A war triggered by translation
From Bible translation to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in nineteenth-century China
This article studies the impact of Chinese biblical translation on the Taiping Rebellion in China in the
nineteenth century. The rebellion built its ideology based on a unique interpretation of the Bible, aiming at overthrowing the
Qing government and building a kingdom of heaven in China. The Bible that had inspired the rebellion was later altered, annotated, and
became the Taiping Bible, which integrated the political agenda of the rebellion. This research traces such an event of the
Chinese translation of the Bible in the nineteenth century, investigates its connection with the rise of the rebellion and
analyzes the Taiping Bible. By examining the discrepancies between the Chinese translation of the Bible and the Taiping Bible,
this paper explores the role that translation plays in triggering the rebellion and demonstrates the interplay between translation
and the socio-cultural environment in China during that period.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.From God to shangdi
- 3.Translation retranslated: The Taiping Bible
- 3.1Selection of biblical books
- 3.2Trinity and kingdom of heaven
- 4.Translation and social turmoil
- Notes
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References