Customer Reviews

God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan

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Professor Spence has set a high standard with exceptional and appealing English language books on Chinese history, and this volume one of his best. It is a sweeping and detailed history, a truly beautiful, handsome book full of wonderful illustrations and graphics.

But it is not the best book ever written on the Taiping movement. That title belongs to the (unfortunately long out of print) 1973 "Taiping Revolutionary Movement" by Jen Yu-Wen. Profesor Jen spent 50 years investigating the Taiping history, and had a master's command of all of the sources availalble in Chinese and English. Jen's book, which is encyclopedic, but extremely readable, was one of the sources for "God's Chinese Son". Ironically, Spence wrote the foreword for Jen's book.

Spence's perspective and treatment, along with his writing style, is detached, and from a discernible Western bias. This is typical of not only Spence's histories, but those of Fairbank, etc. Jen's book takes one much closer to the on-ground, cultural, psychological and physical realities. Jen's chronicle of the military movements is far more detailed. The general dearth of sources available in English that offer the Chinese view of Chinese history is tragic.

Nevertheless, Spence's is easily the best English language Taiping history in print, and still highly recommended.

This story of the rebel and religious leader, Hong Xiuquan, is a weird and horrifying read. It is almost unbelievable that this one man, after having a dream of ascending to heaven, can have mustered a rebellion against the Manchu Dynasty that was stunning in its success and devasting in its failure as twenty million Chinese lay dead at the end of the almost twenty year rebellion. Jonathan D. Spence, in God's Chinese Son, covers this material with his usual combination of both writing skill and scholary research. The reader may occasionally get bogged down in the fine details, particulary with no knowledge of Chinese history from this period, but this book provides a wonderful ride through an unusual time and place in history.

God's Chinese Son is a stunning work of historical scholarship -- an equal mixture of solid documentation, cogent argument and imaginative brilliance. Spence takes the historical biography form and uses it not only to illuminate a fascinating life, but also to turn that life into a window on his own rich, layered reconstruction of 19th-century China. Well worth buying, reading and re-reading; a must for the serious student and the casual reader alike.

Spence's accounts of Chinese history have always been among my favorite ever since I first read his "History of Modern China". The level of detail and the connections that he makes in his writing are usually incredible and to a large degree, God's Chinese Son is no exception to this pattern. Spence provides a very detailed account of the Taiping Rebellion, stretching from the origins of the leadership to the end result for the Heavenly Kingdom.

The level of detail that Spence provides in laying out what happened as well as why it happened is amazing. However, in some respects it's this level of detail that was also a drawback at various points too. Spence provides an excellent account of the story, but at many points I found myself losing the forest for the trees. Despite this, his thesis is well supported and overall the story is well told.

I found this book to be incredibly interesting--I could hardly put it down. However, it is written entirely in present tense, some sort of post-modern angle, I suppose. Other than that, I would highly recommend it. The Taiping Rebellion is perhaps the most underrated event in human history. This book helps get the story out to a wider readership. The discussion of Hong's religious beliefs, a mixture of Christianity and his own personal odd opinions, is a fascinating study in the origin of a religious sect, making the book well worth the time to read for that part alone.

This is a biography of Hong Xiuquan, the leader of the Taiping movement in 19th century China. The author, a well-known expert of Chinese history, does not attempt to explain, interpret or evaluate his hero or the Taiping movement to any extent beyond describing the known facts with some historical and social background. He is content with telling a story: the story of a strange man in a strange world; a story we could hardly believe if we did not know it is true. Focusing that much on the central personality has the inevitable drawback that we learn little about the motivations behind the attitude of the rest of the world toward him and his kingdom. But the story is well told, the maps are a great help in locating the events, and the publisher deserves all praise for the tasteful presentation of the volume.

