-Caveat Lector- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/reviews/god_s_ch.h tm Apocalypse Then By Marie Arana-Ward January 21, 1995 ....... The truth is that the Chinese are sick to death of the ills that beset their country. The Opium War, over in 1842, has wracked the country for years. The Triads-a confederation of feared crime syndicates-run unchecked. The Q'ing government is oppressive. Lewdness reigns and drugs continue to consume the cities. It is not hard to understand why Hong's promise of a better world wins ready converts. By the start of 1850 there are four thriving centers of God Worshipers in China, and Hong's zeal is such that he begins to call for the extermination of the demon government. "Too much patience and humility do not suit our present times," he proclaims, "for therewith it would be impossible to manage this perverted generation." The Taiping now begin collecting guns, gunpowder, knives, supplies; they enlist men, women, children; their attacks go from street-corner harangues to full-scale battles. They overtake villages. They conquer cities. And the Qing are powerless to stop them. But the Taiping's highly disciplined ways, once admirable, become alarming. Women are treated as equals, but they are carefully separated from the men. Sexual abstinence becomes law, even in marriage. Worshipers who miss meetings are beaten. Those who take drugs are flogged. Anyone who gossips about the Heavenly King's sexual relations is beheaded. Prostitutes or men who solicit prostitutes are guillotined-and so are their entire families. Homosexuals are tortured, then executed. Anyone who engages in premarital sex risks being killed. Rules and regulations get so petty, that even having someone of the opposite sex do your laundry is a punishable crime. Even as the Taiping war machine sweeps through China carrying the Word, and even as the Christian world puzzles-half in wonder, half in terror-over its victories, the seeds for its destruction are in place. Isolated in the halls of his New Jerusalem, Hong becomes increasingly imbalanced, his generals in the field power-mad. Hong begins to revise the Bible, stripping out the parts he finds offensive-incest, drink, filial disrespect-and writing himself into the story. His generals begin to kill their own troops, plot Hong's overthrow and vie against one another for the succession. Weaving what is already well known about the Taiping Rebellion with information from newly discovered documents inscribed by Hong, Spence gives us a magnificent tapestry of those apocalyptic days. It is a story that reaches beyond China into our world and time: a story of faith, hope, passion, and a fatal grandiosity. As Hong wandered the gardens of his fortress, chewing dementedly on the clotted weeds he called "manna" and knowing full well that outside his walls 20 million people lay dead and China lay burning, he would have done well to remember the words of a man he called his elder brother: "Beware of false prophets . . . . by their fruits ye shall know them." Marie Arana-Ward, deputy editor of Book World, studied Chinese in the Yale-in-China Program and taught linguistics at the British University of Hong Kong. © 1996 The Washington Post Co. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
