This study is based on new materials obtained during field research at Jiangkou Zhen(江口鎮), situated near the homeland of the Taiping, on several visits between the years 1987 and 1993. Up until now, a lack of information has made it difficult to study the history of Guangxi society and the early days of the Taiping. The aim of this article is to ascertain the histroical and socio-anthropological features of the social networks formed by the newly-risen lineage groups which migrated there. The migration of these lineage groups to Jiangkou started in the 15th century, before the beginning of Chinese migration to Jintian(金田). Many from Minnan(〓南). They were unsuccessful at first because, unlike the bureaucratic immigrants to Jintian, they lacked political power. The reason for their eventual economic success was their pattern of action, known as wen^2 xig^6(〓食) in Cantonese, according to which they pursued several different occupations at the same time in order to increase the possibility of success, while reducing the danger of complete failure. This pattern of wen^2 xig^6 was and important feature of Chinese society, especially amongy middle and low class migrants in frontier areas. After achieving economic success, they tried to join the Kuji(客籍) elite group of bureaucratic immigrant lineages. But many of the newly-lineage groups failed,because their lineage organizations were not sufficieytly cohesive. As a result, some low class members took part in the Taiping movement as a form of wen^2 xig^6. The upper and middle class members formed social networks, such as Miaohui(廟会) and Jiebaixiongdi(結〓兄弟), with corresponding class members of other lineages in order to empete against the political powar of the Kuji elite group. The period of the Taiping movement offered them a favourable opportunity for political success. They organized Tuanlian(團練), using thier economic power freely and fighting against the Taiping, and obtained the political position they had been seeking, although at the sacrifice of their fellaw members bho died in battle. To the Chinese people, a man's life was not meaningful until his lineage prospered so that religious services for the ancestors could be performed by the following generations.
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