If you want to talk about the three most famous women in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, they are none other than Hong Xuanjiao, Su Sanniang and Fu Shanxiang.
Hong Xuanjiao is actually not surnamed Hong, and in the historical materials of the Qing Dynasty about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, there is actually no record of the three words "Hong Xuanjiao".
Her father's surname is Huang, her mother's surname is Lin, originally called Huang Xuanjiao or Lin Xuanjiao, who has lived in Pingzaishan, Guiping County, Guangxi for generations, and has been farming in the mountains.
Around 1846, Feng Yunshan came to the Bauhinia Mountain District to preach, Xiao Chaogui and Yang Xuanjiao, who were born in poverty, met first, and the two got married and had children because of their like-mindedness and affection.
Later, Hong Xiuquan also came to Bauhinia Mountain, and because he often settled in Xiao Chaogui's house, he also got acquainted with Yang Xuanjiao.
It is said that once when Hong Xiuquan was resting at Xiao Chaogui's house, he told Xiao Chaogui that he had dreamed of his heavenly father, and Yang Xuanjiao was listening, so he also followed Hong Xiuquan's tone and said that he had also dreamed of his heavenly father because of a serious illness in his early years.
At that time, Hong Xiuquan did not have many believers. He was not worried that his sect leader's throne would fall to others, but what he was most worried about was that the common people did not believe in his set of religious theories.
Therefore, when Yang Xuanjiao said that she also dreamed of her kind and kind Heavenly Father, Hong Xiuquan was very happy as if she had found a confidant, and immediately formed a brother-sister relationship with Yang Xuanjiao, and called her "Heavenly Sister".
It is well known that in the theoretical system of the Worship of God, the Father had six sons.
The eldest son is Jesus, the second son is Hong Xiuquan, the third son is Feng Yunshan, the fourth son is Yang Xiuqing, the fifth son is Wei Changhui, and the seventh son is Shi Dakai.
Among them, there is no sixth son, because the sixth is Yang Xuanjiao, the daughter of the Heavenly Father.
And it is precisely because Yang Xuanjiao is regarded as the daughter of the Heavenly Father, that Xiao Chaogui, who is the king of the West, is not the son of the Heavenly Father, and can only be called the "emperor's son-in-law". That is, the son-in-law of God the Father.
Later, with the identity of "Tianmei", Yang Xuanjiao became the head of the family and often pointed fingers at Xiao Chaogui. She regarded herself as the princess of the feudal dynasty and the Xiao Dynasty as a concubine. I feel that I am a daughter, and I don't seem to have anything wrong with pointing fingers at the horse.
However, within a few days of Yang Xuanjiao's good days, Xiao Chaogui regained his position as the head of his family in the way of "Brother Tian".
According to our traditional concept of Chinese, when parents are absent at home, the eldest brother is like a father.
Although Yang Xuanjiao advertises that she is the daughter of God, Xiao Chaogui can speak on behalf of the "heavenly brother" Jesus.
Once, Xiao Chaogui possessed "Brother Tian", angrily reprimanded Yang Xuanjiao in the name of Jesus, and beat her ten boards in public.
In this way, Yang Xuanjiao, the "heavenly sister" who had been jumping for a few days, was pinched by her husband Xiao Chaogui again.
In September 1851, Hong Xiuquan was established in Yong'an.
According to Hong Xiuquan's intentions, Feng Yunshan promulgated a decree called "Taiping Rite System".
In this decree, Hong Xiuquan stipulates that "women are in charge of internal affairs, and wives are the only ones who obey them". That is, women cannot interfere in national affairs. When you are not married, you must obey your father at home; After marriage, be obedient to your husband; The husband is dead, and he is to obey his son.
Although Yang Xuanjiao is a "heavenly sister", she is also a woman.
Affected by the decree, Yang Xuanjiao no longer showed her face, and faded out of sight until she completely disappeared.
When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom fell, Yang Xuanjiao's whereabouts were unknown. Some people say that she died in the war, and others say that she successfully escaped danger and lived in seclusion among the people. But none of these claims have any basis.
Speaking of which, some friends may ask: Since there is no record of the three words "Hong Xuanjiao" in the early years. So where did the name Hong Xuanjiao come from?
According to the information that can be found, the name "Hong Xuanjiao" was first published in the book "Hong Xiuquan Romance" written by Huang Shizhong in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China.
Huang Shizhong made up a lot of stories about Yang Xuanjiao in the book, and Hong Xuanjiao's name also came from this book.
