Luo Xiaoquan
(1802-1871), whose original name was Issachar Jacob Roberts, was a priest of the
American Baptist Board for Foreign Missions, and the first missionary who went
to Hong Kong. Besides, he was famous for his special relation with the Taiping
Heavenly Kingdom.
He was born in
Tennessee State in the United States in 1802, and became a priest in 1833. Four
years later, he was sent to Macao to begin his missionary work in China. In 1844
he arrived in Guangzhou and began to wear Chinese traditional clothing. In 1847
he came to know Hong Xiuquan, the leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and
this experience exerted great influence on him. In 1851 he became an independent
missionary.
Hong Xiuquan
invited Luo Xiaoquan to promulgate religion when Hong set up his regime in
Nanjing in 1853. However, Luo finally found that Hong's regime and Christianity
were quite different from each other, and left disappointedly. He returned to
the United States in 1866.