Research on the historical figures
The most important feature of the study on the historical figures during this period was that it had abandoned the simple research mode of judging someone by his attitude toward a certain person and had made a major breakthrough in the monographic research on the core figures of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
In 1979, Wang Qingcheng made a reappraisal of Hong Xiuquan’s early thought by analyzing his early works and traces of actions and deeds. Wang concluded that Hong Xiuquan’s early thought had experienced a developing process from seeking scholarly honor or official rank to reforming the world with moral sermons and aiming to oppose the Qing Dynasty. His conversion to God in 1843 was the beginning of the heresy of his thought, but not the symbol of his anti-Qing revolution. Hong Xiuquan did not take a firm stand on the anti-Qing revolution until after 1847. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Revolution had roots in the class struggle, but not the religious doctrines. Good Words (Quan Shi Liang Yari) only turned Hong Xiuquan into a gospel propagator, and it was the class struggle which pushed him toward the political revolution of creating a new country. The Song of Jesus for Salvation, The Teachings of Jesus for Awakening the World and The Teachings of Jesus for Rousing the People were all religious propaganda, which did not contain the thought of political equality and economic equality at all. If we believe that Hong Xiuquan had put forward this thought of equality and made it the theoretical basis of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Revolution, it would be impossible for us to explain the history of Hong Xiuquan and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and also the 100-odd years of history after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.26 These views had evoked strong responses at that time and had been widely accepted by most scholars. Su Shuangbi wrote critical biographies of many historical figures like Li Xiucheng, Chen Yucheng, Shi Dakai and Hong Xiuquan, and his points were quite neutral. For example, with regard to Shi Dakai’s Anqing Reform, he pointed out that Shi Dakai abandoned The Land Regulations of the Heavenly Kingdom - which was a utopian model - and carried out the policy of “paying taxes by acreage” (An Mu Shu Qian Mi), which helped the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom overcome its difficulties in finance and supply in the early days of its founding. The Anqing Reform was not a retrogression, nor a restoration, but a measure consistent with historical rules.27
As an important figure in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and even in the history of modern Chinese thought, great importance has been attached to the research on Hong Rengan by academia. Xia Chuntao’s Hong Rengan: From a Teacher in the Private School, a Christian to the King had made a detailed study of Hong Rengan’s course of life and thought, including the similarities and differences between his and Hong Xiuquan’s thoughts. He also put forward a new perspective on how to evaluate Li Xiucheng’s performance after his captivity. Compared with Hong Rengan, Li Xiucheng had never revealed ideas such as “the Han nationality and Manchu nationality were different” on any occasion from his captivity to his death. It thus could be seen that the so-called saying that the Loyalty King followed the example of Jiang Wei in pretending to surrender so as to make mischief between Zeng Guofan and the Qing government had to be re-evaluated. Xia Chuntao also pointed out that Hong Rengan was the only person in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom who had read Li Xiucheng’s Confession and commented on it. In his refutation, Hong repeatedly referred to Li Xiucheng’s “fickleness”, “making decisions without authorization” and so on, which in fact was an implicit condemnation of Li Xiucheng’s betrayal.28
Although the research on historical figures has been very deep, there still exist some unclear points in almost every important figure’s life. Researchers always had divided opinions on the evaluation of a certain figure, which mainly focused on some hot issues, such as the features of Hong Xiuquan’s thought and his merits and faults in his later period; Yang Xiuqing, Wei Changhui and the infighting in Tianjing; Shi Dakai’s departure from Tianjing and the fact of his captivity in the Dadu River Battle; and Hong Rengan and New Treatise on Administration, Li Xiucheng and his “confession” after captivity, and the inner corruption of the leadership.
The horizons of research on historical figures remain to be broadened. For example, most of the poems in The Heavenly Father's Poems were religious ethics poems written by Hong Xiuquan for his concubines, most of which involved people and events in the palace. In the 1950s, based on The Heavenly Father’s Poems, Wu Liangzuo made a novel study of Hong Xiuquan’s life in the palace from three aspects: titles of the Heavenly King’s queen and concubines and female officers in the palace; the Heavenly King’s family education and private life, and the Heavenly King’s strict domestic discipline.29 No other similar research has been carried out since then.
The study of the relationship between historical figures needs to be strengthened. Taking the relationship between Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui as an example, they had the power to represent the Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother respectively and convey their holy orders, and both of them were important figures in the early Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. According to the analysis of Heavenly Brother’s Imperial Edicts and Tian Qing Dao Li Shu, in the beginning, Heavenly Brother’s descending surpassed Heavenly Father’s descending obviously. When Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother’s descending co-existed, how did Yang and Xiao handle their relationship, especially when their opinions were different? Had they had any frictions in terms of power? Was the death of Xiao on the battlefield related to this friction? This is a thought-provoking question that has not been explored carefully yet.
