Religion Flashcards
Why did Chinese communists want to get rid of Religion
- seen as ‘outdated superstition’
- Marxism refers to communism as an ‘opiate’/drug made by the elite and bourgeois to pacify the workers from revolt
- Christianity seen as an import from the west to ‘brainwash’ the Chinese people
- Islam and Buddhism also seen as a threat to chinas spread of communism
Influence of Buddhism
- huge part in developing culture and society for millennia
- most Buddhists in Tibet and they specifically practised Lamaism
- this greatly underpinned the Tibetan cultural identity
Tibet Reunification Campaigns against Buddhism
1950s:
- Buddhist monasteries attacked and monks forced into laogai to be reformed
- temples taken over and converted to other uses - in GLF used
- monks forced to do hard labour, many were starved and forced to join the PLA
- and after the CULT REV, only few temples and shrines remained
Confucianism
Philisophical outlook of Confucius (5th century BC)
- championed kinship values, respect, and ancestor worship
- shaped the thinking of millions for 2 millennia!
But it was condemned by the CCP for being anti-communist
Actions against Confucianism
- annual ceremonial commemorations for Confucius banned
- Red Gaurd destroyed memorials in Qufu
- anti-Confucius campaign made Confucianism a symbol for ALL backwards thinking (whether related or not)
- regime opponents actively compared to Confucius and the Gang of Four at the end of the Cultural Revolution used anti-Confucius propaganda to attack their opponents - comparing them to the backwards thinking philosopher —> Zhou Enlai targeted!!
Why were traditions like celebrating new year and ancestors worship banned?
1) represented the OLD CHINA
2) communists wanted to reduce the strength of family unit, and increase loyalty to the party
3) seen to be Confucian thought and backwards
Actions against ancestor worship and celebrating New Year
- attempt to dissuade visiting graves during Qingming festival
- hongbao (tradition of giving envelopes of money to children at new year) viewed as bourgeois
- Qingming festival replaced with National Memorial Day (new communist festival)
-instead of paying respect to elders or ancestors, urged to honour fallen civil-war communist war heroes
Were the community successful in eradicating ancestor worship?
No - evident at public outpouring of worship and mourning of Zhou Enlai after his death - Tiananmen Square worship a lot like ancestor worship!
Why were the communists specifically against Christianity?
They thought the church imposed western imperialism and capitalism.
Moves against Christianity: ‘Patriotic Church’
Disguised as organising religion for the benefit of of the Chinese people but it actually just allowed for the government to control all churches:
- portraits of Mao put in churches
- schools and hospitals of the church taken by the government
- missionaries forced out of the country/imprisoned
Was ‘patriotic church’ effective
No -
Congregations at these churches were low, and priests organised secret meetings and services
Sparked MAJOR confrontation with the Catholic Church - Vatican refused to accept these churches due to the repression and lies the communists were spreading
Why did communism not like Islam?
Represented a RIVAL belief system to communism.
Communist leaders resented the Mullahs (leaders with great regional authority).
It was a barrier for the imposition of communism.
=> predominantly XingJiang Muslims targeted
1949 XingJiang Reunification campaign on Islam
- mosque schools closed and replaced by government schools teaching Marxism
- land taken from the mosques and redistributed
- resisters were imprisoned in the laogai
Migration of Han Chinese into XingJiang
Encouraged by PLA building roads to speed up this ethnic dilution of Muslim communities.
Other efforts to eradicate Islam
- mosques turned into barracks and stables in the cultural revolution
- religious teachers tortured and given horrific jobs
But Muslims fought back and forced the government to be more respectful to Islam
