The Taiping Rebellion led by Hong Xiuquan was marked by a particular richness of visionary texts in which his dreams were vividly recorded. In one, he dreams of men turning...
The Taiping Rebellion led by Hong Xiuquan was marked by a particular richness of visionary texts in which his dreams were vividly recorded. In one, he dreams of men turning into tigers.
While many of his visions are very closely allied with Christian imagery, this particular vision of men transforming into tigers has a long history in China and often refers to people who are victims of generational or hereditary curses.
In some ways, Hong Xiuquan saw the rule of the Manchus (and their alliances with the West) as a hereditary curse that needed to be overcome. His embrace of his particular, personal form of Christianity–in which he was identified as God’s Chinese Son alongside Jesus Christ–was a way to break this hereditary curse.