The core of the Taiping religion, a…

The core of the Taiping religion, a monotheism tinged with fundamental Protestant Christianity, is mixed with a hatred of the Manchu and an intolerance of the Chinese cultural tradition.

In the early years of the rebellion this politico-religious faith sustains the fighting spirit of the Taiping.

In the ideal Taiping vision, the population is to give all of its belongings to a “general treasury”, which will be shared by all alike.

While this extreme egalitarianism is rarely implemented outside the original Hakka core from Kwangsi, it probably at times attracts the distressed and lures them to the Taiping cause.

The origin of many Taiping religious ideas, morals, and institutions can be traced to China's Confucian tradition; but the Taipings' all-out antiregime struggle, motivated by strong religious beliefs and a common sharing, also have precedents in earlier religious rebellions.