The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-07-14
GREAT TAPPING REBELLION.
\ Bit of Chinese History Recalled
BY Recent Occurrences.

The great Tae-Ping rebellion in China orig
mated in package of American missionary
tracts. printed I'm Chinese. In 1893 the Rev
erend l. ]. Roberts. an American missionary
in Canton. handed the tracts TO ung-Slu-
Tsuen. a young Chinaman of towering am
bition, who was enibittersd because he had
repeatedly failed to pass the Chinese civil
service examination. BY this act millions
of persons lost their lives. Hung-Slu-Tsuen
declared that the tracts were the key to
visions ne had seen and began preaching a
new religion which somewhat resembled the
doctrines of Christianity II Included a
Venerable Man in the heavens. with a
golden beard: who removed from Huns MS
old heart and gave him new heart; an adj
dress by this "Heavenly Father. who said
al men ate his food and wore his garments,
but worshiped demons and H 4 EsSer
Brother" and taught him how 10 slay de-
mons with the Sword of Faith. The
err was the intermediary between the
Heavenly Father" and misguided men.
lungs disciples called themselves the
and idols and Hung lived among cattle TO
show his humility, and abandoned his queue
and let his hair grow Ions, az token OF
dsavowing the Manchu demon dynasty He
followed "A career strangely like that of
John the Baptist. In 1850 rebellion arose
In the Santon Province owing to the
declared themselves followers of the true
God. seeking to establish the Tae Ping or
Great Peace"
abased himself as a herder of cattle, as
summed the title of Tien- Wang. or 'king or
Heaven" and a great insurrecuon against
the Manchus iniiamed Middle China. In
1853 Hung Siu-TslIer. now hailed as MEM
her of the Holy Trinity. with God and Jesus
Christ. commanded a vast army led by
generals. to whom he gave the rank of
kings. He took the great city Of Nanking
and put 1900 people to the sword. after
the example of the Old Testament He de-
clared that he had come TO punish the idol
aters with fire and sword.
At this point when the cattle herder
raised to a pinnacle equal to the first sue
to mediate, and the imperial forces laid
strong siege to his capital. Marking. But
the divine Inc rebel gave no b S,gn ana o gfiused
Audience. When the situation was des-
perate he ordered the soldiers TO sing a
chant expressing faith In the interposition
of God. and sure enough. after the Tae
Pings had sung and shouted this acclaim
to God the imperial armies besiegtng Nan
king were scattered and the divinity of the
cattle herder was rendered doubly certain
to his followers.
In 1880. while the Imperial Government
was at war with the powers. the Tae Pings
grew in strength and held undisputed sway
in Middle China But. SO vast is the Celes-
tiai Empire that 1t may contain several
rebellions at the same time. be at war with
tho powers and yet have peaceful Provinces
left, and continue to hold court at Picking
as III nothing were gong on. Inc foreign
ers in China at this time were harassed by
both the Tae Pings and the animos.ty of
the Picking Government, which. in spite of
the rebellion. displayed disposition to fight
all of Europe.
So, while the foreigners were threatened
by both the Picking forces and the Tae
Pings. the legitimate dynasty was fighting
the Tae Ping rebels and the powers. and
the Tae Pings, in turn. were attacked by
both imperial armies and the English and
French troops These complications resulted |
In foreign Intervention in 1852 and the crush |
ing of the great rebellion In 1864 by the |
Ever Victorious" army under General |
Chinese Gordon. "-Phtladelphia Press.