I. INTRODUCTION
As in most of the large-scale mass revolt, the development of the Taiping movement was to a great extent influenced by its ideology. Some historians attributed the early success of the Taipings to its ideology, but others conversely claimed that its deficiency contributed to its final collapse. One may perhaps even argue that the ups and downs of the Taiping movement was determined not by any ideologies but by the changing circumstances: both the internal development of the movement itself and the exotic pressure coming from its contestants, both the government troops and the foreign mercenaries. Whatever the conclusion and judgment one may have, a general study of the Taiping ideology deserves its own right.
II. General Characteristics
Strangely enough, the Taiping ideology lacked any logical unity. There was no central theory that can explain different aspects of the ideology. It was indeed regarded nondescriptive and inner contradictory in nature. However, one aspect -- religion -- bound them together into a concrete whole. As said by Vincent Shih, "all important concerns are organically related and woven around the central core of Taipings' religious life." (p. xiii) As one may easily find, there were lots of evidence which showed the dominant influence of this factor upon the Taiping movement. Most if not all the important documents of the Taipings were concerned about religion, "The Land System of the Heavenly Dynasty（天朝田畝制度）" and "The Ten Camping Regulations（十款天條）" in "The Taiping Rules and Regulations （天條書）" being some of these examples. Moreover, one could also see the founding of the Catholic church, practice of Christian ceremonies, and many other religious elements in the movement and the reform programmes. As a matter of fact, the influence of Christian elements was one of the distinctive features that set the Taiping movement apart from previous peasant rebellions.
Second, the Taiping ideology was not constant and dogmatic. It was subject to modifications in the course of its development. Its creator and founder, Hung Hsiu-ch'uan himself underwent different changes of minds and in due course, added his own interpretations upon the contents of the ideology. After 1859 his cousin, Hung Jen-kan （洪仁玕） or Kan Wang（干王）ascended to power. In his book “A New Treatise on Political Counsel”（資政新篇） he added new features to the Taiping ideology, with more western elements and resulting in greater derivation from Hung's.
Taiping ideology was believed to be a key to the early success of the movement. Many of the members of the God Worshipers Society were real devotees. They fought and died for the ideals claimed by the Taiping leaders. However, the enthusiasm could not endure for long. The late participants joined the movement not as zealous and idealistic as their veterans. In brief, the longer the movement lasted and the further the control area from Nanjing（南京）, the less enthusiastic the followers of the movement would be.
A thorough examination of the entire Taiping ideology may illustrate the appearance of some revolutionary elements. But if one takes a closer look at these elements, one can say that they as a whole fell within the main currents of China's tradition. Years of indoctrination by Chinese tradition and the limited understanding about the Western culture ended in the point that "the Taipings were unable to perceive Christian ideas except through the coloured glasses of traditional concepts" (p. xv).
III. Religion
As claimed to be a Christian movement, it is without doubt to say that the central concept of the Taiping ideology was God. Indeed, this concept was found in various Taiping documents and translated in different names, Ti （帝）, Shang-ti（上帝）, Huang shang-ti（皇上帝）, Huang-t'ien shang-ti（皇天上帝）, T'ien-chu（天主） and Shang-chu（上主）.
God envisaged by the Taipings was not the same God we understand today. He was regarded the only true spirit or shen （神）, who created the world, the latter referring to China, a terrestrial kingdom. He was the Father of all mankind and was very concerned about his children's affairs and therefore He should be worshipped by all of the people. Moreover, as the world's creator, He must be omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. No one or other spirits were able to challenge Him. This same God, however, was a figure of moral nature with moral order. He would judge every behaviours performed to see if they abode by the laws and regulations set down by Him; or else punishments would be meted out. God in the Taipings' mind was also emotional, kind and compassionate. He loved his believers and showed pity and concern on them, but sometimes He might lose his temper and demand harsh treatment upon the ones who breached the laws.
However, God's image was rather sinicized in the Taiping documents. As described in the "Taiping Heavenly Chronicle（太平天日）", He wore a hat with a high brim, and was dressed in a black dragon robe, with a golden beard that flowed from about his mouth down to his belly. In addition, He had a family life that paralleled family life on earth. He had a wife and three sons. Jesus, Hung and Yang Hsiu-ch'ing（楊秀清） but the names of the first two were given the honorific prefix of T'ien（天）.
