Early life and education

Hong Xiuquan, born "Hong Huoxiu", was the third and youngest son of a Hakka family. Some sources claim his family was "well to do". He was born in Fuyuan Springs, Hua county (now part of Huadu District) in Canton (Guangzhou), Guangdong to Hong Jingyang, a farmer and elected headman, and Madam Wang. He and his family moved to Guanlubu Village shortly after his birth. Upon marrying his wife Lai Xiying, Hong received the courtesy name "Renkun." He was also the brother of Hong Xuanjiao, a woman who became the commander of the female battalion during the Taiping Rebellion.

Hong showed an interest in scholarship at an early age, so his family made financial sacrifices to provide a formal education for him, in the hope that he could one day complete all of the civil service examinations. Hong began studying at a primary school in his village at the age of five. He was able to recite the Four Books after five or six years. He then took the local xiucai preliminary civil service examinations and placed first. A few years later, he traveled to the nearby city of Guangzhou to take the imperial examinations. He was unsuccessful and, his parents being unable to afford to continue his education, he was forced to return to agricultural work. The next year, he accompanied a wealthy schoolmate elsewhere for a year of study and became a village schoolteacher upon his return.

In 1836, at the age of 22, Hong returned to Guangzhou to retake the imperial examinations. While in Guangzhou, Hong heard Edwin Stevens, a foreign missionary, and his interpreter preaching about Christianity. From them, Hong received a set of pamphlets entitled "Good Words for Exhorting the Age", which were written by Liang Fa, Stevens's assistant, and contained excerpts from the Bible along with homilies and other material prepared by Liang. Supposedly, Hong only briefly looked over these pamphlets and did not pay much attention to them at the time. Unsurprisingly, he again failed the imperial examinations, which had a pass rate of less than one percent.

Visions and iconoclasm

In 1837, Hong attempted and failed the imperial examinations for a third time, leading to a nervous breakdown. He was delirious for days to the point that his family feared for his life. While convalescing, Hong dreamed of visiting Heaven, where he discovered that he possessed a celestial family distinct from his earthly family, which included a heavenly father, mother, elder brother, sister-in-law, wife, and son. His heavenly father, wearing a black dragon robe and high-brimmed hat with a long golden beard, lamented that men were worshiping demons rather than him, and presented Hong with a sword and golden seal with which to slay the demons infesting Heaven. Furthermore, he did so with the help of his celestial older-brother and a heavenly army. The father figure later informed Hong that his given name violated taboos and had to be changed, suggesting as one option the "Hong Xiuquan" moniker ultimately adopted by Hong. In later embellishments, Hong would declare that he also saw Confucius being punished by Hong's celestial father for leading the people astray. His acquaintances would later claim that after awakening from his dreams Hong became more careful, friendly, and open, while his pace became imposing and firm and his height and size increased. Hong stopped studying for the imperial examinations and sought work as a teacher. For the next several years Hong taught at several schools around the area of his hometown.

In 1843, Hong failed the imperial examinations for the fourth and final time. It was only then, prompted by a visit by his cousin, that Hong took time to carefully examine the Christian pamphlets he had received. After reading these pamphlets, Hong came to believe that they had given him the key to interpreting his visions: his celestial father was God the Father (whom he identified with Shangdi from Chinese tradition), the elder brother that he had seen was Jesus Christ, and he had been directed to rid the world of demon worship. This interpretation led him to conclude that he was the literal son of God and younger brother to Jesus. In contrast to some of the later leaders of his movement, Hong appears to have genuinely believed in his ascent to Heaven and divine mission. After coming to this conclusion Hong began destroying idols and enthusiastically preaching his interpretation of Christianity. As a symbolic gesture to purge China of Confucianism, he and the cousin asked for two giant swords, three chi long and nine jin (about 4.5 kg), called the "demon-slaying swords", to be forged.

