Asian Millenarianism: An Interdisciplinary Study of the Taiping a ...

clearly disastrous forces. Scientists recognize that even seemingly eternal things like stars and universes have cycles of birth, growth, aging, and death. The predicted time of the end of the world varies depending upon whom you ask, but there is a consensus that it will come some day.

In researching the concept of millenarianism, my concerns are: (a) to investigate what apocalyptic views Asians have had; (b) to compare the Taiping, the Tonghak, and the Somali millenarian movements and situate them in a wider global framework; (c) to compare Eastern and Western views of millenarianism; (d) to study natural scientists' opinions of the final days; (e) to attempt to reach a new definition and generalization of millenarianism; and (f) to introduce Eastern and Western wisdom to the millenarian dream, which may be usefully employed to help people enjoy a happier life.

There are many good studies of millenarianism conducted in non-Asian countries. However, there are few scholarly works that seek an understanding of Asian millenarianism and its real spiritual essence, which is quite distinctive. There were two large-scale millenarian movements in East Asia in the 19th century, and one may indeed say that the national histories of modern China and Korea began with these movements. One is the Taiping millenarian movement in China in the mid-19th century, and the other is the Tonghak millenarian movement in Korea in the late 19th century. In the course of the 19th century, these two Asian countries each faced their own national crisis brought about by the concurrent drive of Western expansionism in Asia. Against this backdrop, Hong Xiuquan's Taiping in China, and Suun's Tonghak (closely linked with Ch̵n Pong-jun's peasant force) in Korea, rose up to deliver their respective nations against alien expansion by claiming to rule in the name of God. Hilary Conroy asserted “the Tonghak Rebellion was the Korean version of the Satsuma Rebellion of Japan, the Boxer movement in China, the Wahabi in Africa, and perhaps the Mau Mau in Kenya. It was a rising against the government for reactionary rather than progressive reasons. In Toynbee terminology it was Zealotism, a desperate, though unrealistic, effort to reassert tradition in the face of change.”² In Cassanelli's view, the Taiping and Tonghak movements also had