In 1802 the second major Tiandihui （Heaven and Earth Society） uprising erupted in the mountains of Huizhou prefecture near Canton. Before it was suppressed over a year later, the disturbances came to involve several...In 1802 the second major Tiandihui （Heaven and Earth Society） uprising erupted in the mountains of Huizhou prefecture near Canton. Before it was suppressed over a year later, the disturbances came to involve several tens of thousands of people and nearly a quarter of Guangdong province. This study, which is based on extant historical sources and fieldwork, takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining the methodologies of history, anthropology, and folklore. The areas where the uprising occurred were predominantly Hakka, an ethnic Chinese minority who came into conflict with the earlier settlers, known as the Punti. As violence escalated, both sides organized their own paramilitary units： Hakka formed Tiandihui groups and Punti formed Ox Head Societies. Significantly too, the Tiandihui groups in Huizhou belonged to a much wider network of secret society and sectarian organizations that spread across the Hakka heartland on the Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong border. This article addresses key issues concerning the social, political, and religious contexts and motivations of this Hakka-led uprising.展开更多
It has been over forty years since Jean Chesneaux published his edited volume Popular Movements and Secret Societies in China, and some twenty years since David Ownby and Mary Somers Heidhues published their edited vo...It has been over forty years since Jean Chesneaux published his edited volume Popular Movements and Secret Societies in China, and some twenty years since David Ownby and Mary Somers Heidhues published their edited volume Secret Societies Reconsidered On popular religions, both Daniel Overmyer＇s FoItc Buddhist Religion and Susan Naquin＇s Millenarian Rebellion in China were also published almost forty years ago.1 Although there have been a number of important studies published both inside and outside of China on secret societies and popular religions since the 1990s, in recent years there has been a surge in new research, much of it still unpublished, on this important subject in Chinese history.展开更多
文摘In 1802 the second major Tiandihui （Heaven and Earth Society） uprising erupted in the mountains of Huizhou prefecture near Canton. Before it was suppressed over a year later, the disturbances came to involve several tens of thousands of people and nearly a quarter of Guangdong province. This study, which is based on extant historical sources and fieldwork, takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining the methodologies of history, anthropology, and folklore. The areas where the uprising occurred were predominantly Hakka, an ethnic Chinese minority who came into conflict with the earlier settlers, known as the Punti. As violence escalated, both sides organized their own paramilitary units： Hakka formed Tiandihui groups and Punti formed Ox Head Societies. Significantly too, the Tiandihui groups in Huizhou belonged to a much wider network of secret society and sectarian organizations that spread across the Hakka heartland on the Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong border. This article addresses key issues concerning the social, political, and religious contexts and motivations of this Hakka-led uprising.
文摘It has been over forty years since Jean Chesneaux published his edited volume Popular Movements and Secret Societies in China, and some twenty years since David Ownby and Mary Somers Heidhues published their edited volume Secret Societies Reconsidered On popular religions, both Daniel Overmyer＇s FoItc Buddhist Religion and Susan Naquin＇s Millenarian Rebellion in China were also published almost forty years ago.1 Although there have been a number of important studies published both inside and outside of China on secret societies and popular religions since the 1990s, in recent years there has been a surge in new research, much of it still unpublished, on this important subject in Chinese history.
