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Shantung Rebellion: The Wang Lun Uprising of 1774
. 1981, with light foxing to dustjacket, contents clean & bright, feint foxing to prelims, no markings, Professional booksellers since 1981
1000 pages, Hardcover
First published September 10, 1989
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August 5, 2020
The book reads like an abbreviation of docrate dissertation. The outline is very clear, if not simplistic. The first chapter deals with the background of the uprising, focosing on local government, economy and especially local and national religious believes in late 18th century. In chapter two the author presented a detailed recount of the rebellion. Drawing from historical written records, mainly local chronicles and 《钦定剿捕临清逆匪纪略》, this part articulates on how Wang Lun prepare his follower to rebel, how they attacked and occupied Lin Qin city and how the local and central government react to the uprising and in the end how the story ends.
But the story didn't end in the annilation of Wang Lun's patchwork army. He heralds a series of uprising against the Qing dynasty from the late 18th century to mid-19th century. The most notable of these is the White Lotus Uprising which lasts from 1796-1805 and costs the Qing 150 million liang silver.
The Wang Lun uprising is different from the rest of Millenarianism-induced rebellion. Other Millenarianistic movements are often induced by the imbalance between a growing population and deteriorating environments, thus more mouth to feed but less food. But before Wan Lun's uprising such problem exists only on a much smaller scale.
In the conclusion, the author dismissed several theory about Millenarianism for their inadequacy in explaining Chinese experience. But She didn't try explain why Wang Lun and his disciples uprised in the first place. She proposed not to use theories derived from other culture's experience to explain China, rather to explain it in China's own term. In this particular case, We should look into the history of Wang Lun's cult to get the hang.
As a non-academic of history, reading this book opened my eye. Now I know better about China's religious belives. Because they have a atheist agenda to promote, The CCP has always touted that Chinese are not very religious people, that Chinese cultural saints like Confucius were Materialist in some way, thus Chinese people are not very religious. That is a fallacy. Throughout China's history, various religions and cults came and go. There are always some kind of religions or cults that are very popular among the grassroots. In the last empire of China which was not so long ago, maybe tens of cults attracted millions of people.
Looking back now I find that these heritage are not so far away from me. My grandma was a devout Christian. She used to go to family church every weekend. She used to tell me about a cult that existed in the countryside of Huabei, not far from Wang Lun's hometown. She called it a cult because of the evil tenets it inculcated its follower. That part sounds a lot like Millenarianism. In the 90s, Qigong was popular nationwide, until Fa Lung Gong overtook the country and later got banned. They share a lot of commonalities with cults in late Qing dynasty as well. Now My sister-in-law is involved in a regilous group that has something to do with some "Saint Germane", which sounds like a cult.
But the story didn't end in the annilation of Wang Lun's patchwork army. He heralds a series of uprising against the Qing dynasty from the late 18th century to mid-19th century. The most notable of these is the White Lotus Uprising which lasts from 1796-1805 and costs the Qing 150 million liang silver.
The Wang Lun uprising is different from the rest of Millenarianism-induced rebellion. Other Millenarianistic movements are often induced by the imbalance between a growing population and deteriorating environments, thus more mouth to feed but less food. But before Wan Lun's uprising such problem exists only on a much smaller scale.
In the conclusion, the author dismissed several theory about Millenarianism for their inadequacy in explaining Chinese experience. But She didn't try explain why Wang Lun and his disciples uprised in the first place. She proposed not to use theories derived from other culture's experience to explain China, rather to explain it in China's own term. In this particular case, We should look into the history of Wang Lun's cult to get the hang.
As a non-academic of history, reading this book opened my eye. Now I know better about China's religious belives. Because they have a atheist agenda to promote, The CCP has always touted that Chinese are not very religious people, that Chinese cultural saints like Confucius were Materialist in some way, thus Chinese people are not very religious. That is a fallacy. Throughout China's history, various religions and cults came and go. There are always some kind of religions or cults that are very popular among the grassroots. In the last empire of China which was not so long ago, maybe tens of cults attracted millions of people.
Looking back now I find that these heritage are not so far away from me. My grandma was a devout Christian. She used to go to family church every weekend. She used to tell me about a cult that existed in the countryside of Huabei, not far from Wang Lun's hometown. She called it a cult because of the evil tenets it inculcated its follower. That part sounds a lot like Millenarianism. In the 90s, Qigong was popular nationwide, until Fa Lung Gong overtook the country and later got banned. They share a lot of commonalities with cults in late Qing dynasty as well. Now My sister-in-law is involved in a regilous group that has something to do with some "Saint Germane", which sounds like a cult.
Displaying 1 of 1 review