Essay on "Religious Changes in China for Centuries"

Essay 5 pages (1673 words) Sources: 5

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Religious Changes in China

For centuries, Asia has been considered one of the most traditional regions of the world, so that social and cultural changes have been slow to develop. This began to change during the 18th century, when isolationist policies in much of Asia were impacted by European colonial practices in the region. What this did was bring Christianity to Asia and introduce European cultural and social practices to some parts of the region. However, in many ways Asia remained largely untouched; while urban areas may have been exploited, rural areas were oftentimes essentially unchanged by changes in leadership. This pattern of relative isolationism and resistance to social change characterized much of Asia into the 20th century, when the use of Asian fields as proxy warzones for the ideological battles between the United States and Communist Russia made it largely impossible to ignore the impact of Western culture on traditional Asian values and beliefs, particularly religious ones. While Vietnam and Korea were both turned into warzones and experienced tremendous cultural and social disruption as a result, not all of the changes in the area were focused on violence. For example, China was largely absent from the violent conflicts that plagued Asia in the 20th century, but still became one of the largest communist powers in the world. China's Communist Revolution marked a significant difference in how the Chinese engaged in religious practice. Moreover, the Bamboo Curtain also helped limit other social and cultural changes in the region. Now that China is emerging as a global superpower and ending what had been a history of relative isolationism, religion is seeing a reawakening and this rebirth is impacting social and cultural changes in the country.

The Communist Revolution in China had a similar impact as the Communist Revolution in 1917, where religion and church were suppressed (Tsonchev 2011). This involved not only a rejected of existing religions, but also a rejection of the necessity of religion. From a revolutionary perspective, this rejection of religion was reasonable. "Religious institutions, in these societies, usually served the old political order (or the colonial powers) and thus they were automatically considered by the new elites as a political enemy" (Tsonchev 2011). Rendering them illegitimate was part of the way that revolutionaries helped overthrow the existing social order. However, in a country the size of China, where colonial powers and even existing indigenous political regimes had little impact on the daily life of many in rural settings, this policy may not have seemed as reasonable or applicable as it did in other areas where almost all citizens felt the impact of larger institutions.

The result of this was that, even when religion was officially outlawed in China, the state did not make the same attempts to prohibit religious practice and observance that other communist countries made. "The relationship between religion and state power in China has long been contested. Dynastic relations with religious organizations and doctrine including attempts to capture legitimacy through sponsorship of ritual while folk religions continued to thrive in local society despite ongoing attempts at official control" (Pittman 2003, p.317). Furthermore, while religion had been a means of oppression in Eastern Europe, where Marxism and communism first became popular political movements, that was not necessarily true in China. Instead, religion had frequently been a means of resisting Imperialism, so much so that indigenous religions, such as Buddhism, continued to exert a greater influence in China than Western religions like Christianity.

Another primary difference between communism in China and communism in Eastern Europe is the central ideological difference. "Behind the Chinese communism there is nothing except central power, there is no true Marxist theory. Chinese communist ideology exists only 'on paper'; it is a typical totalitarian state propaganda without real and meaningful content. Its only real message is either commands from the central power or appeals for loyalty to the Party. Its only goal is to keep the state under the control of the ruling elite" (Tsonchev 2011). This difference makes sense when one considers that the cultural and political institutions that gave rise to Marxism simply did not exist in China at the time of its communist revolution.

Moreover, it is important to view the role that communism plays in a country is very similar to the role that religion plays in a nature, since communism, like most religions, offers the promise of a utopia to its adherents. "In general, the religious character of the twentieth century regimes such as Communism and Nazism is not firmly explicit, and such is the case of China: the modern totalitarian regimes demand from their subjects loyalty and belief in Party ideology; they claim the right of full control over the material and spiritual life of people" (Tsonchev 2011). This was particularly true in China under Mao, which follows with the idea that Mao was the most extreme of the communist dictators to rule over China. "During the Maoist period, programmes of socialist transformation challenged the social bases for traditional Chinese folk religions, while policies of political monopoly attacked those limited examples of organized religion that could be identified and targeted" (Pittman 2003, p.317).

However, this period of hyper-anti-religiosity was relatively short lived; once Mao was no longer in power, the state seemed to take much less of an interest in whether its people practiced religion. "In post-Mao China, the regime adopted a somewhat more tolerant perspective on religion" (Pittman 2003, p.317). Essentially, the state began to allow more social and economic freedom as long as the people remained loyal to the party. Increasing religious freedom was part of this transformation, although the state continued to try to retain some control over religious beliefs and practices. The Party officially respects individual freedoms to religious beliefs, but also has an overarching goal that religion will disappear (Pittman 2003, p.318). Rather than disappearing, religion has made a resurgence in China.

This resurgence in religion has been accompanied by a change in the nature of communism in China. While China may not have some of the political freedoms that accompany other capitalist governments, one cannot look at its governmental and economic structure and still define it as traditional communism. "As communism has decayed dramatically over the past decades in China, religious practice of one sort or another has steadily increased. An extraordinary and entirely unexpected revival has made long-padlocked Buddhist temples teem again with worshippers; in Tibet and Xinjiang the Lamaist Buddhist and Islamic faiths, respectively, have become ever more vigorous, even as relentless persecution continues" (Waldron 1998, p.325). Rather than attempting to eradicate formal religion, "Communist officials now exploit its ethic of hierarchy and authority to bolster their rule. Ironically, only Daoism, perhaps China's sole truly indigenous faith, has actually been eliminated by the nearly half century of Communist war on religion" (Waldron 1998, p.325).

However, the religion that is reappearing in China seems, in many ways, more overtly political than prior religious movements. This may not be accurate, but it is interesting that the Chinese Communist Party, which officially prohibited religion for years, actually seems to support some practices that seem overtly religious. As a result, "the religious awakening in China, one of the most remarkable religious trends in the world, has aroused scholarly interest in the field of the social scientific study of religion" (Liu 2013, p.419). The interplay between the development and expression of religious practices, cultural norms, and a booming economy highlight the idea that religion is largely a cultural construct.

For example, a Chinese folk goddess, Mazu, has gained a significant following in much of China, and this worship is only one of the folk religions that is experiencing a resurgence in modern China. This type of folk religion was once considered a threat to the Communist region. "But far from mistrusting Mazu's millions… READ MORE

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