Luo Xiaoquan

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.