Early Life of Hong Xiuquan

Hong Xiuquan was born in Guangdong Province in Fuyuanshui Village (福源水村) in what is now the Huadu district in close to Guangzhou (Canton)  to a farming family, in 1813.He had two elder brothers and two sisters .  Hong Xiuquan was his literary name, chosen by himself in his mid-teens, meaning elegant and perfect. He was called Phu at birth by his father .Observing his scholarly inclination, he father sent him to school at seven were he was taught by a low level literati named Ting-jin who had not succeeded in passing the civil exams .Here he learning Chinese characters and memorized the Chinese classics by chanting. During the war with the Taipings, the Manchus exterminated about 20,000 of the Hong clan in the area and raised the Hua village.

The Hong family were part of an cultural  group called the Hakkas in Cantonese and Ke-jia ( 客家 'guest people' or outsiders as opposed to the 本地, bendi, inhabitants of Guangdong whose ancestors had lived in Guangdong for generations)  in Mandarin . The Hakkas migrated from central China , speak their own dialect and built walled cities for protection.The Hakkas regard their language as the purest form of ancient Chinese. Unlike the Han Chinese women of the time, Hakka women did not practice footbinding.

 Early Schooling and the Exam System

studying the classics under Master Ting

At 15, he left school, due to his father's deteriorating financial condition and worked on the family farm, but continued to study on his own . He was heartened by stories of poor boys who had passed the imperial exams by hard study, such as Sung-king, who tied his queue to a beam to keep from nodding while studying all night .The relatives of Hong Xiuquan, noticing his diligence, scrapped some money together so he could devote himself to study again with a local master. Members of Hongs family passed the prestigious imperial examinations in the distant past, but no one had done so in recent times. There were four literary degrees in China at the time. The first was the xiu-cai (秀才 ' Flowering Talent'), the second was the Ku-jin or promoted man, the third was the Tsin-szu or 'Earned doctors' and the highest was Han-lin " Forest of Pencils.'

To pass the imperial examination  (kejiu 科举 ) was the most prestigious pathway to power, success in imperial China. In theory, any adult male in China, except for groups such as actors, could take the exam and become a high ranking imperial official .In reality, since studying for the exams was all time consuming, usually only those families of means could support such an activity, but there were cases of brilliant students of poor families passing the exams .Only about 5% of those who took the exam passed, some spent their wholes lives studying for the exam, and never passed .The exams took for 24 to 72 hours in small cubicals, some wore ingenious 'cheat shirts' to try and get an edge

submitting a trial essay to the examiners

Before going to Canton and becoming a candidate for the degree of siu-tsai, Xiuquan was obliged first to submit to a trial of his qualifications in the chief town of the district in which he resided. On arriving, he presented himself before the chi- hien, who sat in robes of state in examination hall, assisted by the Hoh-ching, or " corrector of learning." At the desk of the clerk Xiuquan gave in his name, his father's, his grandfather's, and his great grandfather's, as well as that of his place of residence, and was thereupon allowed to take his position among the crowd of expectants, who sat upon long benches in face of the imposing officials.

After the essays had been finished and laid before the board of examiners, only about a dozen out of four or five hundred were accepted as satisfactory, one of which was Xiuquan. His name was duly posted up on the wall, with the title" teacher of commands" with the honors of  Hien ming which signifies " having a name in the village." Next came his department level exam, which he also passed, his name was once more posted up on the wall ; and he was clothed with the honors of the fu ming, which signifies "having a name in the department.

And now came the third great trial, that for the degree of siu-tsai, or bachelor of arts, at the provincial capital of Canton. Should Xiuquan succeed in getting this, he might become a mandarin, with a button in his cap

The exam hall in Canton where Hong Qiuquan failed many times. The hall had 7,500 cells. Photo from 1873

Hong went to Guangzhou in 1836 at the age of 22 to take the Confucian state examinations ( the juren exam 舉人, held every 3 years) after passing the qualifying exam in his county . Before the exam, was subjected to the usual preliminary search, the object of which is to prevent any writings from being smuggled into the room in aid of the tyro put upon his trial. His pockets were duly searched for scraps of learning ; his finger-nails were inspected to see if there were nothing written on them from Confucius ; his queue was overhauled, lest there should be tied up in it extracts the classics; and even his shoes were taken off and examined .

Returns Home, Tries, Tries again

The early dream of Hong Xiuquan to pass the civil exams and be able to wear a Mandarin's hat with a peacock feather was not to be, either due to lack of bribe money or poor exams.

The Elegant and Perfect did his best that day, but, alas ! whether from having too few ideas or too many, whether from his style or his handwriting not possessing the requisite finish, or from some other cause impossible to be conjectured, his essay was thrown out. It could have been for not having enough money for a bribe .Therefore, there was nothing left for him but to return, crest-fallen, to his father's house, " having a name in the village," and having a name in the department," but none in Canton.. He returned home, determined to try again in three years .With his new titles, he was able to become a schoolmaster .In the intervening years he married and began to have doubts about the Chinese gods and superstitions, such as Dragon of the Eastern Sea, which would not produce rain during the drought of 1832.

The Fateful Tract from Liang Afa

In 1833, he went again to Canton to try to pass the exams again, and again failed .During this time he met Liang Afah, a native Evangelist, employed by the London Bible Society to distribute religious books among the young men who came up to Canton to attend the examinations, who gave him such religious tracts as "Good words for exhorting the age." These he took home with him ; read them ; but, not fully comprehending the new ideas, illustrated as they were by many theological terms and phrases hard to be understood, he laid them up on his shelf. There they remained for about ten years, undisturbed. His wife gave birth to two daughters .

 Early Causes for the Rebellion

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 The Visions of Hong Xiuquan