Analysis Of The Two-cup Of Tea Religion In Jianghuai Area During The Reign Of Xianfeng And Tongzhi

The Two-cup of Tea Religion was a secret sect active in Huai’an and Yangzhou,Jiangsu to Nantong and Taizhou,Jiangsu in the late Qing Dynasty during the Reign of Xianfeng and Tongzhi.Due to the short period of missionary work and geographical limitations,the twocup tea religion was little known in history.The ’Two-cup of Tea Religion’ was born in Huaiyang area in the early stage.It attracted believers by holding various buddhist meetings and offering tea to cure diseases.It had a strong feudal superstition color and had a certain influence on the bottom people in this area.Its development can be roughly divided into the stage of the establishment of the sect,the stage of development and dissemination and the stage of mature called Houtian religion.During this development,the critical area has been constantly shifting from the original Huaiyang area to the Tongtai area along the River.Finally,Houtian religion had been formed in Tongzhou area after restructuring and it had mastered certain social forces.The continuous spread and evolution of the Two-cup of tea religion was the process of its development from a superstitious folk association to an independent folk religious organization,which presented different characteristics in different historical development stages.In general,its organizational mode and hierarchical structure were relatively simple compared with other folk religions,and it did not form a systematic organizational system until the middle and later stages of development.The Piaobu and cryptic words appeared in this process and promoted the organizational development of the Two-cup of Tea Religion.The main activities of the Two-cup of Tea Religion were serving tea and chanting scriptures in the early stage,while in the later stage,they evolved into the form of incense and candle assembly.The transformation of the ceremony also reflected the development characteristics and direction of the organization,that is,toward a more closed,disciplined and authoritative direction.Through the history of the Two-cup of Tea Religion,it can be seen that although the practice of the Two-cup of Tea Religion was short,the social forces it organized once came into contact with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement on the south bank of the Yangtze River and instigate a peasant uprising to take over the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s northern crossing,which is known as Junshan Peasant Uprising in history.Although this uprising ended up being suppressed in advance because of the leaking of the plan,the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s strategy of crossing north into Lixia River and breaking the military dilemma also went bankrupt.But for most of the uprising of the study reflects the Chinese modern folk secret sects’ development path which from pure belief god to germination political demands,and the positive role that played in the activities which the bottom of the people against the reactionary feudal rulers.We should also realize the Two-cup of Tea was a folk secret sect which is superstitious and deceptive,this also doomed the peasant uprising would fail.The Two-cup of Tea Religion has disappeared from history,but nowadays there are still some cult activities in the grassroots society,especially in rural areas,which carry out feudal superstition in the name of religion,disturbing people’s normal life and social order.The government should also think about improving the prevention mechanism at the social level,strengthen the governance at the grassroots level,and pay attention to the construction of spiritual civilization within the whole society.