Taiping leaders were witty enough to make use of religion to achieve some political purposes. Divine visitations （神附體）was one of these examples. In addition to the claim that Hung was Jesus's brother and God's son with the right to claim others' allegiance, Yang Hsiu-ch'ing on two occasions also claimed the same possessions. One was his accusation of Chou Hsi-neng（周錫能） on the eve of the insurrection and the other was his intimidation against Hung. On both occasions, he claimed that God came down in the person of him to accomplish some errand. Hsiao Ch'ao-kuei（蕭朝貴）, the West King, was instrument for the visitations of Jesus.
The Taiping leaders believed themselves to be rulers not merely of the human world but also of the natural world. The symbol for Hung was jih（日）, the sun; for Yang was the wind; for Hsiao was the clouds; for Fung was rain; for Wei was thunder and for Shek was lightning. Nature, in the minds of the Chinese, was synonymous with T'ien and was always thought of as something divine, the object of worship. Because of this, the Taiping leaders also considered themselves rulers of the spiritual world. If God was the Lord of the universe, Hung and his entourage could assume authority to rule the universe without appearing to be a pretender.
The Taipings believed in the existence of Heaven and Hell. There was no sickness, misery, hunger and ugliness in the former but exactly the opposites in the latter. Indeed, Heaven had dual senses: it meant either the heavenly capital（天京） in this life or heaven in the next world. To get access to heaven, one had to worship God with awe, reverence and sincerity. As for those who did not, they would be condemned to suffer for a thousand and ten thousand years where there would be endless misery, suffering and pain. As a matter of fact, the Taipings used the term ti-yu（地獄） or shih-pa-chung-ti-yu（十八層地獄）to describe hell. Reverence for Heaven had to be expressed concretely through the performance of religious duties outlined in "The Book of Heavenly Commandments（天條書）". It laid down the ten Commandments[1] to be observed by every Taipings, some religious duties like prayer, the signing of praises, the offering of sacrifices and the reading of the scriptures. Regulations concerning religious worship were strictly enforced; violation of which would be liable to harsh punishment.
The Taipings were the mono-deists. They believed in only one God. Attack upon idolatry, superstition, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism were frequent and constant. Idolatry and superstitution were the target because it was against God's will to believe in devils which were believed to be untrustworthy. On the other hand, Taoism and Buddhism were considered false doctrine talking about Satan or yen-lo（閻羅）, which commanded corrupt devils and fiends; it was the old serpent who transformed in a variety of ways to deceive and entrap the souls of men. Finally, they would not spare Confucianism as it emphasized the importance of ancestor worship and Confucius was one of the condemned figures in Hung's trance of 1837[2]. Therefore, one could see that wherever the Taiping armies went, there would happen the destruction of temples, monasteries and Confucius tablets. In view of the above, it was no wonder to find that accusations against various emperors and historical figures were made for their patronage to Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. These culprits included Emperors Han-wen（漢文帝）, Han-wu （漢武帝）, T'ang-hsien（唐憲宗） and Sung-hui（宋徽宗）.
IV. Social Ideals
As believers of Christianity, the belief of social equality was greatly stressed. The egalitarian principle whereby "all are brothers under Heaven" was one of their maxims. Evidence in support of this social ideal was abundant and available. Examinations, for example, were open to all classes of people, regardless of their background and origins so that even the mean people and outcasts were eligible. Sex equality was found prevalent in wealth possession, military service, examinations and even administration. Care would be taken for all to achieve the goal of establishing a utopian world in which state assistance was guaranteed for widows, widowers and the needy. In economic fields, the same mentality was applied. One could draw the examples of equal land distribution, sacred treasury（聖庫）, no permission of private or surplus property and nationalisation of industries. Finally, even soldiers were not despised. It was stated that "the soldiers of the camps must be carefully taken care of. We should remember that all of us are born of the same father of souls and we are like bone and flesh." In sum, the egalitarian principle was one of the cardinal characteristics found among the Taipings and in their society. It was considered one of the main reasons explaining their early success.