Hong began by burning all Confucian and Buddhist statues and books in his house, and began preaching to his community about his visions. Some of his earliest converts were relatives of his who had also failed their examinations and belonged to the Hakka minority, Feng Yunshan and Hong Rengan. He collaborated with them to destroy holy statues in small villages, to the ire of local citizens and officials. Hong and his converts' acts were considered sacrilegious and they were persecuted by Confucians who forced them to leave their positions as village tutors. In April 1844, Hong, Feng Yunshan, and two other relatives of Hong left Hua county to travel and preach. They first journeyed to Guangzhou and preached in the outlying areas before heading northwest to White Tiger Village. There, Hong and Feng Yunshan parted ways before traveling some to the southwest to the village of Sigu, Guiping county, Guangxi, where distant relatives of Hong's resided, including two early converts who had returned home. It is in or near Sigu that Hong begins to draft "Exhortations to Worship the One True God", his first substantial work. In November 1844, after having preached in Guangxi for five months, Hong returned home without Feng and resumed his previous job as a village teacher, while continuing to write religious tracts.

The "Emperors Worshipers"

In 1847, Hong Xiuquan was invited by a member of the Chinese Union to study with the American Southern Baptist missionary, Reverend Issachar Jacox Roberts. Hong accepted the invitation and traveled to Guangzhou with his cousin, Hong Rengan. Once there, Hong studied Karl Gützlaff's translations of the Old and New Testaments and requested to be baptized by Roberts. Roberts refused to do so, possibly due to Hong being tricked by the other converts into requesting monetary aid from Roberts. Hong left Guangzhou on 12 July 1847 to search for Feng Yunshan. Although robbed of all of his possessions, including his demon-slaying sword, by bandits in the town of Meizixun, he eventually reached Thistle Mountain on 27 August 1847. There, he reunited with Feng and discovered the "Society of God-Worshipers" that Feng had founded.

In January 1848, Feng Yunshan was arrested and banished to Guangdong, and Hong Xiuquan left for Guangdong shortly thereafter to once again reunite with Feng. In Feng and Hong's absence, Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui jointly emerged to lead the "God Worshipers" themselves. Both claimed to enter trances which allowed them to speak as a member of the Trinity; God the Father in the case of Yang and Jesus Christ in the case of Xiao. When Hong and Feng returned in the summer of 1849, they investigated Yang and Xiao's claims and declared them to be genuine. Hong ministered to the faithful in outdoor meetings strongly resembling the Baptist tent revivals he had witnessed with Issachar Roberts.

Most of Hong Xiuquan's knowledge of the scriptures came from the books known as "Good Words to Admonish the Age" written by the Chinese preacher Liang Fa, as well as a localized Bible translated into Chinese. Many Western missionaries grew jealous of Hong and his local ministry. These competing missionaries were fond of spreading defamatory rumors such as his "lack of baptism." (Hong and his cousin were in fact both baptized according to the way prescribed in the pamphlet "Good words to admonish the age").

In 1847, Hong began his translation and adaptation of the Bible, what came to be known as "Authorized Taiping Version of the Bible, or "The Taiping Bible", which he based on Gutzlaff's translation. He presented his followers with the Bible as a vision of the authentic religion that had existed in ancient China before it was wiped out by Confucius and the imperial system. The deity of the Old Testament punished evil nations and rewarded those who followed his commandments, even music, food, and marriage laws.

Hong made some minor changes in the text, such as correcting misprints and improving the prose style, but adapted the meaning elsewhere to fit his own theology and moral teachings. For instance, in Genesis 27:25 the Israelites did not drink wine, and in Genesis 38:16-26 he omitted the sexual relations between the father and his son's widow. Hong preached a mixture of communal utopianism, evangelism and oriental syncretism. While proclaiming sexual equality, the sect segregated men from women and encouraged all its followers to pay their assets into a communal treasury.

