#325 - Taiping 2: The God Worshippers

#325 - Taiping 2: The God Worshippers

From The History of China by Chris Stewart

April 15, 2026 · 43 min

About this episode

The episode explores the origins of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the God Worshipping Society amidst the aftermath of the Opium War.

Amidst the ashes of the Opium War, a new flame is beginning to kindle – not in the halls of power, but in the distant, forgotten hills and mountains. While the would-be prophet Hong Xiuquan returns home, his closest friend vanishes into the wilds of Guangxi – a world of ethnic tensions, criminal brotherhoods, pirates-turned-river-bandits… and a government far too distant and preoccupied to care. What Feng Yunshan finds there, and what he builds among its dispossessed and desperate Hakka denizens, will become the backbone of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: the God Worshipping Society. Time Period Covered:1844–1847 Major Historical Figures:Feng Yunshan, organizer, founder of the God-Worshipping Society [1815–1852]Hong Xiuquan, Second Son of God [1814–1864]Hong Ren'gan, cousin, convert [1822–1864]Issachar J. Roberts, American Baptist missionary [1802–1871]Karl Gutzlaff, German missionary, founder of the Chinese Union [1803–1851] Major Sources Cited:Kuhn, Philip A. "Ch. 6, The Taiping Rebellion" in The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 10.Platt, Stephen R. Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom.Scott, James C. The Art of Not Being Governed.Spence, Jonathan D. God's Chinese Son: The Taiping…

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Host: Chris Stewart

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Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Cambridge History of China, Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom, The Art of Not Being Governed, God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan

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