V. Political Elements
On paper at least, the ultimate goal of the Taipings was to establish the Heavenly kingdom in which there were everlasting peace and happiness. Apart from remoteness and practicability, the immediate aims were to overthrow the Manzhus and set up a new dynasty. In the "Taiping chiu-shih-ko（太平救世歌）" it was mentioned that God, after Jesus, sent Hung to come on earth as the truly appointed lord to exterminate the devils (represented by the Manzhus) who brought only misery and pain to the Chinese people; he came to save God's children.[3] In Hung's trance of 1837, Hung recalled that he was appointed Son of Heaven to exterminate devils with a devil killing sword, or chan-yao-chien（斬妖劍）, to carry out three tasks:(1) to regain paradise lost to the people, (2) to rule the world with the removal of devils and (3) to publicize the true tao of T'ien（天道）.
From another perspective, the Taipings put strong words against Manzhus and accused them of doing many things baneful to the Chinese people. Nevertheless, they did not aim at restoring the Ming dynasty, as expected by many of their accomplices, the Triads for example. The Taipings just called Ming T'ai-tsu（明太祖） as Duke T'ai of Ming（明太侯）, showing no special respect to the founder of the Ming Dynasty. Unlike the traditional rebel leaders who had to justify their rebellious acts in accordance with the Mandate of Heaven（天命）, Hung simply asserted that God had made him the lord. He was sent on earth to establish a new kingdom not just for China but for the whole universe. His armies were called t'ien-ping （天兵）and t'ien chiang（天將）. The Manzhus were usurpers and should be driven out of China. Their rebellion simply followed the way of t'ien （天道）and was justified.
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[1] (1)Thou shalt honor and worship the Sovereign God on High（祟拜皇上帝）
(2)Thou shalt not worship false gods.（不好拜邪神）
(3)Thou shalt not take the name of the Sovereign God on High in vain.（不好妄題皇上帝之名）
(4)On the seventh day, the day of worship, thou shalt praise the Sovereign God on High for his grace and virtue.（七日禮拜頌讚皇上帝恩德）
(5)Thou shalt be filially pious to thy parents（孝道父母）.
(6)Thou shalt not kill or injure.（不好殺人害人：殺人即是殺己，害人即是害己。凡殺人害人者，是犯天條。）
(7)Thou shalt not commit adultery or be licentious.（不好奸邪淫亂：天下多男人，盡是兄弟之輩，天下多女子，盡皆姊妹之群。天堂子女，男有男行，女有女行，不得混雜。凡男人女人奸淫者，名為變怪，最大犯天條，即丟邪眼，起邪心向人，及吸洋烟，唱邪歌，皆是犯天條。）
(8)Thou shalt not steal or plunder.（不好偷竊劫搶：貧窮富貴，皆是上帝賜定。凡偷竊人物者，是犯天條。）
(9)Thou shalt not utter falsehoods. （不好講謊話）
(10)Thou shalt not conceive a covetous desire.（不好起貪心：凡是人妻女好，便貪人妻女；見人物產好，便貪人物產，及賭博、買票、圍姓，皆是犯天條。）
[2] In the year 1837, Hung fell ill and went into a prolonged trance. He later claimed that during this time he went to heaven in a sedan chair, accompanied by many angels, and was received at the gate of heaven by many beautiful girls. Soon he arrived in paradise, a place of dazzling splendor, peopled with dignitaries in dragon gowns and peaked hats. he was then ordered to submit to having his abdomen cut open and his internal organs replaced with new ones. Then the Heavenly Mother led him to a river where he was bathed and purified. Afterward he was presented to the Heavenly Father. The Heavenly Father pointed out the evil deeds of the devils on earth and said that they were to be found not only on earth but also in the thirty-three heavens. He traced the evil work of the devils to the teachings of Confucius, and reprimanded him for it. Confucius tried to escape with Yen-lo, only to be brought back, whereupon he was bound and soundly flogged. God then gave Hung a seal of authority and a devil-killing sword, and ordered him to drive them down out of the three-three levels of heaven, and a hard battle ensued. For some reason God allowed Yen-lo to escape. The Heavenly Father conferred upon him the title T'aiping T'ien Wang ta-tao chun wang-chuan. （太平天王大道君王全）
[3] 「今滿妖咸豐，原屬胡奴，乃我中國世讎。兼之率人類變妖類，拜邪神，逆真神，大叛逆皇上帝，天所不容，所必誅者也。¼爾等凡民亟早回頭，拜真神，丟邪神，復人類，脫妖類，庶幾常生有路，得享天福。」（奉天誅妖救世安民諭）