When Hong returned to Guangxi, he found that Feng Yunshan had accumulated a following of around 2,000 converts. Guangxi was a dangerous area at this time with many bandit groups based in the mountains and pirates on the rivers. Perhaps due to these more pressing concerns, the authorities were largely tolerant of Hong and his followers. However, the instability of the region meant that Hong's followers were inevitably drawn into conflict with other groups, not least because of their predominantly Hakka ethnicity. There are records of numerous incidents when local villages and clans, as well as groups of pirates and bandits, came into conflict with the authorities, and responded by fleeing to join Hong's movement. The rising tension between the sect and the authorities was probably the most important factor in Hong's eventual decision to rebel.

Rebellion and the Heavenly Kingdom

By 1850 Hong had between 10,000 and 30,000 followers. The authorities were alarmed at the growing size of the sect and ordered them to disperse. A local force was sent to attack them when they refused, but the imperial troops were routed and a deputy magistrate killed. A full-scale attack was launched by government forces in the first month of 1851, in what came to be known as the Jintian Uprising, named after the town of Jintian (present-day Guiping, Guangxi) where the sect was based. Hong's followers emerged victorious and beheaded the Manchu commander of the government army. Hong declared the founding of the "Heavenly Kingdom of Transcendent Peace" on 11 January 1851.

Despite this evidence of planning, Hong and his followers faced immediate challenges. The local Green Standard Army outnumbered them ten to one, and had recruited the help of the river pirates to keep the rebellion contained to Jintian. After a month of preparation the rebels managed to break through the blockade and fight their way to the town of Yongan (not to be confused with Yong'an), which fell to them on 25 September 1851.

Hong and his troops remained in Yongan for three months, sustained by local landowners who were hostile to the Manchu-ruled Qing Dynasty. The imperial army regrouped and launched another attack on the rebels in Yongan. Having run out of gunpowder, Hong's followers fought their way out by sword, and made for the city of Guilin, to which they laid siege. However, the fortifications of Guilin proved too strong, and Hong and his followers eventually gave up and set out northwards, towards Hunan. Here, they encountered an elite militia created by a local member of the gentry specifically to put down peasant rebellions. The two forces fought at Soyi Ford on 10 June 1852 where the rebels were forced into retreat, and 20% of their troops were killed. However, in March 1853, Hong's forces managed to take Nanjing and turned it into the capital of their movement.

After establishing his capital at Nanjing Hong implemented an ambitious reform and modernization program. He created an elaborate civil bureaucracy, reformed the calendar used in his kingdom, outlawed opium use, and introduced a number of reforms designed to make women more socially equal to men. Hong ruled by making frequent proclamations from his Heavenly Palace, demanding strict compliance with various moral and religious rules. Most trade was suppressed, and some communal land ownership was introduced. Polygamy was forbidden and men and women were separated, although Hong and other leaders maintained groups of concubines.

Yang Xiuqing, also known as the "Eastern King", was a fellow Taiping leader who had directed successful military campaigns, and who often claimed to speak with the voice of God. Hong became increasingly suspicious of Yang's ambitions and his network of spies. In 1856, he and others in the Taiping élite had Yang and his family murdered in a purge that subsequently spun out of control, resulting in the further purge of its main perpetrator Wei Changhui.

Following a failed attempt by the Taiping rebels to take Shanghai in 1860, Qing government forces, aided by Western officers, slowly gained ground.

Death

In the spring of 1864, Nanjing was besieged and dangerously low on food supplies. Hong's solution was to order his subjects to eat manna, which had been translated into Chinese as sweetened dew and a medicinal herb. Hong himself gathered weeds from the grounds of his palace, which he then ate. Hong fell ill in April 1864, possibly due to his ingestion of the weeds, and died on 1 June 1864. Although Hong likely died of his illness, suicide by poison has also been suggested. He was buried in a yellow-silk shroud without a coffin in the bare ground, per Taiping custom, near the former Ming Imperial Palace. He was succeeded by his teenage son, Hong Tianguifu.

On 30 July 1864, Qing forces exhumed, beheaded, and burned his body. His body was later exhumed on orders of Zeng Guofan to verify his death, and then cremated. Hong's ashes were later blasted out of a cannon in order to ensure that his remains have no resting place as eternal punishment for the uprising.

