Social and Cultural Changes - Religion

Question 1

Religion in 1949

Answer 1

• Christianity spread across China from western missionaries
• 3 million Catholics and 1 million Protestants in China before 1949
• Islam popular in Xinjiang
• Ceremonies and festivals to honour Confucius

Question 2

Communist attitudes to religion

Answer 2

• CPC denounced religious attitudes as feudal superstitions
• Confucianism associated with old imperial system
• Christianity attacked as derived from ‘western imperialists’
• Islamic mullahs and Buddhist lamas seen as a rival to communist rule

Question 3

Confucianism

Answer 3

• CPC marked Confucian ideas as ‘old culture’
• all public ceremonies honouring him were ended in 1949
• during cultural rev attack on Confucianism became violent
• association with Confucianism was politically dangerous - purging of Liu Shaoqi

Question 4

Ancestor worship

Answer 4

• for Mao represented old fashioned thoughts
• communists condemned traditions like Chinese new year