Within the land that it controlled, the Taiping Heavenly Army established totalitarian, theocratic, and highly militarised rule. • The subject of study for the
examinations for officials changed from the
Confucian classics to the previous ones to Confucius, based on
Chinese folk religion. Bible texts were also included. • Private property ownership was abolished and all land was held and distributed by the state. • A
solar calendar replaced the
lunar calendar, which had previously been endorsed by astronomers of the Qing court. • Several women served as military officers and commanders under Taiping:
Hong Xuanjiao (sister of Taiping leader),
Su Sanniang and
Qiu Ersao are examples of women who acted actively as leaders during the Taiping Rebellion. • Families were rigorously separated. • The Qing-dictated
queue hairstyle was abandoned in favour of wearing the hair long. • Commoners in Nanjing were asked to set up alters consisting three cups of tea in their homes as a sign of obedience • Other new laws were promulgated including the prohibition of opium, gambling, tobacco, alcohol, polygamy and concubinage, slavery, and prostitution. These all carried death penalties. • Promoting the adoption of railways by granting patents for the introduction of locomotives; 21 railways were planned for each of the 21 provinces. • Promoting the adoption of steamships for commerce and defence. • Establishment of currency-issuing private banks. • Granting of 10-year patents for introduction of new inventions, 5-year for minor items. • Establishment of a National Postal Service. • Promoting mineral exploration by granting control and twenty per cent of the revenue to the discoverers of deposits. • Introduction of governmental investigative officers. • Introduction of independent impartial state media officers for reporting and disseminating news. • Institution of district treasuries and paymasters to manage finances.
Military procurement While the Taiping rebels did not have the support of Western governments, they were relatively modernised in terms of weapons. An ever growing number of Western weapons dealers and black marketeers sold Western weapons such as modern muskets, rifles, and cannons to the rebels. As early as 1853,
Taiping Tianguo soldiers had been using guns and ammunition sold by Westerners. Rifles and gunpowder were smuggled into China by English and American traders as "snuff and umbrellas". They were partially equipped with surplus equipment sold by various Western companies and military units' stores, both small arms and artillery. One shipment of weaponry from an American dealer in April 1862 already "well known for their dealings with rebels" was listed as 2,783 (percussion cap) muskets, 66 carbines, 4 rifles, and 895 field artillery guns, as well as carrying passports signed by the Loyal King. Almost two months later, a ship was stopped with 48 cases of muskets, and another ship with 5000 muskets. Mercenaries from the West also joined the Taiping forces, though most were motivated by opportunities for plunder during the rebellion rather than joining for ideological reasons. The Taiping forces constructed iron foundries where they were making heavy cannons, described by Westerners as vastly superior to Qing cannons. Just before his execution, Taiping Loyal King
Li Xiucheng advised his enemies that war with the Western powers was coming and the Qing must buy the best Western cannons and gun carriages, and have the best Chinese craftsmen learn to build exact copies, teaching other craftsmen as well.
Religious affairs Initially, the followers of Hong Xiuquan were called God Worshippers. Hong's faith was inspired by visions he reported in which the Heavenly Father greeted him in
Heaven. Hong had earlier been in contact with
Protestant missionaries and read the Bible. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was based on Hong Xiuquan's
syncretism with
Christianity, which differed from mainstream Christian prayers, rituals, and holidays. The libraries of the Buddhist monasteries were destroyed, almost completely in the case of the
Yangtze delta. Temples of
Daoism, Confucianism, and other traditional beliefs were expropriated to be used for the new religion, as schools or hospitals, or simply defaced. In letters to missionary
Joseph Edkins, Hong rejected the
Nicene Creed and said
Arius was correct.