Publications

• Imperial Decree of Taiping (1852)

• The Instructions on the Original Way Series (1845–1848): included in the Imperial Decree of Taiping later. The series is proclaimed by the People's Republic of China's National Affairs Department to be Protected National Significant Documents in 1988.

　• Instructions on the Original Way to Save the World

　• Instructions on the Original Way to Awake the World

　• Instructions on the Original Way to Make the World Realize

• The Heavenly Father's poem(1857)

• New Essay on Economics and Politics (1859)

Poetry

The following poem, titled Poem on Executing the Evil and Preserving the Righteous, written in 1837 by Hong Xiuquan, illustrates his religious thinking and goal that later led to the establishment of the "Heavenly Kingdom of Taiping". Note that in the seventh line, the name of the then yet-to-come kingdom is mentioned.

Legacy

Views and opinions on Hong differ greatly. The Communists under Mao Zedong generally admired Hong Xiuquan and his movement as a legitimate peasant uprising that anticipated their own. Sun Yat-sen came from the same area as Hong and was said to have identified with Hong since his childhood days.

To honor his legacy, the People's Republic of China established a small museum in 1959, the "Hong Xiuquan's Former Residence Memorial Museum", in his birthplace, where there is a longan tree planted by him. The museum's plate is written by the famous literary figure Guo Moruo (1892–1978). The residence and Book Chamber Building were renovated in 1961.

There has been an active academic debate on the degree to which Hong is similar or dissimilar to Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi. Scholars that promote the opinion that a strong similarity exists between Li and Hong note that both rallied a large number of people behind a religious or spiritual cause in order to challenge the status quo. Scholars disputing a close relationship note that Li's political intentions are debatable.

姓名

原名洪仁坤，小名火秀，又名洪日。在1837年大病痊愈后，声称梦见天父著白袍于梦境赐宝剑「云中雪」、印玺给他。上帝在中文名为耶火华，天父指他名须避讳，必须用全（全拆字为人王，有自称君王之意）代替火字（火字乃犯「爷火华」，即今译之天父耶和华名讳），又说他有三种改名方法。一是隐匿，自称洪秀；二是新创，自称洪全；三也可以使用不犯讳的名字，叫洪秀全，因而得名。

生平

早年

1814年1月1日（清嘉庆十八年十二月初十），洪秀全出生于广东花县（今广州市花都区）福源水村。父亲洪镜扬，是耕读世家，母亲王氏。洪秀全还有长兄洪仁发，二兄洪仁达、堂弟洪仁玕。

洪秀全祖先居于今日江苏，其祖先洪皓是南宋的名臣，与当时的岳飞都是同期的爱国民族英雄，而后南迁闽南，又迁居广东，在广州府花县落脚。

洪秀全7岁起，在村中私塾上学，学习四书五经及其它一些古籍。由于他是兄弟中唯一识字者，村中父老看好洪秀全可考取功名光宗耀祖，可是三次府试都失败落选，第三次在广州落选后已经是25岁（1837年，虚岁）了，受此打击回家以后重病一场，一度昏迷，他本人说病中幻觉有一老人对他说：奉上天的旨意，命他到人间来斩妖除魔。从此洪秀全言语沉默，举止怪异。

此时洪秀全并不甘心于考试的失败，在6年后的1843年春天再一次参加了广州的府试，结果还是以落选告终。这时洪秀全翻阅以前在广州应试时收到的基督徒梁发的《劝世良言》一书，把书中内容与自己以前大病时的幻觉对比，自认为受上帝之命下凡诛妖，自认上帝的幼子，耶稣的幼弟，并称上帝耶和华为「天父」，称耶稣为「天兄」，一气抛开了孔孟之书，不再做一名儒生而改信了基督教的教义，索性把家里的孔子牌位换成了上帝的牌位。虽然未曾读过《圣经》，洪秀全却开始逢人便宣传他所理解的基督教教义，称之为「拜上帝会」。洪秀全说：「人心太坏，政治腐败，天下将有大灾大难，唯信仰上帝入教者可以免难。入教之人，无论男女尊贵一律平等，男曰兄弟，女曰姊妹。」洪秀全的「拜上帝会」在教义上模仿基督宗教，太平天国的十诫叫十款天条。

