NOTES AND QUERIES
229
Concerning the Taiping leader's relation with Gützlaff's Union, Clarke draws a conclusion which cannot be lightly accepted; i.e. "it is more likely that Feng Yun-shan visited Gützlaff, and was possibly baptized by him in 1848” (p. 164). It appears that the only seemingly persuasive evidence that he could produce is an "eyewitness" who claimed to be a "deserter" from the Taiping ranks in Hunan. This man had been a Union member before being dismissed in 1851. He returned to Hong Kong in 1853 announcing publicly that he had joined the Taipings in Hunan and that Feng Yun Shan was pleased to recognize their old acquaintance (p. 165). He was appointed a low officer. Afterwards he deserted and returned to Hong Kong. The Register published his report on 27th September, 1853. (Carl T. Smith refers to the same report but mistakes Kwangsi for Hunan).
It can be easily shown that the whole report was a fabrication of the poorest quality, for everything he stated therein was false. In the first place, the deserter could never have seen Feng Yun-Shan in Hunan because Feng had died near Chuan-chow in Kwangsi in early June 1852, before the Taiping army entered Hunan. This fact was not known to the outside world until long afterwards, so that it is no wonder he made the false statement.
A critical study of the full document reveals the following mistakes point by point.
(1) Hung Hsiu-ch'üan was crowned Heavenly King ( ) and the new Kingdom was named Tai-Ping-Tien-Kuo ( ) right after the uprising, and Hung was not called Tai-ping wang'. No title of "Royal Father" was in use, and the Taiping army could not be identified with “Ming” ( ) which was only used by the Triads.
(2) The Taiping army had not passed through Nan-ning of Kwangsi and Lo-ting of Kwangtung on its northward expedition, but marched directly north from Yung-an through Kweilin to Chuan-chow thereby crossing a mountain path to enter Hunan.
(3) The total enrolment of the Taipings at that time was only some tens of thousands, and not several hundred thousands.
(4) In the lowest echelon of the Taipings' military organizational system, there was no such rank as "vexillary" such as he claimed to have been appointed to by Feng, but there were four