Reading & Question Answer

In Cheng and Lestz with Jonathan, The Search for Modern China, A Documentary Collection, 146-149.

8.6 ZENG GUOFAN: A PROCLAMATION AGAINST THE BANDITS OF GUANGDONG AND GUANGXI, 1854

Zeng Guofan (1811-1872) was from a middle-peasant landowning family in Xiangxiang, Hunan. In 1838 he obtained hisjinshi degree and was appointed a Hanlin Academy scholar. He was noted for his clear and practical suggestions for addressing affairs of state. In 1852, when his mother died, in accord with the traditional mourning practice, he resigned his post as the vice ministei- of the Board of Rites and went back to Hunan where he received the imperial order to form militia units to fight the Taiping.

The Qing efforts to repulse the Tai ping were uphill struggles in the early years-and Zeng's efficiency as the commander was hampered by the chronic-lack of funds. His situation improved, however, when he was given official sanction to take control of the tax revenues in the provinces where his armies were operating.

Zeng Guofan's proclamation of 1854 was a powerful evocation of the scholar-literati's view of the rebels. It stressed their affinity with other

ZENG GUOFAN: A PROCLAMATION\ 147

rebels in Chinese history and compared them to Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong. The document was notably anti-Christian and its references to the "kingly way" and the ethos of the Confucian junzi2 draw a clear line between the forces of orthodox "light" and heterodox "darkness."

It has been five years since the rebels Hung Hsiu-ch'iian and Yang Hsiu­ ch'ing started their rebellion. They have inflicted bitter sorrow upon millions of people and devastated more than 5000 Ii of chou [regions] and hsien [counties]. Wherever they pass, boats of all sizes, and people rich and poor alike, have all been plundered and stripped bare; not once inch of grass has been left standing. The elothing has been stripped from the bodies of those captured by these bandits, and their money has been seized. Anyone with five taels or more of silver who does not contribute it to the bandits is forthwith decapitated. Men are given one ho [½oth pint] of dee per day, and forced to march in the forefront in battle, to construct city walls, and dredge moats. Women are also given one ho of rice pel: day, and forced to stand ·guard on the parapets at ni'ght, and to haul rice and carry coal. The feet of women who refuse to unbind them are cut off and shown to other women as a yvarning. The corpses of boatmen who secretly conspired to fell were hung upside down to show other boatmen as a warning. The Yileh [Guangdong and Guangxi] bandits indulge the�selves in luxury and high position, while the people in our own Yangtze provinces living under their coercion are treated worse than animals. This cruelty and brutality appalls anyone with blood in his veins.

Ever since the times of Yao, Shun, and the Three Dynasties, sages, generation after generation, have upheld the Confucian teachings, stressing proper human relationships, between ruler and minister, father and son, superiors and sub­ ordinates, the high and the low, all in their proper place, just as hats and shoes are not interchangeable. The Yileh bandits have stolen a few scraps from the foreign barbarians and worship the Christian religion. From their bogus ruler and bogus chief ministers down to their soldiers and menial underlings, all are called brothers. They say that only heaven can be called father; aside from him, all fathers among the people are called brothers, and all �others are called sisters. Peasants are not allowed to till the land for themselves and pay taxes, for they say that the fields all belong to the T'ien Wang [Heavenly King]. Merchants are not allowed to trade for profit, for they say that all goods belong to the T'ien' Wang. Scholars may not read the Confucian classics, for they have their so-called teachings of Jesus and the New Testament. In a single day several thousand years of Chinese ethical principles and proper human relationships, classical books, social institutions and statutes have all been completely swept away. This is not just a crisis for our Ch'ing dynasty, but the most extraordinary

2. The "ideal man" imagined and described by Confucius in his Analects.

1481 THE CRISIS WITHIN

crisis of aU time for the Confucian teachings, which is why our Confucius and Mencius are weeping bitterly in the nether world. How can any educated person sit idly by without thinking of doing something/

