紅蓮教と哥老會

Abstract

The Honglian sect as a mystical religion flourished in some districts situated on the boundary between Jiangxi 江西 and Hunan 湖南 provinces. They had no basic scriptures, and nature of the deities they worshipped is unknown. But they made propaganda of their secular benefit such as healing the sick, sold protective charms against apocalyptic disasters and practiced abstinence from meat. However, it also becomes clear from the information transmitted that rather than being a mere religious sect, the group was very active militarily, agitating the masses, attacking the gentry and the rich of the area, and posing a serious threat to the cities of the provinces and the districts. For these reasons, one local official considered them as a religious sect, another, however, the then newly emerging Gelao society. The Honglian sect was also called Hongjiao (Red sect) 紅教 The concept of imminent apocalyptic disasters, which they took over from the so-called Huangjiao (Yellow Sect) 黄教, was used in a very effective way to win followers. The Honglian sect gained strong momentum for its formation from the unrest of the discharged militia directly after the Taiping rebellion. 太平天国 The head of the Honglian sect was at the same time the leader of the Gelao society, which shows that both were actually only different names for one and the same group. It had a hierarchical organization for military activities as well as for religious activities. And its character of strict, secrecy can be observed in the fact that the units of these two organizations were connected each other only by the elite consisting of its few members. Securing followers as a religion by promising the end of all political unrest, the sect was gradually transformed into a group concentrating on military action. Thus the Honglian sect did in fact merely represent one step in the process of the formation of the Gelao society.