Contrast from Confucian Values The Qing, having lasted nearly 200 years, was deeply rooted in
Confucian values. Since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's origin was influenced by Christianity, these policies listed above reflect a drastic shift away from Confucianism. It is important to note that Hong Xiuquan's knowledge of Christianity was acquired through a Chinese Christian convert,
Liang Fa's tract:
Good Words to Admonish the Age, so Xiuquan's understanding was not necessarily aligned to traditional Christian values. Regardless, the destruction of social classes is in opposition to the Confucian Five Bonds principle, which is essentially a hierarchy of relationships. In particular, there was a strong value places on the dominance of husband over wife. Likewise, women were generally considered inferior to men in Qing society. Civil Service Examinations were exclusively available to men, and since the exam was intended to create a meritocracy system The Heavenly King proclaimed that he intended to establish a new dynasty of China.
Clothing and dress-code The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom developed its own regulated system of clothing and fashion, in response to the cultural policy of
tifayifu set by the Qing. Taiping formed many offices dedicated to art and craftsmanship, such as the
"Fengyi ya" also known as
"Dianpao ya" ("Clothes sewing/Ceremonial gown office"
, 缝衣衙/典袍衙), "
Guomao ya" or ("National hats office" , 國帽衙) and
"Xiujin ya" ("Brocade Embroidery Office", 绣锦衙), that were chiefly in charge of creating new clothing for the Taiping. One of the earliest acts of rebellion was Taiping members letting their hairs grow and forbade the use of queue braids. Because of this, the Qing often called the Taiping rebels as
"long-haired bandits" (長毛賊),
"hair bandits/rebels" (毛賊, 髮逆), or as
"Yue (Cantonese) bandits" (粵匪). Equality of sexes in the Heavenly Kingdom also saw women's clothing forego the use of skirts, with a preference to trousers worn together with wide shirts with slimmer sleeves and lack of
collars. Many women also forego the use of shoes, preferring to march barefoot, as a sign for the banning of foot-binding, which is inherited from Hakka women's aversion to foot-binding. Characteristics of
Manchu clothing such as the
matixiu, or horse-hoof cuffs, and Qing dynasty's official uniforms and headwear were forbidden and replaced with Taiping's own clothing similarly informed by Hakka fashion, with the goal of restoring Han Chinese identity as the Heavenly Kingdom abhorred and opposed the use of
qizhuang, with Taiping leaders Yang Xiaoqing and Xiao Chaogui indicting the Manchu-Qing for
"replacing the dress of the Chinese with those of barbarians" and
"making the people lose their ancestral roots, transforming them into animals". '' (钦定士阶条例). In place of the hats of the Manchu, Taiping members wore headscarves or turbans and rattan hats. Heavenly Kingdom also developed its own headwear, such as the
fengmao (风帽),
jiaomao (角帽), and
liangmao (凉帽), worn in accordance to rank and ceremony. Similarly, a plan was outlined for official headwear and colors of clothing for scholars graduating from Heavenly Kingdom's
imperial examination in
Qinding shijietiaoli (钦定士阶条例) by
Hong Rengan. The official clothing of the Heavenly Kingdom used
opera costumes as its foundation, with instances of Taiping rebels confiscating opera costumes during their attacks and leaders wearing costumes for various occasions, due to the opera costumes being exempt from the policy of
tifayifu and retaining the
hanfu-style, which distanced itself from
qizhuang. Even the kings of Heavenly Kingdom wore
paofu that were repurposed or based on the
paofu from opera stages. However, because the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had a limited understanding for prior
hanfu fashions, many of their official clothing still retained similarities to
qizhuang, such as the use of
magua-jackets for military uniforms. Qing variant of the
mangfu was similarly kept, with only the horse-hoof sleeves removed. The kings and princes of the Heavenly Kingdom similarly wore yellow
dragon robes, with the number of dragons embroidered as symbols of their rank and station. The highest ranking King of Heaven had 40 dragons on his robes, the East and West Kings having 36, North and South had 32, the Flank King having 30 and the Yan and Yue Princes had 24 dragons. The officials of lower rank wore red and blue. The colors and patterns for various headwear and other clothing were also regulated according to rank, but due to the disorganisation and contradictory rules and records the exact practice of uniform regulation is difficult to examine.
Currency In its first year, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom minted coins that were in diameter, weighing around . The kingdom's name was inscribed on the obverse and "Holy Treasure" () on the reverse; the kingdom also issued paper notes. ==Subsequent massacre of the Hakkas==