<Article> Hong Xiuquan's Defeat and Shangdijiao : An Analysis of Guangdong Society based on Dangan Materials

This article aims to clarify the social background of Hong Xiuquan’s defeat and his founding of Shandijiao through the influence of Christianity．（1）Hong Xiuquan failed the civil service examination （科挙）in 1833， and he seemed to take notice of the mysterious death of Li Taijiao（李泰交）， who was the proctor of the examination in Guangdong Province．（2）The vision of Hong Xiuquan was not an isolated phenomenon；its model was a story from Guangdong．（3）R． Morrison’spublication of the Christian pamphlet was disclosed in 1835， and Hong Xiuquan must have acquired the Quαnshi liαngrVαn（『勧世 良言』）in 1833．（4）The Datong（大同）utopia had great influence among Chinese intellectuals， and the Jin Mingguan’s（金銘館） proposal to revive the ancient regime had much in common with Hong’s claim in his books．（5）The Datong utopia tended to deny that the“self”（「私心」）was the cause of social conflict， and Hong Xiuquan did not agree with the anti－alien movement because he regarded it as an expression of the self．（6）The permission of the Christian mission by the Qing（清）government was an expression of its traditionaI policy to contain a foreign country （England） by pleasing other countries（France and the United States）， but the Qing government prohibited the mission beyond the concession．（7）Strictly speaking， the activities of I． J， Roberts， who was the teacher of Hong Xiuquan， were illegal， and it is very lucky for the history of the Taiping rebellion that Feng Yunshan（鵜雲山）received only a light punishment in 1848 following the case of the Catholic missionary