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1. ConceptThe White Lotus Rebellion conventionally denotes a wide but uncoordinated resistance movement that held sway for nine years (1796-1804) in the Chinese provinces of Shaanxi, Hunan, Hubei, and Sichuan, and that shook the Qing Empire (1644-1911) to its foundations. The term is not unproblematic, for it suggests a rebellious tradition reaching far back into history and supposedly growing out of secret lore of a religious kind. In fact, the “White Lotus” movement was not associated with religious groups of earlier eras that used the signum “White Lotus” (Chinese  bailian) as…

1. Concept and historical contextThe Christian term millenarianism is etymologically derived from “millennium” (Latin:  millen(n)ium) – also known as chiliasm (from the Greek  chília, “thousand”), though its roots are within ancient Judaism. It covers a broad spectrum of expectations of salvation taking place in this world rather than in the heavenly afterlife [2]. The idea of a thousand-year interim kingdom unstained by evil, as developed in the Gospel of John, was anticipated by various prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures (e.g. Isa 24-27, 65…