Feng Yunshan

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Feng Yunshan (* 1815 in Huadu County, Guangdong Province ; † 1852 ) was an early companion of the leader of the Taiping Rebellion Hong Xiuquan in the Chinese Empire of the Qing Dynasty . He rose to prominence as the Southern King during the Rebellion to become a prominent leader of the Rebellion. He died of a fatal wound during the rebellion.

Origin and career

Feng Yunshan was from the same Huadu County in Guangdong Province as Hong Xiuquan . He was educated himself, but failed to graduate from the state examination system . Like many Taiping leaders and Hong Xiuquan, he belonged to the Hakka ethnic group . According to Taiping sources, after Hong Rengan he was the second person to be baptized by Hong Xiuquan.

Taiping preacher

He and Hong Xiuquan set out in 1844 to leave their homeland and to recruit supporters for their religious movement. In the early phase of the movement, Feng Yunshan caused a surge in the number of new followers through his personal mission in the countryside in Guanxi Province . Feng was particularly successful with the Hakka , who also offered him shelter and food. Feng Yunshan was also involved in the editing of key religious texts, for example he wrote the Ten Commandments of the Taiping together with Hong Xiuquan .

The movement came into conflict with local imperial authorities as it grew. So, Feng Yunshan spent 1847 and 1848 in prison. One of his fellow preachers did not survive imprisonment due to ill-treatment. In his defense, he appealed in the First Opium War to the freedom for Christian missionaries, which the Qing dynasty promised in the peace treaties of that time.

General during the rebellion

When Hong Xiuquan sealed the Heavenly Kingdom and thus the rebellion against the Qing Dynasty on January 11, 1851, Feng Yushan was one of four leaders of the movement whom he gave the honorary title of King and who acted as generals and governors of the movement. In this function he also developed his own calendar for the movement, which was based on the Gregorian calendar . Feng Yunshan was fatally wounded in battle with imperial troops in 1852.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Jonathan D. Spence: God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan. 87, 95-100, 109, 113, 120-122
  2. ↑ a b Hong Beom Rhee: Asian Millenarianism: An Interdisciplinary Study of the Taiping and Tongha Rebellions in a Global Context. Youngstown, 2007, p. 183, p. 249, p. 259
  3. ↑ a b c Stephen R. Platt: Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West and the Epic Story of the Taiping Rebellion. New York, 2012, pp. 16-18
  4. ^ A b Edwin Pak-Wah Leung, Pak-Wah Leung (Ed.): Political Leaders of Modern China: A Biographical Dictionary. London, 2002, p. 39f
personal data
SURNAME Feng Yunshan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Taiping Uprising leader
DATE OF BIRTH 1815
PLACE OF BIRTH District Huadu , Province Guangdong
DATE OF DEATH 1852