Preface

As a highly controversial political group in Chinese history, the policies and actions of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom have often attracted attention. One of the most ridiculous moves is to rename the provinces, and each of these new names is more bizarre than the other, causing countless questions and ridicule.

This kind of absurd behavior can't help but make people sigh: "It's terrible to be uneducated!" What is the reason for such a peculiar name change of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? What is the meaning of these new names?

1. Dingdu Tianjing, opening the prelude to the change of dynasty

In 1851, the Taiping army led by Hong Xiuquan captured the city of Nanjing, designated it as the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and renamed it "Tianjing". This marked the beginning of a new phase in the Taiping Rebellion. Hong Xiuquan called himself the "King of Heaven" and began his road of "changing the dynasty".

After establishing the capital of Tianjing, Hong Xiuquan began to change the name of the entire country. This was not due to dissatisfaction with the old place names, but to a deeper consideration. The leadership of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom realized that if the original place name was used, it would likely conflict with the name of Hong Xiuquan and his subordinates. Therefore, they decided to change the names of the provinces to avoid this embarrassing situation.

This practice reflects a strong sense of "change of dynasty" on the part of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom leadership. Not only did they want to overthrow the Qing dynasty, but they wanted to build a whole new dynasty, and in this new dynasty they wanted to completely abandon everything that was old. This kind of thinking is reflected not only in the change of place names, but also in the importance attached to the names of people.

Hong Xiuquan calls himself the "Heavenly King", which is a manifestation of his desire to build a new dynasty. And his subordinates, such as Yang Xiuqing, the king of the east, Xiao Chaogui, the king of the west, Feng Yunshan, the king of the south, and Wei Changhui, the king of the north, were also named princes, which also reflected the ambition of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom leadership to "change the dynasty". Not only did they want to overthrow the Qing dynasty, but they also wanted to establish a hierarchical system of rule in the new dynasty to ensure their dominance.

This practice also reflected a political ambition on the part of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom leadership. They were dissatisfied with the rule of the Qing government, believing that they were the real rulers, so they wanted to realize their political ideals by changing the dynasty. However, this practice also exposed their limitations in political ideology and social construction, and eventually became an important reason for the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Second, the name change in various places, one is more bizarre than the other

In the process of changing the name, the leadership of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom displayed a very unique aesthetic taste. The way they change the names of places can be described as "varied", some directly use their own names, and some use words that sound "high".

For example, Hong Xiuquan's younger brother, Hong Renyu, was in charge of the reform, and he renamed Shanxi Province "Shanxi Province" and Yunnan Province to "Yunnan Province". This way of changing the name can be said to be very creative, but it also makes people sigh that "it's terrible to be uneducated". This name change reflects a unique aesthetic taste of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom leadership, who seem to pay more attention to the "lofty" sense of the name than to the actual geographical and cultural factors.

In addition to these, several other princes of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also changed the names of the provinces under their jurisdiction. For example, Guangxi Province, which was under the rule of Xiao Chaogui, the king of the West, was renamed "Guifu Province", and Tianjin, which was under the jurisdiction of Wei Changhui, the king of the North, was renamed "Sinli Province". These name changes all have a strong personal tinge and fully reflect the unique aesthetic taste of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom leadership.

For some areas that are far away from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the way to change the name is even more "arbitrary". For example, Xinjiang was renamed "Xinjiang Province" and "Ili Province", and Taiwan was renamed "Moss Bend Province". These name changes can be said to be completely out of touch with reality, and are full of a "pipe dream" flavor.

This name change also reflected a political ambition on the part of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom leadership. Not only did they want to overthrow the Qing dynasty, but they also wanted to establish an entirely new order in the new dynasty. They seem to have focused more on changing the names of places than on the actual geographical and cultural factors, which became an important reason for the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

3. The ambitions and limitations behind the name change

By changing the names of various places, we can see that the leadership of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had a strong sense of "changing the dynasty". Not only did they want to overthrow the Qing dynasty, but they wanted to build a whole new dynasty, and in this new dynasty they wanted to completely abandon everything that was old. This kind of thinking is reflected not only in the change of place names, but also in the importance attached to the names of people.

Hong Xiuquan calls himself the "Heavenly King", which is a manifestation of his desire to build a new dynasty. And his subordinates, such as Yang Xiuqing, the king of the east, Xiao Chaogui, the king of the west, Feng Yunshan, the king of the south, and Wei Changhui, the king of the north, were also named princes, which also reflected the ambition of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom leadership to "change the dynasty". Not only did they want to overthrow the Qing dynasty, but they also wanted to establish a hierarchical system of rule in the new dynasty to ensure their dominance.

However, this act of "changing the dynasty" also exposed some of the limitations of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom leadership. First of all, in the process of changing their names, they attached too much importance to the avoidance of the names of Hong Xiuquan and his subordinates, which reflected that they were still unable to completely get rid of the feudal ideology. They seem to be more focused on the shrewning of names than on actual geographical and cultural factors.

Secondly, they also show a kind of "daydreaming" characteristics in the way they change their names, and some of the ways of changing their names are completely out of touch with reality and are full of a "Arabian Nights" flavor. For example, in some areas far away from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, they changed their names in a more "arbitrary" way, completely ignoring actual geographical and cultural factors. This practice also reflected the limitations of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom leadership in terms of political ideology and social construction.

This limitation also ultimately led to the defeat of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Although Hong Xiuquan and his subordinates have made some achievements in military affairs, there have always been big problems in political and social construction. Their change of dynasty also reflects this, fully exposing their ideological limitations and political ambitions.

epilogue

The change of dynasty of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is a very interesting historical event. It not only reflects a strong political ambition on the part of Hong Xiuquan and his men, but also exposes their ideological and political limitations. This limitation also ultimately led to the defeat of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Only when we are able to understand this history in depth can we better recognize and understand the nature of the Taiping Rebellion. Only then can we learn from them, avoid repeating them, and pave the way for our future.

Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's change of dynasty ended in failure, it is still a history worthy of our in-depth consideration. Let's explore the truth of this history and point the way for our future.