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1. Name and Origin The Chinese Taiping Rebellion rested on a vision of its originator, Hung Hsiu-ch’üan (Hong Xiuquan, 1814–64), in the year 1837. The term t’ai-p’ing (great peace) adopted a utopian ideal (Utopia) that went back to the third century b.c. In the vision an “old man” charged Hung to chase out the “demons” from earth and heaven who had caused human beings to forget their Creator. The finding of a book containing Bible verses and evangelical tracts verified for him the genuineness of the vision. Putting his mission into action, Hung in 1842 initiated the God Worshipers…

1. Features In religious studies, the phrase “charismatic religion” applies to thousands of religious movements that have the following five features. 1. They arise in times of cultural, economic, or national crisis (Crisis Cult). 2. They are founded and directed by prophets (often women), whose direct mandate from the Supreme Being (by visions, dreams, etc.) the adherents recognize. 3. The vision, often symbolically, shows the reason for the crisis and intimates divine help in the renewing of the world under the leadership of the prophet. 4. The vision contains elements of a “…

The modern term “Confucianism” has no exact equivalent in traditional Chinese doxography. It denotes the sum of the officially sanctioned values and norms that have influenced, and to some extent still influence, the fabric of Chinese social structure, visible, e.g., in ancestor worship, subordination in the five key human relations (prince and subject, father and son, husband and wife, older brother and younger brother, teacher and student), and the governing of everyday life by moral concepts. The nearest Chinese equivalent is the teaching of the Ju, cultured officia…

1. The Churches in China The first verifiable presence of Christianity in China came via Nestorian missionaries, who entered China from the Middle East in the mid-7th century. Their work effectively ended by the 9th century, although traces of Nestorianism survived until the 14th. The first Western missionary was John of Monte Corvino (1247–1328), a Franciscan, whose efforts were nullified by the advent of the Ming dynasty in 1368. Between 1552 and the mid-1800s, the Jesuits, and later also other ord…

[German Version] (Jul 8, 1803, Pyrzyce [Ger. Pyritz], Poland – Aug 9, 1851, Canton) came from Pomerania and went to China (V) as an independent evangelical missionary. Born into an artisan family of Herrnhuter tradition (Bohemian and Moravian Brethren), Gützlaff was gripped by the missionary fever of the second Awakening movement (Revival/Revival movements: I) at an early age. Showing little interest in the disputes between Christian denominations and convinced that a Chinese Mission could only re…

[German Version] I. General Facts, History of Religion – II. Christian History I. General Facts, History of Religion The island became a crown colony in 1841, following the Opium War. The economic opportunities as well as the safety of the colony attracted Chinese immigrants from South China. The latter largely retained their religious customs, although they adapted these to the new environment: in the city, the family and the individual replaced the clan as tradents of the ancestor cult (Ancestors, Cult of: IV…

[English Version] I. Daoismus T. bedeutet »Großer Frieden«, »Allg. Wohlfahrt« und »Universalharmonie«. Das »Buch der Universalharmonie« (T. jing) zeigt die Ideologie der militärisch organisierten T.-Bewegung (2.Jh. n.Chr.) unter Führung der selbsternannten »Generäle« Zhang Jue (gest.184) und seiner beiden Brüder. Der vergöttlichte Lao Zi (Taishang Laojun) soll den urspr. Titel »T. qingling shu« einem Gan (oder Yü) Ji in Shandong (Langye) eröffnet haben. Kriege zum Ende der Han-Dynastie, Nöte der Be…

[German Version] I. Taoism Taiping signifies “Great Peace,” “General Prosperity,” and “Universal Harmony.” The Book of Universal Harmony ( Taiping Jing) reflects the ideology of the militarily organized Taiping movement (2nd cent. ce) under the leadership of the self-appointed “generals” Zhang ¶ Jue (or Zhang Jiao; d. 184) and his two brothers. The deified Lao Tsu (Taishang Laojun) is said to have revealed the original title Taiping qingling shu to a certain Gan (or Yu) Ji in Shandong (Langye). The wars of the late Han Dynasty, the hardships suffered by the popu…