{"id":6397,"date":"2016-09-21T16:29:26","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T20:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/guidedhistory\/?page_id=6397"},"modified":"2016-12-03T15:11:17","modified_gmt":"2016-12-03T20:11:17","slug":"maddi-b","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/guidedhistory\/law-and-religion\/maddi-b\/","title":{"rendered":"Religion and State in Communist China"},"content":{"rendered":"
by Maddi Brady<\/span><\/pre>\n
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Religion and\u00a0State in Communist China<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n
Despite\u00a0Communist\u00a0rule\u00a0since 1949, China has maintained\u00a0its vibrant spirituality and religiosity for the past 7 decades. The purpose of this\u00a0research guide is to understand the complexity of religious life in China and its historic relationship with an atheist state.<\/p>\n
China is the largest country in the world by population, and its people practice a diverse range of ancient Chinese worship to imported\u00a0Western regions and Islam. The first section of this guide will provide an overview of spiritual worship, religious practices and important religious sites in China.\u00a0These sources will also provide information on the demographical distribution\u00a0of religion, social structure of religious communities and religious-ethnic minorities.<\/p>\n
The following two sections of this guide will provide the official legal framework for religious freedom and state policies toward religion. The state’s policy approach to religion\u00a0changed drastically from\u00a0the Mao Zedong\u00a0Era (1949-1976) to the Reform Era following Mao’s\u00a0death. However, both Mao and Reform Era\u00a0leadership utilized religious toleration to meet their\u00a0political\u00a0purposes. In alignment with Leninist-Marxist Communism, Mao cracked down on religion to elevate his political status, which in turn\u00a0generated\u00a0the Cult of Mao. On the other hand, Reform Era leadership opened up religious worship in the 1980’s to\u00a0control threatening groups and prevent them from going underground.<\/p>\n
Today China is experiencing an increased frequency of public protests and a major upsurge in religion, specifically Christianity. Also, religious sites and temples are an important part of the Chinese tourism economy.<\/p>\n
How can we explain this seemingly paradoxical coexistence of religion and communism? How can China truly consider itself to be an ideologically Communist State in Marxist terms with its current policies?<\/p>\n
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Religion in China<\/h1>\n
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Context<\/h4>\n
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Stockwell, Foster.\u00a0Religion in China Today<\/em>. Beijing: New World Press, 1993.<\/strong><\/p>\n