洪秀全最初在广州附近传教，但未取得很大成功。1844年洪秀全和冯云山转至广西一带传教，洪不久便返回广东，冯留下发展，在当地的信徒日增。1845年至1846年间，在家乡的洪秀全写下《原道醒世训》、《原道觉世训》、《百正歌》等作品。1847年初，洪秀全来到传教士罗孝全在广州的礼拜堂学习了几个月，曾要求受洗，但罗孝全不同意洪秀全对以前大病时所见「异象」的见解，并认为洪秀全对教义的认识不足够，拒绝为他施洗。洪秀全4个月后离开。洪其后再到广西会合冯云山，并陆续制订拜上帝会的规条及仪式。

洪秀全的拜上帝会与地方衙门的矛盾日渐加深，洪秀全等人在1850年决定反清，加紧准备，会众在下半年间陆续前来金田团营。

建立太平天国

1851年1月11日在广西桂平的金田村举行起义，建号太平天国，洪秀全称天王；12月攻克永安后，分封东、西、南、北、翼诸王，各王均受东王杨秀清节制；1852年太平军离开广西，1853年攻占南京，改名天京并定都在此，正式建立了与清廷对峙的农民政权。洪秀全一面派出军队西征北伐，一面颁布《天朝田亩制度》等政策法规，试图达到「有田同耕，有饭同食，有衣同穿，有钱同使，无处不均匀，无人不饱暖」的理想社会。

太平天国举行第一次科举考试时，有史以来特为妇女参加考试设立女科，拔取了女状元、女进士等。

定都天京后，洪秀全主张把四书五经列为禁书，东王杨秀清不同意，借「天父下凡」迫洪秀全让步，洪只好同意四书五经在修改后可以刊印流传，然而直至太平天国灭亡仍未曾刊行。后来洪秀全又修改《圣经》，按照政治上的需要及个人喜恶改动内容，在太平天国内颁行。

天京事变

天王洪秀全与东王杨秀清的矛盾日渐加深。洪秀全知道北王韦昌辉、翼王石达开及燕王秦日纲对东王不满，在1856年诏三人诛东王，9月发生天京事变，东王、北王与燕王先后被诛。翼王石达开在天京主政一段时间，为洪秀全所忌，洪秀全封自己的亲兄弟洪仁发、洪仁达为王，以牵制石达开，引起石达开不满。1857年石带领大军出走，脱离天王指挥。自天京事变及翼王出走后，洪秀全虽然掌握了朝政大权，太平天国却开始走下坡。

晚年

清军开始进迫天京，在陈玉成和李秀成等人支撑下，太平军在数年间挡住了清军的多次攻势。

1859年族弟洪仁玕抵达天京，洪秀全大喜，封仁玕为军师、干王，名义上总理天国朝政，却不肯把军事权力交给他。由于洪仁玕未有立功而封王，洪秀全怕其他人不服，再次封异姓为王。

1862年英王陈玉成被杀后，形势急转直下，天京附近据点逐一陷落。李秀成知道天京难以久守，向洪秀全建议放弃天京，转战中原，被洪秀全斥责。

1864年3月，天京遭到包围后，城内粮食不足，洪秀全带头吃「甜露」（杂草与观音土混成的黏团）充饥，因而致病。1864年6月1日（同治三年四月二十七日），洪秀全病逝天京。曾国藩却向清廷报称洪秀全服毒自尽。洪秀全死后尸体被秘密葬在天王府的后花园新建凉亭内。

