Celebrities in Guangzhou
洪秀全
Hong Xiuquan
Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864)， was a Hakka Chinese who led the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing Dynasty， establishing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom over varying portions of southern China.
洪秀全（1814年1月1日—1864年6月1日），客家人，领导了反抗清朝的太平天国运动并建立太平天国，席卷中国南方多个省份。
Early life and education 早期生活及教育
Hong Xiuquan， whose name at birth was “Hong Huoxiu”， was born to a peasant family in Fuyuanshui Village， Hua County (now part of Huadu District， Guangzhou).
洪秀全初名洪火秀，出生于广东花县（今广州市花都区）福源水村的一个农民家庭。
Hong showed a strong interest in scholarship at an early age and started studying in an old-style private school at the age of seven. He was able to recite the Four Books and Five Classics at the age of 12 or 13 At around the age of 15， his parents were no longer able to afford his education， so he became a tutor to children in his village and continued to study privately.
洪秀全自小便对学习有着浓厚兴趣，七岁开始读私塾。十二三岁便能熟背四书五经。十五岁时，父母无力承担其学习费用，洪秀全就在村里教孩子们读书，继续自学。
He took the provincial examinations three times， but he never succeeded， because the pass rate of the exam is less than 1%. After that， he had a serious illness and became reticent and acted strangely. But he was not reconciled to his defeat； in 1843， he took the examination for the fourth time， but failed again. It’s partly due to the fierce reticent， but also due to being unable to secure a bribe to the corrupt examination officials of the decaying Qing dynasty.
他参加了三次乡试，均以失败告终，因为考试的通过率不到1%。之后，他大病一场，变得沉默寡言，举止怪异。但是他不甘心失败，1843年，他参加了第四次乡试，结果还是以落选告终。原因一部分是由于激烈的竞争，还有一部分是没有能力向腐朽清政府的贪污考官行贿。
On his visit to Guangzhou to take the examination in 1836， Hong heard an Evangelical Christian missionary preaching about his religion. But he did not pay much attention to it at the time .Hong failed to pass the examinations in 1836. In 1837 Hong again attempted to take the imperial examinations， but apparently suffered a nervous collapse when he failed them again.
1836年，洪秀全到广州应试时听说福音派基督教传教士正在传教， 但是他当时并未在意。
1836年，洪秀全落榜，1837年，他再次参加科举考试，由于过度紧张，再次名落孙山。
During his recovery， he had a number of vivid and terrifying dreams. In his dreams， Hong was visited by two figures， an old man and a young man. In one dream， the old man complained to Hong about men worshiping demons rather than him. In another dream， Hong dreamt of angels carrying him to heaven， where he met the young man wearing in a black dragon robe with a long golden beard and he gave him a sword and a magic seal and told him to purge China of demons. He interpreted that the Heavenly Father wanted him to rid the world of demon worship. In order to complete his mission， the old man changed Hong’s name to “Hong Xiuquan”. After failing his fourth examination in 1837， Hong took time to carefully study the Christian tracts he had received.
在他身体恢复期间，他做了很多可怕的梦。梦中有两个人去探望他，一位老人和一位年轻人。在其中一个梦里，老人对他抱怨说人们崇拜恶魔而不是他。在另外一个梦里，他被天使带到了天堂，看到一个身披黑色龙袍，有着金色胡须的年轻人，赐予他一把宝剑和一个魔印，要他消灭中国的恶魔。几年之后，他将这些梦解释为天父清除世上的妖魔。为了完成这一使命，天父将他的名字改为“洪秀全”。1837年第四次科举考试失败以后，洪秀全花时间认真研究收到的基督教册子。
After reading these tracts， Hong came to interpre his dreams： the old man was Heavenly Father， and the young man that he had seen was Jesus Christ. This interpretation led him to believe that he was a Chinese son of God， and that he was the younger brother of Jesus. After coming to this conclusion， Hong began destroying all the Confucian and Buddhist statues and books in his house and began preaching his interpretation of Christianity. His earliest converts were his relatives， like Feng Yunshan and Hong Rengan.
读了之后，洪秀全这样解释他的梦：那位老人是天父，他见到的年轻人是耶稣基督。而他也是上帝的儿子，是耶稣的弟弟。得出这个结论之后，他开始捣毁家中所有孔教、佛教雕像和书籍，并开始传播他理解的基督教义。最早的皈依者都是他的亲戚，如冯云山和洪仁玕。
In 1844， Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan walked some 300 miles to the west to Guangxi， where a large population was much more willing to receive his teachings.
1844年，洪秀全和冯云山向西徒步300多公里来到广西省，在那里很多人更愿意接受他的教义。
By the end of the 1840s， Hong had a sizeable following which he called the God Worshippers， but local officials attempted to suppress his religious movement.
到1840年底，洪秀全有了一大批追随者，被他称为“拜上帝会”，当地官员试图去镇压他的宗教运动。
By 1850， Hong had between 10，000 and 30，000 followers. The authorities were alarmed at the growing size of the sect and ordered them to disperse. A local force was sent to attack them when they refused. A full-scale attack was launched by government forces in the first month of 1851， in what came to be known as the Jintian Uprising. Hong’s followers emerged victorious and beheaded the Manchu commander of the government army. Hong declared the founding of the “Heavenly Kingdom of Transcendent Peace” on 11 January 1851.
到1850年，洪秀全共有10000到30000名追随者。当权者惧怕这个日益壮大的宗派，命令其解散。遭到拒绝后，当地的武装对他们展开攻击。1851年1月，政府发动大规模的武装攻击，这就是后来有名的“金田起义”。洪秀全一方节节胜利，并将政府军队的满族首领斩首。1851年，1月11日，洪秀全宣布“太平天国”建立，定都
天京。
In the following years， the leading groups had increasing sense of hierarchy and preoccupation with pleasure-seeking and contended for power and profit， which seriously weakened the power of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
之后的几年中，领导集团的等级观念，享乐思想日益严重，各领导集团争权夺利，相互残杀，严重削弱了太平天国的势力。
In 1864， Qing government suppressed Taiping Rebellion. This 14 years’ movement was ended in failure. However， Taiping Rebellion is of great significance in China’s history and it’s the peak of peasant movement.
1864年，清政府镇压了太平天国运动，这场持续14年的运动以失败告终。但是太平天国运动在中国历史上意义重大，它是农民运动最高峰。
Vocabulary 轻松学单词
rebellion [rbeljn] n. 叛乱；反抗；谋反；不服从
The government soon put down the rebellion.
政府很快镇压了这次叛乱。
heavenly [hev()nl] adj. 天上的；神圣的；天国似的
adv. 无比；极其
The idea of spending two weeks with him may seem heavenly.
这个与他共度两周的主意似乎妙不可言。
privately [pravtli] adv. 私下地；秘密地
The man privately admits that his motive is profits.
那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。
reticent [rets()nt] adj. 沉默的；有保留的；谨慎的
She is so reticent about her achievements.
她对于自己的成就如此缄默。
reconciled [reknsaild] vt. 和解；调解
He never believed he and Susan would be reconciled.
