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So let me get this straight.
>literally who peasant from some shitty backwater village
>fails exam and has a nervous breakdown
>reads a pamphlet and has some weird dreams
>concludes he's Jesus' bro
>convinces a few other people he's Jesus' bro
>starts a religion based around himself
>somehow it catches on
>his cult captures a few cities and he ends up running his own country
>starts a war that leaves 20-100 million dead
And yeah I know alot of the casualties were from famine and disease, but the whole situation is pretty crazy.
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>>2870618
A lot of the rebels joined up because their lives were shitty and they hated the Manchus, not because they really believed he was the son of God and little brother of Jesus. Mao Zedong considered the Taiping Rebellion to be a legitimate example of peasant uprising and class struggle.
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>>2870618
Eh, the whole reason most people supported him was mostly "let's overthrow the dynasty, this nigga's someone that wants to do it and we can get behind".
Having crazy guy as that fella was just a coincidence.
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Religious people are retarded crazies
Who knew?
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If there were no westerns,he could have build up another dynasty.
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>>2870618
This is the primary reason why China keeps a tight control over Christianity right now. There is an official state sanctioned church.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Patriotic_Catholic_Association
The pope excommunicated every "Bishop" in the church, but the government didn't give a shit.
Catholicism is the easiest religion for opportunists to hijack, because proselytizing is encouraged, salvation can be achieved by belief, and the rules associated with the religion are fairly light.
Salvation through faith is a powerful lure for people whose lives are truly in the shitter, as is the case with most of China during the 19th century.
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>>2870618
Rebellions started by religious cults aren't that unusual in Chinese history
>Yellow Turban Rebellion led by a Taoist wizard that catalyzed the fall of the Han Dynasty
>Red Turban Rebellion started by the Buddhist White Lotus Society that overthrew the Yuan Dynasty
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>>2870649
For the Taiping Rebellion, look up "Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom" by Stephen R. Platt, "What Remains" by Tobie Meyer-Fong, and "God's Chinese Son" by Johnathan Spence.
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>>2870656
thanks.
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>>2870649
Pearl S Buck's series on China is considered a good start to the everyday life of Chinese peasants. They are very easy to read.
The books are old enough that free versions are very easy to find
https://archive.org/stream/goodearth00buck_1/goodearth00buck_1_djvu.txt
Kissinger's "On China" is very good for understanding how Chinese history, especially 1840 - 1950 dictates the actions of the modern Chinese state.
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