* Period, the fictional Hong Xuanjiao has been further carried forward by many creators. In the end, it became the heroic and delicate Hong Xuanjiao that we are familiar with today.
Affected by this, Yang Xuanjiao, who originally existed in history, was gradually forgotten.
Compared with Yang Xuanjiao, who relied on dreams to ascend to the throne, Su Sanniang, another female hero of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, is a real female general.
Su Sanniang's original surname was Feng, a native of Gaozhou, Guangdong (now Guangxi). Because she married Su San, the leader of the Heaven and Earth Society, she gave her husband's surname, so she was called Su Sanniang by everyone.
According to the records of the people at the time, Su Sanniang learned martial arts since she was a child, and when she grew up, she had excellent arm strength and was the best at making double knives. And the most amazing thing is that although Su Sanniang is good at martial arts, she is not a female man with five big eyebrows and three thick faces, but a beautiful woman with clear eyebrows and beautiful face.
In today's words, Su Sanniang is a very "sassy" woman with a strong aura.
In 1850, Su San was assassinated by traitors during a battle against the Qing army. After learning of her husband's death, Su Sanniang was grief-stricken, so she played the banner of "revenge for her husband" and pulled up a team of several hundred to find revenge.
During the revenge period, Su Sanniang was besieged by the enemy, in order to cover the retreat of the team, she held two iron and three forks, crossed the waist of the autumn water goose feather knife, straddled the white horse, and rode alone.
The enemy family was afraid of her powerful aura and never dared to approach. In this way, Su Sanniang also successfully withdrew from the battle with the team.
Later, under the encirclement and suppression of the Qing army, Su Sanniang led her troops to Hong Xiuquan, and in accordance with the strict regulations of the Taiping Army's "male and female camps", the department was reorganized, and the men returned to the men's battalion and the women to the women's battalion.
After the team was completely reorganized, Su Sanniang became the commander of the female army of the Taiping Army, responsible for the guard task of Yang Xiuqing's Chinese army camp.
As mentioned earlier, many of Hong Xuanjiao's stories were made up by literati. Especially in terms of operations, it is 100% fiction.
But Su Sanniang is different, she is a female general who really led the female army to fight against the Qing army.
Regarding the image of the women's army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Long Qirui, who was born in the Guangxi regimental training and the champion of the imperial examination of the General Office at that time, also wrote a poem:
The sound of drums and horns at the head of the city is loud, and the teeth are lined with flags.
The east and west families walked and stiffened, and passers-by competed to see Su Sanniang.
Lingshan's daughter is very skilled, and she is called a healthy woman among the ten thieves.
Scarlet was scolded by the official in public, and Su Su was the head of the husband's revenge.
The two arms were once more than a hundred battles, and a single shot did not fall behind a thousand people.
The famous government invited him, and he galloped and called Cao to be proud.
Five hundred athletes listened to the dispatch, and thousands of fox squirrels fled one after another.
When he returned, he washed the knife and scolded him, and he was ashamed of his high position.
However, although Su Sanniang is the only female general in the history of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. But limited by the limitations of the times, she could not escape the fate of fading out of sight and disappearing after all.
From 1854 onwards, this famous and legendary female general disappeared from the eyes of the world as if it had never been seen. Even if I searched through the historical books, I could no longer find any record about her.
As for Su Sanniang's final belonging, there are currently many theories.
One version comes from the record of "The Chronicles of the Heavenly Kingdom: The Biography of the Daughters": "In the fifth year of Yirong (Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Calendar, 1855), he married Luo Xuan, and he has not heard of it since. ”
After saying that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom restored the family system and allowed men and women to marry, Su Sanniang married Luo Xuan, and since then, "women are in charge of internal affairs, and wives are the only three subordinates", and faded out of the military circle.
There is also a theory that after the Taiping Army launched the Western Expedition, Su Sanniang guarded Zhenjiang alone for more than two years. Later, civil strife broke out in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Taiping army was leaderless, and the Qing army took the opportunity to besiege Zhenjiang.
Which statement is the final destination of the legendary female general Su Sanniang, no one can distinguish the truth from the false and give a definitive conclusion.
Finally, let's talk about the "female champion" Fu Shanxiang.
Fu Shanxiang is a native of Nanjing, born in a scholarly family, and has been brilliant since he was a child, and has read a lot of books.
However, Fu Shanxiang's life is very sad and fateful.
