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Wasn't there a chinese guy that failed these three times, put his family in poverty due to the expense, realized he's the brother of Jesus and started a rebelli

Wasn't there a chinese guy that failed these three times, put his family in poverty due to the expense, realized he's the brother of Jesus and started a rebellion that killed 40 million people? History can be weird sometimes

bitxbitxbitcoin 4y ago
That would be the Taiping Rebellion for anyone interested.[0] [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion
pkoird 4y ago
Suspiciously similar to a certain someone who failed an art admission and went on to start off a war that killed around 70-80 million people? History does repeat itself.
- _shadi 4y ago
  aren't people already tired of those tweet size tropes. Revanchism, extreme nationalism and economic anxiety among other reasons what led to the rise of the ww1 veteran who happened to fail an art admission
  - Apocryphon 4y ago
    Also, Hitler was like a minor German Army intelligence agent tasked with infiltrating the Nazis back when they were an obscure group. He just ended up agreeing with their message and taking them over.
    - boppo1 4y ago
      I didn't know this and now I like the FBI even less.
- idlewords 4y ago
  Congratulations on your Godwin's Law speedrun.
Apocryphon 4y ago
Hong Xiuquan’s story is pretty bonkers, but I think the more sensationalist aspects of it overshadow the possibility that some sort of disruption to the tottering Qing was due in that era. Increasing foreign entrenchment with defeat in the Opium Wars, an increasingly sclerotic government, and much local turmoil (even prior to the rebellion, there had been ethnic and class-based revolts in Guangzhou, iirc, and some of Hong’s support base was because he was of the Hakka minority) all made the situation fraught. Hong being influenced by American Christian missionaries is odd, but there is much precedence for rebel leaders who took on dynasties to be of millenarian, even foreign beliefs. Throughout Chinese history, the White Lotus society, with millenarian Buddhist beliefs, had challenged the Qing and the Yuan (the Ming founder was a member). The Yellow Turbans of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms fame were Daoist esoterics. Manichaean rebels fought the Song. I think a lot of times it’s just that religious cultists had the necessary social structures in place to launch rebellions, and the cohesion to continue the fight as opposed to scattered peasant revolts. The history of Chinese dynastic shifts is replete with secret societies. The Taiping were noteworthy not only because they were Christian-influenced, but because it was an act of such an organization being created in real-time, out in the open.
- laretluval 4y ago
  > but there is much precedence for rebel leaders who took on dynasties to be of millenarian, even foreign beliefs. The modern Chinese government’s suppression of Falun Gong makes sense from this perspective.
idlewords 4y ago
Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom by Stephen Platt is a fantastic popular history of the Taiping Rebellion. He's especially good on covering the weathervaning western attitude towards something that was initially believed to be a sort of Christian holy war. The whole book is super interesting reading even if you have zero background in Chinese history.
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  God's Chinese Son by Jonathan D. Spence is a good account.

bitxbitxbitcoin 4y ago

That would be the Taiping Rebellion for anyone interested.[0] [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion

pkoird 4y ago

Suspiciously similar to a certain someone who failed an art admission and went on to start off a war that killed around 70-80 million people? History does repeat itself.

_shadi 4y ago
aren't people already tired of those tweet size tropes. Revanchism, extreme nationalism and economic anxiety among other reasons what led to the rise of the ww1 veteran who happened to fail an art admission
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  Also, Hitler was like a minor German Army intelligence agent tasked with infiltrating the Nazis back when they were an obscure group. He just ended up agreeing with their message and taking them over.
  - boppo1 4y ago
    I didn't know this and now I like the FBI even less.
idlewords 4y ago
Congratulations on your Godwin's Law speedrun.

Apocryphon 4y ago

Hong Xiuquan’s story is pretty bonkers, but I think the more sensationalist aspects of it overshadow the possibility that some sort of disruption to the tottering Qing was due in that era. Increasing foreign entrenchment with defeat in the Opium Wars, an increasingly sclerotic government, and much local turmoil (even prior to the rebellion, there had been ethnic and class-based revolts in Guangzhou, iirc, and some of Hong’s support base was because he was of the Hakka minority) all made the situation fraught. Hong being influenced by American Christian missionaries is odd, but there is much precedence for rebel leaders who took on dynasties to be of millenarian, even foreign beliefs. Throughout Chinese history, the White Lotus society, with millenarian Buddhist beliefs, had challenged the Qing and the Yuan (the Ming founder was a member). The Yellow Turbans of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms fame were Daoist esoterics. Manichaean rebels fought the Song. I think a lot of times it’s just that religious cultists had the necessary social structures in place to launch rebellions, and the cohesion to continue the fight as opposed to scattered peasant revolts. The history of Chinese dynastic shifts is replete with secret societies. The Taiping were noteworthy not only because they were Christian-influenced, but because it was an act of such an organization being created in real-time, out in the open.

laretluval 4y ago
> but there is much precedence for rebel leaders who took on dynasties to be of millenarian, even foreign beliefs. The modern Chinese government’s suppression of Falun Gong makes sense from this perspective.

idlewords 4y ago

Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom by Stephen Platt is a fantastic popular history of the Taiping Rebellion. He's especially good on covering the weathervaning western attitude towards something that was initially believed to be a sort of Christian holy war. The whole book is super interesting reading even if you have zero background in Chinese history.

Apocryphon 4y ago
God's Chinese Son by Jonathan D. Spence is a good account.