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The study attempts to assess the position of women in T'ai-p'ing T'ien-kuo ("The Heavenly Kingdom of Peace"), a rebellious political movement that almost succeeded in overthrowing the Ch'ing dynasty in mid-nineteenth century China. It is argued that the rebellion arose in the context a peasant society suffering the varying dislocations of dynastic decline under the Impact of the West. It was a rebellion that put forward a radical social program and one, especially in its policies towards women, that can be seen as a significant departure from Chinese tradition. The study attempts to examine Taiping policy with regard to marriage and the family; the establishment of separate quarters for women; the role of women in education; civil examinations for women; women officers; the abolition of (female) slavery; the prohibition of adultery and prostitution; and social customs and personal adornments. The study is based on Chinese and English sources. As unorthodox literature Taiping official documents were prohibited and destroyed by the Ch'ing government. They were also greatly damaged by war. Some contemporary accounts in English survive. The data are deficient in many respects and yet indicate the strength and weaknesses of the rebellion and its program. Much of the Taiping program was "western" in origin and is reflective of the early Christian influence, derived from Hong Kong through certain Taiping leaders, on the rebellion. The rebellion had its greatest strength among the disaffected, especially among the Hakka minority of south China. It is argued that Hakka custom was an important contributory element to the Taiping policy for women. The rebellion failed, and its program perished, for a number of reasons, not least of which was the failure of Taiping leadership to rid itself of certain "traditional influences". If the rebellion had succeeded, perhaps the emancipation of Chinese women would not have been delayed until the twentieth century. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

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The purposes of this thesis are to present a study of the agrarian policy of the Taipings as enunciated in the "Land System of the Heavenly Dynasty", to trace, through events during the existence of the T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo, salient attitudes toward the agrarian policy and to suggest, so far as possible, the degree to which the policy was successful. To accomplish these purposes in Chapter I and II, I have briefly discussed the ideological sources of the "Land System" - its origin, its nature and its sociological implications. Because there is neither a complete nor satisfactory translation of this document I have included my own translation of it. In Chapter III, I undertake to follow the course of the agrarian policy as it developed and changed during the period of the rebellion. Included in this section are descriptions of these shifts, while possible reasons for their occurrence are also offered. Because there are no Taiping documents dealing in detail with their overall economic policy during the early stages of the rebellion I have included a translation of Chapter 10 of Tsei-ch'ing hui-tsuan, by Chang Te-chien, a contemporary. As a study of the views of mainland Chinese and Soviet historians reveals considerable divergence of opinion on the implementation and intention of the agrarian policy I have included in Chaper V a survey of some of these views. / Arts, Faculty of / Asian Studies, Department of / Graduate

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La révolte Taiping, qui éclate en Chine en 1851, y fonde un Etat se réclamant du christianisme, écrasé en 1863. L'hypothèse de base de l'étude est l'existence d'un cadre d'interprétation souple des faits sociaux ("paradigme") au moyen duquel lettrés et couronne chinois exercent et légitiment une domination se reproduisant par l'intermédiaire de la culture et de la définition d'une conscience paysanne dominée. La première partie décrit la société chinoise avant la révolte, puis examine la mise en oeuvre de cette domination culturelle. La seconde décrit la révolte, insistant sur les interprétations successives de la Révélation Divine au moyen desquelles, au travers de luttes internes pour le pouvoir, se construit progressivement un paradigme hétérodoxe. Dans la troisième partie, psychologie du rituel, ambiguïté des symboles dominants, possibilités objectives et subjectives de résistance et de révolte et importance et limites de la religion dans une dynamique d'émancipation sont abordées. Le messianisme apparaît comme le paradigme typique des mouvements d'opposition dans les sociétés "précapitalistes" complexes. Puis une matrice d'analyse de tels mouvements en trois moments dialectiques inspirés de Laplantine: transe, messianisme et utopie, est proposée, et mise en rapport avec les moments de l'institution proposés par Lourau. Un schéma d'évolution est dessiné, impliquant une normation progressive du sens et une "dogmatisation " du paradigme. L'étude globalement concerne les conditions culturelles de la dréativité sociale (instituant) et de son institutionnalisation dans le cadre de la Chine impériale tardive, avec l'idée que certains éléments dégagés dans l'étude pourraient se retrouver dans d'autres cultures.