state-religion relations
This chapter discusses the evolving approaches adopted by the Chinese Communist Party in its attitude toward different religions, as well as the different policies of other entities with Chinese populations such as Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Singapore. The issues of Chinese Christians, Tibet, Xinjiang, and Falun Gong are analyzed, as well as their geopolitical implications. The comparison between these policies and cases shows that there are many ways in which a Chinese government can assert its authority over religion, beyond the use of repressive power, but also many ways in which Chinese religious believers relate to the state, other than through dissent.
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Karl Marx: religion is the opiate of the masses
Before the Chinese Communist Party established its formal regime in 1949, the attitude of its members was heavily influenced by Karl Marx's advocacy of "religion is the opiate of the masses." Earlier during the May-Forth Movement in 1919, many intellectuals held a hostility view against Chinese religious practices, condemning such as being superstitious that hindered the development of Science in China; and Science from the west, was believed to be the prescription for the weakened nation.
The recent CCP's discourse on nation-building still draws insights from the May-Forth Movement, claiming that the country should be strengthened by two elements of "Democracy" and "Science", which have been the remarkable ideal coined in the Movement (see the brief report made by the official TV channel CCTV below). |
CCTV News - Legacy of May 4th Lives on in China - July 2014
the united front policy (1949-1957)
Mao Zedong, who later held the ring of the CCP since 1935 until his death in 1976, had a flexible tactic in dealing with religions. In his early days in 1927, from the observation on the peasants in Hunan province, he remarked that the religious idols abundantly found in shrines and temples of the villages, would be cast aside with the peasants own hands. And he claimed that, "it is wrong for anybody else to do it for them."
Party members of the Chinese Communist were supposedly Marxist-believers, who should try every effort to eradicate the opiate harm of religions, so as to usher in the emergence of class struggle. But Mao seemed to have possessed a less radical view in his early years, and did not want to suppress the superstitious activities at the expenses of alienating peasants, who were pillars of revolutions. He later put forward the United Front Policy (統一戰線), advocating the strategy of uniting all classes to fight against the common enemies (sometimes the foreign invasion of Japan from 1937-1945, and sometimes the anti-revolutionary Nationalist Party from 1945-1949). Such policy tolerated the presence of religions, and had been the core guidance for how the state dealt with religious groups from 1949 to 1957.
Party members of the Chinese Communist were supposedly Marxist-believers, who should try every effort to eradicate the opiate harm of religions, so as to usher in the emergence of class struggle. But Mao seemed to have possessed a less radical view in his early years, and did not want to suppress the superstitious activities at the expenses of alienating peasants, who were pillars of revolutions. He later put forward the United Front Policy (統一戰線), advocating the strategy of uniting all classes to fight against the common enemies (sometimes the foreign invasion of Japan from 1937-1945, and sometimes the anti-revolutionary Nationalist Party from 1945-1949). Such policy tolerated the presence of religions, and had been the core guidance for how the state dealt with religious groups from 1949 to 1957.
It is the peasants who made the idols, and when the time comes they will cast the idols aside with their own hands; there is no need for anyone else to do it for them prematurely. The Communist Party's propaganda policy in such matters should be, "Draw the bow without shooting, just indicate the motions." It is for the peasants themselves to cast aside the idols, pull down the temples to the martyred virgins and the arches to the chaste and faithful widows; it is wrong for anybody else to do it for them.
---- Mao Zedong (March, 1927) |
Mao Zedong and his "Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan" written in 1927.
the leftist period (1957-1978)
But soon Chinese people underwent the Great Leap Forward (大躍進; 1958-1961), when cadres devotedly followed the state's policy of fostering efficient economic production as a means of surpassing Western powers in the Cold War. Leftist advocacy dominated the official discourse on religion, and hence the government suppressed the religious institutions more radically. Not to mention religions were close to extinction after the Great Leap, the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) following it had further posed atheistic policies, encouraging people to smash and crash old traditions, which included religions, so as to carry through the proletariat revolution thoroughly.
Temples, halls, churches and mosques were vandalized, and religious practices were completely banned. Some religious leaders had been put in jail, and even executed, as they were accused of conducting anti-revolutionary activities, and hence were classified as the class enemy (階級敵人) of the people. Although religions had been fiercely forbidden, people might have managed to find legitimate substitutes to believe in. One intriguing practice is the Mao cult. |
A poster in the Cultural Revolution:
"Break the Old World. Establish the New World." |
THE MAO-CULT
CCTV's documentary music video of "The East is Red" filmed in 1965.
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Lyrics - The East is Red
The east is red, the sun rises. From China arises Mao Zedong. He strives for the people's happiness, Hurrah, he is the people's great savior! Chairman Mao loves the people. He is our guide to building a new China Hurrah, lead us forward! The Communist Party is like the sun, Wherever it shines, it is bright. Wherever the Communist Party is, Hurrah, there the people are liberated! |
Reform and opening (1978-present)
The years of struggle ended with Mao's death in 1976, and the succeeding leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) in 1978 decided to carry out economic reform. The state also lessened its constraints on religions, and soon overturned the verdicts in the Cultural Revolution. In 1981, Deng clarified that the Party should return to its "United Front Policy", reassuring that religious activities could be resumed under the Party's guidance. Until the present, the orthodoxy direction of the state has headed for ensuring freedom of religion, however, the control on certain sects and institutions has not been abandoned. Qigong groups like Falungong (法輪功) and underground house churches like the Church of Almighty God (全能神教會) have been defined as evil cult in the official discourse. The incumbent spiritual leader of Tibet Buddhists, the 14th Dalai Lamma, is still in his exile.
ON REINCARNATION OF DALAI LAMA
Recently in 2014, the 14th Dalai Lama revealed in his interview with BBC that he may be the last reincarnation of Dalai Lama (literally means the Teacher who possess abundant knowledge as deep as the sea), implying that there will be no successor to his sacred position. The secular government of China, out of people's expectations, commented on this religious affair, claiming that the incumbent Dalai has no right to end the line (see the CCTV report below). In the near future, the state may continue its interference on various religions, as shown in the case of the Tibetan Buddhism leader, and yet, to what extent will the government keep it hands off shall remain controversial.
CCTV News - Dalai Lama has no right to end reincarnation - December 2014