For a man denied success in traditional education, Hong Xiuquan found a different opportunity for power. After a feverish vision, he made a startling discovery: he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ on a divine enterprise to seize control of Chinas wealth and trade from a dynasty he called demons. His mission was a new path to influence, promising a complete overthrow of the systems that controlled all property and investment in the empire. His Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was a radical social