The Control And Enlightenment Of Cult Crimes In The Jiaqing Period Of Qing Dynasty

During the Qing Dynasty under Jiaqing’s realm,natural disasters occurred frequently,the per capital arable land decreased yearly,and social turbulence began to appear.At the same time,while the living conditions of the people deteriorated,corruption was trending among government officials,the rule of law was condemned,and the culture was declining.Cult organizations,as a result,started to develop and spread.According to statistics,during the Jiaqing period,there were over a hundred cult organizations,which may be classified into two categories: Bailian Sect and Luo Sect.The rapid development and the large scales of such organizations had not only become the source of various illegal and criminal activities,but also gradually alienated into the greatest threat to political stability.At the beginning of the Jiaqing’s ruling,the government had shifted from the harsh stand,which was adopted by the previous administration,on cult crimes towards the implementation of a more merciful policy.The Bailian Rebellion spread in the five provinces in the first year of Jiaqing,and the cult rebellion outbreak in the Forbidden City in the 18 th year of Jiaqing had caused a huge impact on the Qing government.After that,the government began to deal with the cult issues with both rigid and soft policies,which had begun to show promising outcomes.The frequent cult rebellion activities during the Jiaqing period had never subverted the sovereignty,though.This implies that the governmental policies and measures undertook by the Qing government are meaningful and constructive for reference.However,during that period,the Qing government still had certain defects in terms of managing cult organizations such as the existence legal loopholes,insufficient propaganda and education,lack of referable governance experiences,and single governance subject.This paper is composed of five parts.The first introduces the initiation for the research on cult crimes during the Jiaqing period,the definition of the cult concept,the results of domestic and foreign literates,and the research rationale and methodologies of this paper.This is followed by a summary of the representative cult organizations during the Jiaqing period,and that of the specific manifestations of the cult crimes during the period.The third part analyzes the social reasons for the growth and spread of cults during the Jiaqing period from three aspects,namely,social living conditions,political and legal issues,and cultural ecological development.The fourth part classifies the specific methods for managing cults adopted during the Jiaqing period based on the standard of either by way of cultivation or punishment.The last part intends to propose countermeasures for strengthening our country’s anti-cult work,while taking into account the experiences and lessons of cult crime management during the Jiaqing period as an enlightenment.Taking into account the present social background of our country and the experiences of cult management during the Jiaqing period,the state’s current cult governance should pay more attention to anti-cult legislation to govern cults in accordance with the law;to carry out anti-cult multilateral cooperation to achieve mutual governance of cults and the sharing of experience in anti-cult activities;to strengthen anti-cult propaganda to squeeze and suppress the living space of cults and for the conversion of the cult believers;to improve the anti-cult governance mechanism,establishing a united front line led by the government with the specialized authorities handling the "main battleground" and the involvement of social groups and individuals.