Confucianism, Buddhism and Chinese folk religion with a form of Christianity, holding that Hong Xiuquan was the younger brother of Jesus. Troops were nicknamed "Longhairs", because they sported a traditional Confucian hairstyle which was different from the Qing queue. Qing government papers refer to them as "hairy rebels" (simplified Chinese: 发贼; traditional Chinese: 髮賊, pinyin: fàzéi).
Within the land it controlled, the Taiping Heavenly Army established a theocratic and highly militarized rule. However, the rule was remarkably ineffective, haphazard and brutal; all efforts were concentrated on the army, and civil administration was non-existent. Rule was established in the major cities and the land outside the urban areas was little regarded. Even though polygamy was banned, Hong Xiuquan had numerous concubines. Many high-ranking Taiping officials kept concubines as a matter of prerogative, and lived as de facto kings.
Read more about this topic: Taiping Rebellion
Famous quotes containing the words heavenly, kingdom and/or policies:
“The universe is the externisation of the soul. Wherever the life is, that bursts into appearance around it. Our science is sensual, and therefore superficial. The earth, and the heavenly bodies, physics, and chemistry, we sensually treat, as if they were self-existent; but these are the retinue of that Being we have.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The kingdom of our Prospero, Freud, now dissolves in air.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“A nation’s domestic and foreign policies and actions should be derived from the same standards of ethics, honesty and morality which are characteristic of the individual citizens of the nation.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)