"Sufu Province". Policies Within the land that it controlled, the Taiping Heavenly Army established a totalitarian, theocratic, and highly militarised rule. The subject of study for the examinations for officials changed from the Confucian classics to the Bible. Private property ownership was abolished and all land was held and distributed by the state. A solar calendar replaced the lunar calendar. Foot binding was banned. (The Hakka people had never followed this tradition, and consequently the Hakka women had always been able to work the fields.) Society was declared classless and the sexes were declared equal. At one point, for the first time in Chinese history civil service exams were held for women. Some sources record that Fu Shanxiang, an educated woman from Nanjing, passed them and became an official at the court of the Eastern King. Several women served as military officers and commanders under Taiping, Hong Xuanjiao (sister of Taiping leader), Su Sanniang and Qin Ersao are examples of women who acted actively as leaders during the Taiping Rebellion. The sexes were rigorously separated. There were separate army units consisting of women only; until 1855, not even married couples were allowed to live together or have sexual relations. The Qing-dictated queue hairstyle was abandoned in favour of wearing the hair long. Other new laws were promulgated including the prohibition of opium, gambling, tobacco, alcohol, polygamy (including concubinage), slavery and prostitution. These all carried death penalties. Hong Rengan's proposed reforms In 1859 the Gan Prince Hong Rengan, with the approval of his cousin the Heavenly King, advocated several new policies, including: Promoting the adoption of railways by granting patents for the introduction of locomotives; 21 railways were planned for each of the 21 provinces. Promoting the adoption of steamships for commerce and defence. Establishment of currency-issuing private banks. Granting of 10-year patents for introduction of new inventions, 5-year for minor items. Establishment of a National Postal Service. Promoting mineral exploration by granting control and twenty per cent of the revenue to the discoverers of deposits. Introduction of governmental investigative officers. Introduction of independent impartial state media officers for reporting and disseminating news. Institution of district treasuries and paymasters to manage finances. Military procurement While the Taiping rebels did not have the support of Western governments, they were relatively modernised in terms of weapons. An ever growing number of Western weapons dealers and black marketeers sold Western weapons such as modern