The First Heavenly King – 洪秀全

Failed scholar 洪秀全 gave up his Confucian texts for the Bible. His deranged mind told him that his surname 洪 meant flood and God must have chosen someone like him to send a great flood over China to destroy the decadent system to be replaced by a Christian utopia with a classless society where the rich must share their wealth with the poor so that everyone would be equal.As it turned out, the Taiping Rebellion was known more for banditry than anything else. Bandits burned temples and killed many more Chinese people than any war did. Missionaries described a layer of white grease over rivers clogged with corpses. The rebels were so successful that they controlled the most prosperous part of China, the southern coast. Hong sat on a throne in Nanjing, proclaiming himself 天王, brother of Jesus Christ. By then, he had completely lost touch with the missionaries who converted him.The bandits almost had Beijing until Governor 李鸿章 brought in his German-trained Huai Army. The Taiping bandits were driven back into Nanjing where they were decimated by a mysterious epidemic.Hong’s tomb was desecrated by angry survivors and his remains fired off from a cannon. The narrative was later turned on its head. Hong is now celebrated (in China) as a heroic communist precursor. 李鸿章 on the other hand, has been obviated. He was relieved of his command of the Huai Army and later branded a traitor.