I am not sure what book Spence set out to write here. Was he trying to write a scholarly history of the Taiping rebellion or was he writing a popular one? The level of detail in much of the book suggests the former -- using long quotes and a passion for detail that often renders the text dense and unwieldy, Spence manages to make much of this story impregnable. This would be fitting, and all too common, for an academic history, but clearly this is not his intent. Leaving out such things as the ultimate influence of the Taiping rebellion on Chinese life or the Qing perspective on the rebellion makes the story rather less than complete. But if this is a popular history, then why the long interludes about the exact details of Western missionary movements around Southwest China prior to Hong Xiuquan's conversion? I found this segment excruciating and entirely unnecessary. Perhaps there is more justification for his extended discussion of Taiping theology, but these seem unduly detailed for a popular history.

The saving grace in all this is the story. The events of the Taiping rebellion are so unlikely and remarkable that even with these textual issues, the book is difficult to put down. The fantastic, anomolous story of Hong's revolution is nail-biting stuff and certain worth trudging through the muddy prose through which it is conveyed. I am not sure I would pick up another book by Jonathan Spence, but I am glad I made it through this one.

The Taiping Rebellion is one of the most important events in world history that no one has heard of. 25 Million people would be dead when it was over, the Qing Dynasty and the whole Dynastic System which ruled China for thousands of years would be on the verge of collapse. And events would set in motion Sun Yatsen's attempt at Democracy, the rise of the Warlords, and a civil war that would lead to the Founding of the Peoples Republic in 1949. So the Taiping Rebellion is a pivotal event in Chinese and World History.

Spence is the big name in Chinese History. This book got great reviews. The topic is interesting. But personally I found the book too tough to read and enjoy. Too me a good history book is one that you enjoy while reading and learning. Just look at Orville Schell's Mandate of Heaven. In my opinion Spence did not write a good book. Academic yes, readable no.

The Taipings are a fascinating study in fanaticism. The idea that one man could override established religion and the Ching Empire is audacious. There seems to be some debate among many of the reviewers of this book over exactly what constitutes Chinese history.
Let's be blunt: how did China get from 1800 to 2000? Where else in the world has this 200-year transition been so complex? Perhaps Professor Spence's work should be compared with the Foreign Languages Press (Peking) booklet "The Taiping Revolution" (1976). The facts are not at variance; the factual account itself may be irrelevant.
Chinese history and culture is older than our own, and it is naive to believe that our difficulty in understanding the convergence of these two worlds can be laid on the facts. Hong Xiuquan's perception of the west might itself justify the book.
Personally, I thought this was a beautifully written book, balancing the historical record with the problems of prose. If the Boxers were Ghost Dancers, attempting to overturn history, then the Taipings were something else; perhaps not revolutionaries, as the Gang of Four would have it, but certainly visionaries struggling to reestablish order between Heaven and earth.

This book is about the pivotal event in Chinese History between 200BC and 1920 and laid the groundwork for the two Chinese revolutions of Mao Tse-Tung and Sun Yat-Sen. Hong Xiuquon's version of Christianity was the first major (widespread) introduction of a new religion into China in 2,000 years, and challenged the Manchu Dynasty, a foreign ruling line over China to its very core. The Manchus (or Qing Dynasty) were enfeebled and would only last another 50 years before succumbing to the revolutionary spirit so encouraged by Hong and his followers.

Hong founded a new religion following his visions wherein he ascended to Heaven meeting God and Jesus and was ordered to create the Taiping Heavenly Movement in China and slay the evil demons who ruled China and bring the people onto the path of righteousness. Jesus became his elder brother and guided him often by speaking to him in visions. In effect, Hong became filled with the Holy Spirit and devoted himself to his Heavenly ordained task. The reader will no doubt notice some striking simularities with other religious prophets and leaders since the time of Jesus. At any rate, Hong acquired a copy of the Bible, and began his lifelong work at translating, re-writing and adapting it to Chinese culture.

