Internal transit duties were not collected and the trade must have moved with unusual freedom.[1]
The matter which chiefly engaged the government, after its physical needs were met, was the promulgation of religion. Each officer and official, from the T'ienwang himself down to the "vexillaries" (Ssu-ma) in army or hamlet, had to be alert to instruct the people in the new faith, compelling them to learn the Ten Commandments and the stated prayers together with the doxology. We have already recorded the Sabbath services of these people, which were always led by officers — if possible by one of the older adherents of the movement. Sources both friendly and hostile join in stating that these observances were carried out with regularity.[2]
The position of women has been referred to in other connections, their participation as soldiers and, after Nanking was gained, their position in the various institutions provided for their care. Marriage was compulsory for all classes of women, high and low alike. Contrary to the ordinary Chinese custom, whereby great honor is conferred on virtuous widows who refuse to remarry, these were required to accept a new husband. From the connection of their religion with the Bible and their ferocious laws against immorality they would be expected to enforce strict monogamy, but this was far from true. Hung Ta-ch'üan's statement[3] that Hung kept an extensive harem is more than confirmed by the statement of
- ↑ Lindley, p. 145, in a letter from Lo Ta-kang to Sir George Bonham, 1853. See also Yung Wing, My Life in China and America, for an account of his visit to the tea regions under control of the Taiping rebels.
- ↑ P'ing-ting Yueh-fei Chi-lueh, supplementary volume, II, 10, 11a. Lindley, I, 217 f., gives the regulations of 1857. By this time the doxology appears to have been revised, leaving out the references to the Eastern king and the other wangs. The first-named work states that on every possible occasion there was a sermon glorifying God's work in creation and that of the two highest kings, Hung and Yang, in sustaining the people.
- ↑ See chapter III.
