This teaching was formed on the basis of religions and philosophies of several ancient Chinese philosophical doctrines. The teaching of the world makes the basis of modern Taoism in China. As of today, the country features 1, Taoist temples and monasteries with 25, monks and nuns living there. Besides, this religion is practiced by the inhabitants of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and some regions of Gansu and Qinghai provinces. Currently, China has over 17, Muslims and 26, mosques.
China was well known for its rites and etiquettes, and most religions in China stressed ethical cultivation. Traditional Chinese religions at the threshold of the 20th century had a patriarchal-feudal character. In feudal China, patriarchal-feudalism became the dominant ideology and political mainstay. And at the ethical and cultural level, it helped preserve the rites and customs in social relations. John King Fairbank believed that such an institutional and cultural continuity might have generated a powerful inertia that adhered to the established rules.
He saw Chinese religions as basically present-world oriented. It was in such a powerful inertia that the Confucianism-centered Chinese culture emerged, and that Chinese religions -- Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism influencing one another -- all adopted the teachings of honoring the heaven, the ancestor and the country, stressing the preservation of the present world and adapting to it rationally.
The Chinese culture based on patriarchal-feudalism proved capable of assimilating many alien cultures. Religions coming from elsewhere must respect and adapt to such Chinese character before they could gain a foothold in China.
When Buddhism was first introduced into China, it continued to pursue its proud tradition of shunning the rich and powerful. Before long, it found it could not get anywhere if worship of the sovereign and of the ancestors was not practiced. Later, Buddhist followers were encouraged to be loyal to the emperor and practice filial piety.
Christianity had been a long-standing factor in the shaping of Western society and culture, but it had a rough time adjusting in China. Why is it that, being both foreign religions, Christianity could not take root in China but Buddhism could? This is not to suggest that Christianity is in itself a curse. This is merely to say that a seed, a good seed at that, can still bear ominous fruits if it fails to suit the soil it is sown in. Patriarchal-feudalism was culturally significant in that it compelled religions to get involved in the world, stress secular values and practice ethical cultivation.
But it also made religions the guardian of feudalism, and in that sense, it was not all positive. In Tibet, there was for a long time a brutal theocratic system that combined Tibetan Buddhism with a feudal serfdom. China entered the 20th century with a deep sense of national humiliation. In face of unprecedented challenges, all the Chinese wondered where they could find a way to save their country.
At this time of national disaster and intensified clashes between indigenous and Western cultures and as the traditional Chinese religions struggled for survival, Protestantism and Catholicism made large-scale inroads into China. A religion that was supposed to spread the words of the Gospel had become the tool of the aggressors. In the words of Jiang Menglin, Lord Buddha came to China riding on the back of a white elephant whereas Jesus Christ flew in on cannon shells.
In the words of Baud White, all missionaries benefited from the Opium War and the treaties signed by China after its defeat. Indeed, some missionaries went so far as to participate in opium trade, loot land property and perpetrate serious misconduct. Some Chinese converts took advantage of their status to openly prey on the weak and vulnerable. When the injured parties brought the case to the officials, they were told that foreigners were beyond the jurisdiction of the Chinese court according to Gang Hengyi.
As the missionary always protected the believers and the consul always protected the missionary under any circumstances, believers always won and non-believers always lost. There were more than such cases in modern time.
By the s, Chinese resistance to foreign churches, notably among Chinese intellectuals, took on a more organized and more rational approach, in the form of the Non-Christian Movement, the Anti-imperialist Alliance and the movement for the recovery of education right, etc. In old China, religions with the above-mentioned two features were often put to negative use by the ruling classes.
The feudal landlord class, the estate-holding class, the reactionary warlords and bureaucrat-capitalist class controlled the leadership of Buddhism, Taoism and Islam, while forces of foreign colonialism and imperialism controlled the leadership of the Protestant and Catholic churches.
Attempts at Changing the Status quo. Challenges against patriarchal-feudalism came from progressive intellectuals in the wake of the Reform Movement of The political and institutional aspects of the patriarchal-feudalism became the first and foremost target. They realized that to save China from national demise, it was essential to reform; and to remove feudal monarchy, one must first remove feudal religious authority.
Cai Yuanpei, a forerunner of the May 4th Movement, called for replacing autocratic monarchy with humanism and religious authority with science and knowledge. But his zeal went largely ignored. Still, cries for national independence and rejuvenation never died down.
During the May 4th Movement, patriotic clergymen, believers and students of missionary schools in Tianjin, Shanghai and other cities called for changes to the colonial structure of the Chinese Catholic Church. Ma Xiangbo and others proposed that Chinese bishops be allowed to preside over diocese affairs and tendencies to despise Chinese culture in seminary education be rejected.
Later the Vatican was forced to approve some sinicization measures in the Chinese Church. In , Yu Guozhen, a Protestant clergyman in Shanghai, proposed that believers of noble aspirations should seek self-standing, self-support and self-propagation and not subject themselves to the control of foreign churches. He set up an independent Christian Association of China in Response from Protestant believers across the country was enthusiastic.
It would take a stupendous, earth-shaking transformation of the entire society for the Chinese religions to turn over a new leaf. A Rebirth. The long-awaited self-renewal of Chinese religions took place in a changed country and changed society. A study by the Pew Research Center found that The exact data is debatable, and it is difficult to conduct reliable research in China.
But these results suggest that many Chinese participate in various activities that can be labeled religious. They engage with varied beliefs and practices, a pattern of religious piety dating back centuries to ancient imperial China. There are also the popular practices of geomancy or feng shui , an ancient art of harmonizing humans with their surroundings, and divination or fortunetelling.
These rich traditions often have regional variations, such as the veneration of Mazu, a sea goddess , which is especially prevalent in southeast China and Taiwan. Originally a patron goddess of seafarers, Mazu is widely worshiped by people from all walks of life and promoted as an important symbol of local culture. The Communist Party has also stopped criticizing the teachings of Confucius, the famous philosopher and educator of the sixth and fifth centuries B.
For much of the 20th century, Confucian teachings were rejected as discredited relics of an imperial past. But that changed over recent decades, as the party sought to reposition itself as the guardian of Chinese traditions.
This contributed to a significant revival of Confucianism. But the party has also found it useful to harness aspects of Confucianism that resonate with its core interests, such as obedience to authority and respect for the leader.
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