Since andent times, those with meritorious accomplishments during their lifetimes have become spirits after deathi the Kingly Way governs the living and the Way of the Spirits governs .among the dead. Even rebelHous ministers and wicked sons of the most vicious and vile sort show respect and awe toward the spirits. When Li Tzu-ch'eng reached Ch'u-fu [Confucius' birthplace in Shandong province], he did not molest the Temple of the Sage.3 When Chang Hsien-chung reached Tzu-t'ung, he sacrificed to Wen Ch'ang [the patron spirit ofliterature]. 4 But the Yueh bandits burned the school atShen-chou 1 destroyed the wooden tablet of Confucius, and wildly scattered the tablets of the Ten Paragons in the two corridors all over the ground. 5 Afterwards, wherever they have passed1 in every district, the first thing they have done is to burn down the temples, defiling the shrines and maiming the statues even of loyal ministers and righteous heroes such as the awesome Kuan Yii and Ylien Fei.6 Even Buddhist and Taoist temples, shrines of guardian deities and altars to local gods have all been burned, and every statue destroyed. The ghosts and spirits in the world of darkness are enraged at this, and want to avenge their resentment.

I, the Governor-General, having received His Imperial Majesty's command leading 20,000 men advancing together on land and water, vow that I shall sleep on nettles and ship gall [to strengthen my detertnination] to exterminate these vicious traitors, to rescue our captured boats, and to deliver the persecuted people, not only in order to relieve the Emperor of his strenuous and consci- entious labors from dawn to dusk, but also to cornfort Confucius and Mencius for their silent sufferings over the proper human relationships; and only to avenge the millions who have died unjust deaths, but also to avenge the insults to all the spirits.

Therefore, let this proclamation be disseminated far and near so that all may know the following: Any red-blooded hero who assembles • company of right- eous troops to assist in our extermination campaign will be taken in as my personal friend, and the troops given rations. lilly Confucian gentleman who cherishes the Way, is pained ·at Christianity running rampant over the land, and who 1 in a towering rage, wants to defend our Way, will be made a member of tl,e Governor-General's personal staff and treated as a guest teacher. Any

3.Li Tzu-ch'eng (Li Zicbeng) was a major rebel leader at the end of the Ming dynasty, 4, Chang Hsien-chung (Zhang Xianzhong) was another important ,ebd leader at the end

of the Ming period. Wen Ch'aog was the God of Literature, closely associated with the literati, and with the civ:ii $ervice examination system.

5. The Ten Paragons were ten famous Confucians, whose tablets were arranged along corridors, east and west, in Confucian temples.

6. Two famous generals and loyal officials, Kuan Yu was deified a$ the God of War.

ZENG GUOFAN: A PROCLAMATION 1149

benevolent person, stirred by moral indignation, who contributes sHv~r or assists with provisions, will be given a treasury receipt and a commission from the Board of Civil Appointments for a donation of 1000 chin [I chin = 1 ½ lb.] or Ie.,;s, and a special memorial will be composed requesting a liberal reward for a donation of over 1000 chm. If anyone voluntarily returns after a long stay among the bandits, and kills one of their leaders or leads a city to surrender, he will be taken into the army of the Governor-General to the Emperor, will be given an official tide. Anyone who has lived under the bandits~ coercion for oome years, whose hair has grown several inches long, but who discards his weapon when the fighting is about to commence and returns to the fold bare- handed, will receive an amnesty from the death sentence, and will be given travel expenses to return home.

In the past, at the end of the Han, T'ang, Yuan, and 1\1.ing, bands of rebels were innumerable, all because of foolish rulers and misgovernment, so that none

•of these rebellions could he stamped out. But today the Son of Heaven is deeply concerned and examines his character in order to reform himself, worships

. Heaven, and is sympathetic to the people. He has not increased the land tax, nor has he conscripted soldiers from households. With the profound benevo- lence of the sages, he is suppressing the cruel and worthless bandits. It does not require any great wisdom to see that sooner or later they will all ·be destr6yed.

Those of you who have been coerced into joining the rebels, or who willingly follow the traitors, and oppose the Imperial Crusade [are warned that] when the Imperial forces sweep down it will no longer be possible to discriminate

. between the good and evil-every person will be crushed, I, the Governor-General, am scant in virtue and of meager abili1y. l ,e!y

solely on two words, trust and loyalty, as the foundation for running the army. Above are the sun and the moon, below the ghosts and spirits; in this world, the vast waters of the Yangrze, and in the other wodd 1 the souis of loyal min~ isters and stalwart ~eroes: who gave their lives in battle against previous rebel- lions. Let aU peer into my heart and listen to my words.

Upon arrival, this proclamation immediately has the force of law. Do not disregard it!