Much of author Spence's work focuses on the development of Hong's Christian/Taiping theological doctrine through an examination of Hong's extensive writings. Those readers looking for a thrilling account of the Taiping Rebellion and its gaining of control over a large part of China through some 15 years of military campaigning (1849-1866) will be sorely disappointed. The military campaigns are mentioned to support the development of Hong's Heaven on Earth, but a military historian would be better directed to some of the other works listed in Spence's bibliography.

The period of the Taiping Rebellion was also the same period as the American Civil War, but American casualties in the war were miniscule by comparison. The Taiping Rebellion caused more deaths in a single country than any other war in history. Estimated deaths range from a low of twenty million to a high of sixty million when deaths from all causes are included. In second place comes the casualties in the Soviet Union through World War II, yet the Taiping Rebellion is almost unknown in the West.

Although the author does not dwell on the role of the British and French excessively in his work, their impact was probably decisive in bringing about the defeat and extirpation of the Taipings. After forcing the Manchu Emperor to accede to British demands through "gunboat diplomacy", the British and French supported the Qings in their campaigns against the Taiping and effectively blockaded the Taipings from receiving outside help. They also held Hong's version of Christianity in contempt -- the British out of sheer arrogance and the Catholic French because it was a heresy. And, of course, both possessed a financial stake in defeating the Taipings due to their opium trade with the Qings that the Taipings held as one of the evils to be eliminated. In effect, Britian and France went to war to protect their opium trade against those who sought to eliminate it. How different history would have been had the British and French not acted out of the folly of short-sighted financial self-interest -- particularly in a interest every bit as odious as slavery.

I found the Taiping leader Hong Rengan's depictions of other people amusing. The British were intelligent but proud by nature, the Germans primitive but devout and conscientious, Scandinavians serene, France too steeped in mystical religion to be truly praised, and the Americans righteous and powerful, and very surprisingly, when gold or silver are discovered in America, they allow foreigners to come and dig for it. It seems like this may contain some lessons for us today.

The Taipings conquered much of central China and took possession of Nanking for their Heavenly Capital in March, 1853. They would hold the city until July, 1864, shortly after the death of Hong Xiuquan in June, 1864.

Although the author curiously cannot bring himself to wishing the Taipings had defeated the Manchus (perhaps appalled by the enormous casualties and suffering caused by the unsuccessful revolution), it must be emphasized that the Taiping movement was a groundswell rebellion formed initially by the hill people of China, the Hakka, including peasants, lower-ranking merchants and skilled and semi-skilled workers. As such, it was a true people's movement and has received much attention by the Chinese Communists. In fact, Hong's march to the North to escape Qing encirclement roughly parallels Mao's Long March and certainly provides an historical precedence for some of Mao's strategies.

Nonetheless, the emphasis of the book is on Hong and his religion so that Westeners can have a fighting chance at grasping what the Taiping Rebellion was all about. Some earlier reviewers have criticized the author for not explaining how Hong came to his version of Christianity and not explaining the source of the strength and fanaticism of the Taiping troops. I believe they missed what the author said -- Hong's visions made him a true believer, perhaps much in the same way as Mohammad or Joseph Smith. His followers saw what they perceived as miracles and when coupled with the ethical and righteous nature of Hong's teachings, they were converted with all the intensity of those who suddenly see the light. This is not something an author can easily explain in simple terms. So why were the disciples of Jesus "filled with the Holy Spirit" and able to create the beginnings of Christianity against all odds after the death of their leader? Hong and his followers experienced a similar epiphany and were empowered as a result. Why is that so difficult to understand? No religion has an exclusive on devoutness.

This is an important work and fully recommended. For those who want military campaigns and battles, they must look elsewhere. The majority of this work concerns the development of the religion of the Taipings, much like the Gospels and the books of Acts. As such, it fills a gap in the literature and deserves to be read to fill an enormous hole in Western knowledge. One should not easily dismiss Hong as a heretic or deceiver -- rather he was a visionary attempting to bring the Heavenly Kingdom to China. He deserves to be better remembered in history.