By the mid 19th century there were over 100 publications by the missionaries in
China, and these provided the main source of information for
Chinese intellectuals about the West.
Xu Jiyu, financial commissioner of Fujian, published a short account of
the Maritime Circuit, Yinghuan Zhiliue, in 1848, based on these sources.
Zhiliue regarded the United States as a historically unique state,
one without a monarchy,
and one where the public institution was said to belong to the people.
He hailed George Washington as the most important person
in the history of the east and
west, for his unselfish refusal to pass down the presidency to his descendents.
Chin Mandarin Wei Yuan, in his 1843 treaties of [INAUDIBLE] kingdoms,
Haiguo Tuzhi appraised the American political system and
the principal of majority rule to be fair and well constructed.
In particular, he approved of the popular electoral system and
imposition of term limits.
Missionary proselytizing can have totally unintended consequences as well, and one
of the most violent and devastating civil war, that nearly toppled the dynasty.
The Taiping Rebellion, was inspired by the words of an American missionary.
Hong Xiuquan, a mid 19th Century young scholar, who failed repeatedly,
at the civil service exams, read the pamphlets prepared by
the American Baptist missionary Issachar Roberts.
In a feverish state of despondence,
Hong dreamt that he was actually the younger brother incarnate of Jesus.
In 1850, from his base in southwest China,
Hong created the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace, and aimed to topple the Qing state.
In his idealized world, everyone was to enjoy equality and
a share in the common treasury, all except for the leader, that is.
Ho was a charismatic preacher and attracted millions of followers.
The poor and the disenfranchised responded
enthusiastically to this Millenarian movement.
So successfully did the rebels defeat the Manchus that they would topple the state,
but for their own infighting and for the bravery of a group of ethnically Chinese
generals such as Lee Hiu Jung, who defended the Ching dynasty.