Complex sentence: Hong experienced a lengthy illness and then after spending many days in bed, he recovered with a changed personality because he had received a pamphlet from a Protestant Christian missionary in 1836 after his last failed attempt at the imperial examination.
Split into simpler sentences: Hong experienced a lengthy illness and then after spending many days in bed, he recovered with a changed personality. His cousin Li Ching-fang noticed the pamphlet Hong had received a pamphlet from a Protestant Christian missionary in 1836 after his failed attempt at the imperial examination.