When she was eight years old, her parents died one after another, and the family was in the middle of the road.
At the age of thirteen, her brother obeyed his father's orders and married her to a seven-year-old boy as a child bride.
When he was eighteen years old, his minor husband died of measles, and the young Fu Shanxiang became a widow.
It's okay to be a widow, but what chills Fu Shanxiang the most is that her mother-in-law thinks that since her son is gone, there is no point in leaving her daughter-in-law who has not completed the house, so she plans to sell her in exchange for silver taels.
In this case, Fu Shanxiang could no longer bear it and decided to fight against fate.
At this time, the Taiping army came to the city of Nanjing.
Fu Shanxiang was very excited when he heard that the Taiping Army advocated equality between men and women, and that there were also female soldiers in the army.
So, when the Taiping Army entered Nanjing, she did not hesitate to join the Taiping Army.
The most widely circulated version of Fu Shanxiang is that she is the first and only female champion in the imperial examination in Chinese history.
According to the records of the "Shield Nose Suiwenlu" and other materials, after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom established the capital of Nanjing, the first "female subject" examination in Chinese history was held.
The test title is "Only Women and Villains Are Difficult to Raise", and the chief examiner is Hong Xuanjiao.
During the examination, Fu Shanxiang refuted the whole article, won Hong Xiuquan's praise, and became the female champion.
However, as mentioned earlier, there is no Hong Xuanjiao in history, only Yang Xuanjiao.
Moreover, "only women and villains are difficult to raise" comes from the "Analects", and the "Analects" is ** in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
In addition, according to the research of Luo Ergang and other experts, after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was established as the capital of Nanjing, it was eager to seek talents, and held four imperial examinations within a year, which were held on Yang Xiuqing's birthday, Shi Dakai's birthday, the birthday of the young king Hong Tianguifu and Wei Changhui's birthday.
However, in these four imperial examinations, there was no female department.
Regarding whether Fu Shanxiang is a female champion, Shang Yanliu, who was the school manager of Wenyuan Pavilion in the late Qing Dynasty (the last Tanhua in history), also wrote an article called "Female Champion Fu Shanxiang Examination Pseudo", which was systematically discussed.
Therefore, on the whole, the record of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's holding of women's departments and Fu Shanxiang's becoming a female champion should be the fiction of the literati.
As for Fu Shanxiang's title of female champion, it is very likely that there are no eunuchs available in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, so that the palaces can only use female officials, and they have to select talents in the women's hall. And the selection of talents inevitably involves examinations.
Therefore, Fu Shanxiang, who has been brilliant since he was a child and has read a lot of books, stood out among the female officials and became the "champion" of the internal selection examination.
However, this kind of "internal selection" is not a real imperial examination. Even if he takes the first place in the exam, he is not the champion in the real sense.
Of course, Fu Shanxiang is not a female champion, which does not prevent her from being reused by Yang Xiuqing.
Due to erudition, shrewdness and ability. After Fu Shanxiang entered the Eastern Palace, he soon served as Yang Xiuqing's confidential secretary, responsible for assisting Yang Xiuqing in reviewing all the documents and books exchanged in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
It is said that it was precisely because of Fu Shanxiang's influence that Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing ordered the restoration of the family system and allowed young women to marry. It also abolished a series of emancipatory decrees that forbade women to remarry.
1854 During 1855, Fu Shanxiang can be said to have entered the glorious period of his life.
Not long ago, she was almost sold by her mother-in-law as a livestock to human traffickers.
Just a few months later, she became a hot figure in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
However, it is also in response to the old saying. After every peak, there must be a trough.
In 1856, the conflict between Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing intensified.
In September of that year, the famous "Tianjing Incident" broke out in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
On the day of the incident, Yang Xiuqing and thousands of civil and military officials in the Dongwang Mansion were all killed. As an important female official in the Dongwang Mansion, Fu Shanxiang's fate has many theories.
One said that Fu Shanxiang was killed during the Tianjing Incident, and his body was thrown into the Yangtze River. A generation of talented women has since disappeared, and since then the world has left an endless tragic story.
Another theory is that Fu Shanxiang had insight into the situation and fled long before the incident broke out, and he didn't know what to do.
There is also a saying that Fu Shanxiang was lucky not to die, was rescued by Hong Xuanjiao, and later married Tan Shaoguang, the king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. After Tan was killed by his men in Suzhou, Fu Shanxiang died of depression.
In the early years, CCTV filmed the "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" TV series, which adopted this statement.