However, Hong Xiuquan, who pretends to be noble and does not hesitate to belittle all other emperors, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, is definitely an exception. It can be said unequivocally that he is probably the only "money worshipper" among the emperors of China (if he is recognized as the "emperor").
Hong Xiuquan's national seal is called "Jin Xi" in the official book "On the Issue of Imperial Letters and Seal", and the lower part of the word "seal" is changed from the original word "jade" to the word "gold", which naturally means "clarifying" the golden nature of the national seal; The first year of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom era-the first year of the new opening (185 1), because of its weak influence, few books were published, one of which is called Taiping Ritual System, which is a reference book to record the official title system and address of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. In this book, daughters from Hong Xiuquan to kings are called ". Wang, a calligrapher in the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, copied a pamphlet "Duty Title" describing the official title system in the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Among them, the highest-ranking royal title (the king with the title of military adviser) ordered the "golden chamber" and showed great mercy to "Jin En". The subordinates asked them to pay their respects and invited "Jin An". Heavenly Father's Imperial edict, Heavenly Brother's Imperial edict and Heaven's love mantra always say that Heavenly Father Heavenly Brother "believed the East King/West King's golden mouth" when he told the "rumor" about Yang and Xiao Chaogui on behalf of the Heavenly Father.
Although Hong Xiuquan's name should be omitted from these materials, when it comes to Tiange Jesus, he is called "the body of all kinds of jewels" in "On the seal and publication of imperial edicts". 1858, British missionary Ai Yue Se wrote a religious paper "On Metaphor of Tangible Existence and Reality of Intangible Existence" and gave it to Hong Xiuquan. As a result, the title was corrected by Hong Xiuquan to "On the Existence of Invisible God". Since the Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brothers who are higher than Hong Xiuquan are all "gold", the East King and the West King who are lower than him are also "gold".
According to Li Xiucheng, Hong Xiuquan's national seal is "cast with a golden faucet". The most important inner city of his "China Palace" is called "Jinlong City", and the largest first treasure hall "Rongdian" is called "Jinlong Hall". It is said that Taiping Tianri, written in the winter of the year of Wu Shen (1848), was actually published around 1862, in which various "myths and legends" of Hong Xiuquan's early days were mentioned, with the focus on the strange dream that made Hong Xiuquan "change from man to god". He claimed that he was inspired by "Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother" in his dream. This is a very important dream of Hong Xiuquan and even the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Without this strange dream, Hong Xiuquan's "paradise on earth" is impossible, and he can't be the "king of peace avenue". In this dream, the "heavenly father" gave Hong Xiuquan two treasures in order to arm him, one was "snow in the clouds" and the other was "gold".
It is not difficult to see that in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which was founded by religion, and in the religious and political system with a strong "Hongji" brand, all kinds of gold wares have completely replaced the traditional jade wares in the imperial era of China, and played a variety of important roles, such as showing the monarchical power, showing the nobility and transmitting the mysterious signal of the divine right of monarchical power.
Of course, this does not mean that jade is worthless in Hong Xiuquan's value system.
In Taiping Li, the daughters from the prime minister to the military commander (later edition, from the palm rate to the military commander) are all called "some jade", which is lower than the "some gold" from the daughter of the heavenly king to the king and higher than the "some snow" from the daughter of the second Sima teacher. After the fall of Tianjing, Xiang army seized four seals of Hong Xiuquan's father, including two gold seals and two jade seals. Gold Xi was stolen by thieves from the Ministry of War, melted into gold bars and squandered, and the jade seal is still well preserved. Some researchers believe that these two jade seals may be forged, because the official documents of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom always say "gold" instead of "jade seal". However, Li Xiucheng's confession mentioned that when the Taiping commander besieged Changsha in 1852, and Xiao Chaogui, who was rumored by his brother, was shot and died seriously, Hong Xiuquan made a decree to let the whole army shout "Long live" on October 17 of the lunar calendar to boost morale, but the first gold was not cast until the Battle of Wuchang about two months later, and it was a "God-given imperial edict" and a "God-given imperial edict".
Of course, regardless of the texture, it is indeed the custom of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to call all national seals "gold". The "jade seal" mentioned in "About Issuing Letters and Seals" is actually made of wood, and it is far more than a seal, but it is also called "gold seal", which reflects the grade and level, not the real texture, just like the gold medal in the Olympic Games is just a truth.
However, in the "Forbidden Words" published in the twelfth year (1862), there is a word "seal", the lower part is gold, and the lower part is jade, and it is stated that "gold and jade are different, and the previous generation is not allowed to be called anonymously". It can be seen that gold and jade can go hand in hand regardless of their names and realities.
Inferring from the historical fact that there was a jade seal before there was a gold Xi, Hong Xiuquan's "money worship" may not have been established at the beginning, but it is likely to have a process of development and evolution. The Arabian Nights (1837) in Peaceful Sunny Day, which was published by Hong Xiuquan in 1862, was actually declared in 1848, and "Heavenly Father" gave it to Hong Xiuquan in the early version of "Demon War" story.
In any case, in the system of the integration of God and man in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, gold is the most sacred "Tianbao", while jade is dwarfed and not worth much. Whether gold is valuable or jade is valuable can be said to be not a big "right and wrong issue", and jade has not been reduced to dirt by Hong Xiuquan, but only "degraded". So what is the reason for the competition that makes Hong Xiuquan engage in this unusual "money worship"?
In the Taiping ritual system, gold was praised as "beautiful in color but unchanged" and jade as "polished and precious", both of which were commendations, but gold was obviously more popular. Guangdong and Guangxi are a developed society with commodity economy. People generally have a high awareness of the taste, fineness and value of gold, but they have a relatively insufficient understanding of jade with collection value but no circulation value. Gold is precious and jade is cheap, which conforms to the general cognitive level of this grass-roots team.
Different from previous emperors, the "gold" of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is not only applicable to the Hong Xiuquan family, but also to the "gods" and people and their families from the heavenly father to the senior princes. This involves not only "virtual gold" such as Jin En, Jin An, Jin Yan and Jinkou, but also "physical gold" such as Jin Xi, gold and silver, gold medals and gold collars. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is an extremely unstable "horseback country". Gold is a precious metal, which is relatively easy to obtain, convenient to process and easy to distinguish between authenticity and falsehood.
It's more likely for religious reasons.
In the history of China, jade was cherished by emperors of all dynasties, because it has been regarded as a sacred object with unusual mysterious power since ancient times. But the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is based on monotheism. "God" can only be used to address God, and "ghost" is synonymous with all enemies. The "innate advantage" of the royal family became an unspeakable shortcoming in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom system, which made the jade with suspicious family background "retreat to the second line" and become a "rooted red seedling".