1864年7月30日，天京陷落之后，湘军总兵熊登武得到一个天王府黄姓宫女告密，在她的指引下，曾国荃派人从天王府的大殿内挖出了洪秀全的尸体。此时未时初，曾氏二兄弟旁观挖洪出土时，晴天竟突转阴暗，洪秀全的尸体以白布包裹著，双手交叉，放在胸前，手持一枚铁十字，没有棺材，身体严重腐烂，只有肩膀和右臀稍有皮肉。

8月1日，曾国藩断然下达了最严厉的惩处方式：「戮尸，烈火而焚之！」于是洪秀全的尸体再次被拖了出来，被刀戮、火焚。焚尸后，曾国藩根据湘军将领李臣典的建议，命人把骨灰和以火药，装入炮弹，然后接连发射出去，目的是要让洪秀全彻底灰飞烟灭，尸骨无存，阴魂无归，更可以使太平军的旧部失去了精神象徵。

家庭

洪秀全家族的历史资料

根据古老的洪氏世系资料编修的家谱，名为《万派朝宗》，记载了从金田起义前后，一直追溯远祖自江浙南迁到广东的过程。洪氏于汉代、三国时世居彭城郡下邳（今江苏邳县），西晋永嘉之乱中南迁京口（今镇江），晋安帝时续迁新安郡遂安县（今杭州市淳安县），此后在各种战乱中，辗转经由江西、福建而入广东。洪秀全其祖先洪皓是南宋时期的名臣，洪皓曾孙洪璞出任福建泉州府晋江县县尉，举家迁到泉州。元朝末年社会动荡，唯岭南较安定，洪璞的第十世孙洪贵生从福建迁往广东潮州府海阳县（今日潮安县）的布心。所以洪贵生是洪氏迁入广东的始祖。洪秀全便是洪氏迁入广东后的第十六世孙，也即是迁到花县官禄布后的第六代。

妻妾

共有妻妾88人，皆称王娘。以其梦见的「天妻」为元配妻子，称正月宫，去除此梦中「天妻」，馀下87人，正室赖莲英称又正月宫，妃嫔依次有副月宫、又副月宫两等。妻妾中仅五人有记载身份。

正室：

• 又正月宫赖莲英(1839~1864)，生幼天王，天京城陷后被俘，送北京凌迟。

妾：

• 副月宫第四妻余氏，天京城陷后被俘(1838~1864)，凌迟。

• 副月宫第十二妻陈氏(1840~1864)，生洪天光，天京城陷后被俘，凌迟。

• 副月宫第十九妻吴氏，生洪天明，天京城陷后被俘，凌迟。

• 黄氏, 天京城陷后被俘，凌迟。

子女

五个儿子，一说六个

• 洪天贵福，尊称幼主万岁，封王世子，即位为幼天王, 天国灭亡后与部众失散，一度成功逃亡, 但之后被清军盘查时因口音被认出遭捕, 凌迟。

• 洪天曾，生于1852-1853年，夭折

• 洪天明，尊称王三殿下永岁，封明王，生于1854年

• 洪天光，尊称王四殿下永岁，封光王，生于1854年

• 洪天佑，封幼东王，过继给杨秀清

女儿，史料不详，至少有八人

• 长女洪天姣，尊称天长金，夫婿天二驸马、金王钟万信

• 次女洪氏，尊称天二金，夫婿列王徐朗

• 三女洪氏

• 四女洪氏，尊称天四金，夫婿天四驸马黄栋梁

• 某女洪氏，夫婿天西驸马黄文胜

• 某女洪氏，夫婿天东驸马

• 某女洪氏

• 八女洪氏，尊称天八金，夫婿天八驸马

著作

• 《斩邪留正诗》

• 《太平诏书》

• 《原道救世歌》

• 《原道醒世训》

• 《原道觉世训》

纪念

1961年，为纪念洪秀全，当地政府在其故居原址上复原的建筑。现在的故居建有洪秀全故居纪念馆，洪氏宗祠辟为纪念馆辅助陈列室。1988年列为第三批全国重点文物保护单位，亦是省、市首批爱国主义教育基地，2005年成为国家AAA级旅游景区。1991年正式对外开放。