By He Qinglian
(Modified version of the Epoch Times translation)
Self-immolation tragedies have
continually taken place among Tibetan monks in recent months. On
March 23, People’s Daily Online blamed the Dalai Lama for inciting
Tibetan monks to self-immolate and accused him of spreading Nazism to
the Tibetan people.
In the face of these conflicts, only a few of government officials
or highly educated individuals can fathom the issues from the
perspective of structural-functional relationship between religions
and society.
Most members of the Han Chinese majority think, “We’ve given
the ethnic minority groups lots of economic support and favorable
policies, why do such situations still happen?”
As for Falun Gong, many people simply repeat the regime’s “evil cult”
propaganda and are not willing to truly listen to what Falun Gong
practitioners have to say.
The similarity in opinions between the people and the regime is
caused by the inherent relationship between religion and the politics
of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
While Western scholars have always seen religion as “the key to
deciphering human civilization” and attach great importance to
studies of religious culture, the attitude of contemporary China
toward religion is totally different. After 1949, all religious
activities were once banned and religious studies abandoned.
I purposefully chose the elective of “the world's three major
religions” in college. But the content was very shallow, and the
historical view on religion taught was based on Marxist theory that
“religion is the opium of the people.”
My understanding of folk religion which peaked in the Ming and
Qing Dynasties built up only gradually as I studied history. Based on
my own reading and thinking, the strained relations between religion
and politics in China have to be understood from the following three
aspects.
One: The influence from traditional Chinese political culture. This
should be looked at from two angles.
The first angle: Even though Confucianism was most respected in
different dynasties, Buddhism and Taoism were allowed as well.
Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are all regarded as legitimate.
There were periods in Chinese history when Buddhism was persecuted
against, which are called “Three Wu One Zong” suppression
(commonly known as “Three Disasters of Wu”).
There were cultural reasons for the suppression, such as the
opposition from social elites who followed Confucianism; but more
importantly, it was the economic reason: the Buddhist monks and nuns
did not produce income and paid no taxes.
However, the tension and horror created by those cases of
suppression was far less severe than that created by the persecution
of Falun Gong by the Chinese regime. For example, the highest
death toll in a suppression of Buddhism was during the reign of
Emperor Wuzong in the Tang Dynasty. About 300 Buddhists were killed.
During the Emperor Wu Di period (Yuwen Yong, 561-578) of the
Northern Zhou Dynasty, several million Buddhist religious were made
to return to the secular world, where they could continue practicing
Buddhism as lay Buddhists.
Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty was even more civilized
in the measures used. He only stipulated that one must have the
consent from parents and relatives before becoming a monk or a nun,
and that Buddhists must go to designated public altars to make vows.
Meanwhile, some religious rituals that would cause harm to the body
were banned.
Throughout most of Chinese history, spreading Buddhism and Taoism
was allowed. Some emperors, members of the royal families, and other
social elites were believers in Buddhism or Taoism—a complete
antithesis of the strict and rigid control and monitoring of
religions the CPC employs since it came to power.
The second angle: All dynasties kept a watchful eye on folk
religions. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, folk religion was even
regarded as a source of rebellions. Apart from Confucianism, Buddhism
and Taoism, there have always been various folk religions in China.
Not much research on the topic has been conducted. In his article,
“Retrospective on the 100 Year History of Chinese Folk Religions”,
written in 2010, religion historian Wang Qingde combed through the
studies of folk religions by Chinese scholars and listed out the pros
and cons of such religions.
He pointed out that it was the Dutch scholar Jan J. M. de Groot
(1854-1927) who included Chinese folk religions as part of the
Chinese cultural system, and not the Chinese elites who generally
looked down upon the folk religions. Between 1892 and 1910, Groot
compiled The Religious System of China and Chinese Families of
Religion and Religious Persecution. In these books, Groot focused
on the unregulated, unsystematic aspects of folk religion and its
customs in an attempt to establish a system of Chinese folk religion.
In the 1940s, Chen Rongjie, a Chinese expert of religion,
concluded that Chinese religious activities can be classified into
two categories. The first is the folk religions, practiced by the
“average Joe.” The second is the institutionalized group of the
three major religions, namely Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism,
which were followed by well-educated and thus more enlightened
people. Such a categorization gave folk religion the social status it
deserved, but this academic breakthrough was completely destroyed by
the political culture of the CPC.
Two: The tension between religion and the CPC is unprecedented due
to the communist ideology itself.
In the field of social sciences, only communist doctrine provides
explanation for the ultimate value of humankind, a characteristic
unique to communism and not shared by any other social sciences,
because only religion would provide the ultimate explanation for
humankind. All political entities that believe in communism establish
dictatorships. They want to expand their control not over the human
world and human mind, but also in the divine world by offering an
ultimate explanation of the matters of the world. Therefore, they
consider all religions as unorthodox and evil theories that threaten
their power, and they regard all organized groups as threats to
their rule.
This is the root cause of the tension between religion and the
CPC. Even after the reforms of the 1990s, when the CPC partially
lifted the ban on such institutionalized religion as Buddhism, Taoism
and Catholicism, they never allowed folk religions to exist. What
corresponds this view is the characteristics of an authoritarian
culture that exist in the study of religious history, which tends to
define religion from the perspective of political science.
Given that the various folk religions popular among the lower
classes in society constitute beliefs that contradict the orthodoxy
of the community, and their organization independent from the larger
social unit—some folk religions, for example the White Lotus Sect,
actually became the driving force of popular anti-government
movement,
they were banned by the authorities and prohibited by law. In the
Ming and Qing dynasties, such folk religions were labeled evil cults, a
definition with which many scholars today agree.
Because of this, Falun
Gong started off as a qigong organization, rather than a
religious one. Otherwise, there would have been no room for it to
spread.
In 2000, Beijing decided to eradicate Falun Gong, the Chinese
intellectuals almost agreed unanimously that the eradication was
politically justified. In 2008, the general public only became aware
of Beijing’s troubles in Tibet and Xinjiang when the Olympic torch
relay started. Chinese people started to vaguely realize that the
biggest issue in Tibet was religion and that the clashes in Xinjiang
constituted conflicts between the political culture of the CPC and
Islam. Long accustomed to agreeing with the government eradication of
cults, the Chinese people could side with the government regarding
the issue of Falun Gong. But they are confused with the political
conflicts that the CPC government have with Tibet, Xinjiang and
Christian family churches.
How to interpret the religious phenomenon? French historian Marc Bloch once said that religion “is like a knot connecting largely different social structures and social spirits. Simply put, religion relates to the environment of the entire mankind.” In order for any religion, including Chinese folk religion, to start and spread, it must have a strong motivation that is deeply rooted in society. It must also assume certain social functions, such as psychological counseling, social interaction, rescue and support, keeping fit, combating diseases and even making a living. Apart from all these, the most important function of religion is spiritual connection.
The clashes between politics and religion in China will become the main issue in Chinese society. If Beijing only utilizes political violence to suppress and eradicate religions, the tension between politics and religion will mount, and the clashes between the government and various religious entities will also intensify.
