The Proper Name of the Nien Army

Abstract

All the peasant rebels in Chinese history have been slandered as "outlaws" or "bandits" by the feudal ruling class. The Taipings and the Nien were no exceptions. From the Ch'ing regime through the Republican period, the terms "Kwangtung bandits" and "Nien bandits" underwent little change. It was Comrade Lo Erh-kang who first recognized the historical significance of the Nien and did not term them "bandits." In 1939, Lo published a book entitled Nien-chün ti yün-tung chan [The Mobile Warfare of the Nien Army] and began researching the correct name of the Nien. During the same period, he also published T'ai-p'ing tien-kuo shih-kang [Outline History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom]. In these books, Lo gives the Taipings and the Nien their proper historical due. This was a progressive step. Since the establishment of New China, the term "Nien Army" has been widely used in works on modern Chinese history. In 1953, the publication of the Nien c h k [Nien Army] series, edited by Fan Wen-lan and Chien Po-tsan, affirmed the use of the term "Nien Army." Furthermore, my own research supports the use of the terms "Nien Society" and "Nien Army." However, Lo Erh-kang himself questioned this terminology in 1955 when he changed the title of his book from Nien-chün ti Yün-tung chan to T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo hsinchin ti yh-tung chan [Mobile Warfare of the New Taiping Army]. "Nien Army" and replacing it with the name "New Army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom." Years ago, when I researched the history of the Nien Army in Shantung, a comrade from the Shantung Museum told me that when they were organizing the materials on the Taipings and the Nien, a university student then working as a research assistant suggested that the materials be combined, since the so-called "Nien Army" was none other than the "New Army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom." Though the comrades at the museum did not accept this idea, Lo Erh-kang's influence was obvious. In 1960, Lo published "The Proper Name of the Nien Army" in the inaugural issue of An-hui shih-hsceh [Anhwei Historiography]. He argued that different names should be used to refer to the different stages of the Nien Society and the Nien Army. Before their cooperation with the Taipings, they should be called n-ien, Nien Society, or Army of the Great Han Uprising. After they joined the Taipings, they should be referred to as "Taiping divisions." His idea did not win general acceptance because it broke up the continuous developmental history of the Nien. In the September 1961 issue of Hsceh-shu eeh-k'an [Academic Monthly], Wang Ch'ing-ch'eng, in "Comments on the Proper Name of the Nien Army," criticized Lo Erh-kang's proposal. Wang considered that the name "Nien Army" should stand. Even though the Taipings had assumed a leadership role in many peasant movements of the time, one need not claim "orthodoxy" for the Taipings. One should not deny the independent and unique development of the Nien Army simply on the basis of the fact that the Nien adopted the Taiping calendar and uniforms. Wang also criticized Lo Erh-kang's discussion of "objectivism," "approaches, Ir and "styles." I agree with the criticisms. In order to resolve the problem of the names of the Nien Army, I wrote an essay, "On the Nien Society," which was later included in my Ch'u-ch'i Nien-chin-shih lun-ts'ung [Essays on the Early History of the Nien Army]. Now, to further clarify this question, I will reconsider the problem in light of the materials which I have collected over the past several years.