A war triggered by translation

Abstract

This article studies the impact of Chinese biblical translation on the Taiping Rebellion in China in the nineteenth century. The rebellion built its ideology based on a unique interpretation of the Bible, aiming at overthrowing the Qing government and building a kingdom of heaven in China. The Bible that had inspired the rebellion was later altered, annotated, and became the Taiping Bible, which integrated the political agenda of the rebellion. This research traces such an event of the Chinese translation of the Bible in the nineteenth century, investigates its connection with the rise of the rebellion and analyzes the Taiping Bible. By examining the discrepancies between the Chinese translation of the Bible and the Taiping Bible, this paper explores the role that translation plays in triggering the rebellion and demonstrates the interplay between translation and the socio-cultural environment in China during that period.