Who Is Catholicism In China And The Underground Church?

Instability between religious groups was also a common issue and yet another effect of the spread of Buddhism in China, and led to the consistent repression or defense of one’s religion (Doc’s 2, 3). Though Buddhism left a large effect and influence on multiple characteristics of society, it’s most noticeable in social and political classes

China is a very influential world power and has been for many years. The Classical and Post-Classical years in China were a time of achievement and advancement, especially in the religious movement. Post-Classical and Classical China were very important historical periods, and their religions, and the effect of them on the world around them highlighted that importance.

China has been the home to various religions. At different times different dynasties endorsed certain religions while repressing others. While Buddhism flourished during the Sui and Tang dynasty, it faced opposition from the government during the Song dynasty. Confucianism lost government endorsement during the Sui and Tang but gained momentum during the Song as Neo-Confucianism. Yuan dynasty promoted Islam and Tibet Buddhism but ignored Confucianism. Different rulers sponsored and protected different religions but Confucianism and some form of Buddhism have always been alive in Chinese society from 600 to 1450.

The main Chinese religions have many key features. The main religions include shamanism/ancestor reverence, Confucianism, Daoism, Mahayana Buddhism, and idol worship. These 5 religions share some features in common. For example, Chinese popular religion focuses on the human being’s pursuit of health, wealth, and happiness in their lives (quote the textbook). Chinese popular religions want the human to be doing well and succeeding in their day-to-day activities of their lives. Another key component of the main Chinese religions is respecting one’s elders. The religions teach the importance of obeying the commands of the elders and honoring the family name. The Chinese allow place a strong emphasis on the temple. The temple is a place where the people could communicate, understand, and learn about their gods (quote the textbook). The next subsections will be describing the key religious practices of each of the 5 Chinese religions.

A Man named Hong Xiuquan who failed to pass the imperial exam to join the Qing government's civil service, experienced visions relating to Jesus, while he was suffering from an illness. Hong Xiuquan created his own version of Christianity, and gained a mass amount of followers; “In January 1851 Hong and the rebels declared the creation of their own state, Taiping Tianguo (Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace), in the Guiping district of Guangxi” (Gale). The Taiping Tianguo was under the rule of Hong Xiuquan as he crowned himself king. In 1853 the Taiping Rebellion took over Nanjing and settled there, however the inability to reach Hong Xiuquan’s utopia in Nanjing caused him to lose focus and enjoy the pleasures of his palace instead of gaining more followers. Without Hong Xiuquan leading, the Taiping rebellion came to their end in the hands of Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guofan. In 1988, when the Boxer Rebellion was spread throughout china, foreigners and Chinese Christians were harassed because the Boxers desired to get rid of the nation of foreign influence. The rebellion itself brought a lot of hate upon Christianity specifically towards Chinese Christians. The Boxers were very extreme and their works ranged “From burning the homes and harassing the businesses of foreigners, they soon turned to massacring Chinese Christians and Christian missionaries” “In and around the capital of Peking (present-day Beijing), the Boxers killed Christian missionaries and destroyed churches and railroads, which were largely owned by foreign entities” (Gale). Once again, when Sun Yat-sen established the republic of china, he brought many foreign ideas into china, one being “the once unthinkable — that a Chinese leader would be a Christian — became a reality” (Christians in China). and that definitely helped the Chinese become more open-minded towards Christianity in China. “In 1949, Chinese

- The government only tolerates religious organizations that are willing to accept strict regulations. They have to be free of foreign influence and they must accept government censorship of religious writings and guidance in the selections of clergy, and limit religious activities and

A system in place for this long isn't t running unless people are following. China it is similar to religion in my eyes. I believe that is how most citizens in China view their world. When you read the Bible you begin to start with the ten commandments, a set of guidelines that we as Christians supposed to follow in order to one accend to heaven . Though no one has experience heaven with proof we still live our lives in hopes of one day obtaining that goal. We rarely question whether or not the Bibles teaching or infact factual or fiction. Our mothers and their mothers mothers have taught us that this is the way of life and most don't question it. Similar to China, we have a system in place , it works for us so we don't change it. Or the contrary there are thousands of denominations of the Christian faith. When people begin to interpret the Bible in their own way they branch off and create what they feel is a better representation of the faith. That is in a sense exactly what China does. There was set in place an idea and belief system. I hear in the news a lot that people try and give China ways to become more like western countries when in fact their way of living may be fine for

China has one of the most of the richest culture in philosophy and the arts.

There are multiple reasons why and how Buddhism spread in China. I feel that factors like, religion, politics, and social, played a major part in spreading Buddhism throughout China. The factors mentioned are usually a contributor in global changes and has definitely played its part in China’s adapting a new belief. Of course there were other reasons, like economic, that caused the people of China to gravitate to the Buddhist ways. People reconsidering their faith, due to many of life downfalls or the weight of participants in something that’s new, gained recognition and spread due to popular demand. During the political chaos from 221 to 589 that came with the collapse of the Han Dynasty, Buddhism started to become a strong existence in

Chinese state and that was the major sticking point for the religion in China. For

The freedom of religion is also violated. This is evident when China prohibits all religious activities outside establishments registered; only four religions which are Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and Islum, are permitted for people to practise and contents are monitored and sometimes modified. The government has endeavoured to eliminate many types of new religious group, including Falun Gong. Falun gong has been banned since 1999; security forces kidnap and arrest thousands of Falun Gong leaders, approximately 3000 practitioners were tortured to death and 6000 was sent to prison(Human rights watch, 2002), because it had been the most serious threat to the government since the 1989 Tiananmen student uprising. The governments do not approve of religious performance, so people would not share ideas that are not beneficial to obedience under a communist regime.

At the core of any nation’s culture are its religious beliefs. In China there are the “Three Jewels” Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, as described in Lopez (1996). There are small numbers of people practicing other religions such as Christianity and Islam, but these are the three dominant beliefs of the region. While they are separate in content, they have coexisted for several thousand years. Lopez (1996) goes on to say, “Historical precedent and popular parlance attest to the importance of this threefold division for understanding Chinese culture…Buddhism is the sun, Daoism the moon, and Confucianism the five planets…suggesting that although they remain separate, they also coexist as equally indispensable phenomena of the natural world.” Each belief system stands alone, and at the same time needs the other(s).

China has been a communist country since the communist revolution took place in 1949, since then China has been ruled by the dictator Mao Tse-Tung. However the Chinese dictator died in September 1976, he was hailed abroad as one of the worlds’ great leaders. Certainly one of the more impressive aspects of the Chinese communist government, has been the willingness of the people to protest against it (3, pg. 4).

Throughout the dynasties in China and Japan, religion, economy and politics have been affected by each other in various ways. In the book “Religion and Making of Modern East Asia”, Thomas Dubois brings to light the impact religion made on both politics and economy in China and Japan throughout the historical period up till date. In his words, he describes “religion as an extremely political force” (Dubois, 2011, pp. 7-16). As various religions were introduced, it shaped the politics of leaders as most of them saw it as an avenue to impose their religion on the citizens. In all, religion invented political and economic stabilities and instabilities in various dynasties throughout Japan and China

China defaces churches to destroy the physical manifestation of Christianity and undermine Christian faith; however, destruction during the Cultural Revolution was purely in the name of persecution, whereas today it is justified by a legal pretense in order to evade foreign criticism. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao wanted to eradicate religion and the government seized churches to repurpose them as secular buildings. In Beijing, the North Church was turned into a middle school, the South Church became a processing factory, and the West Church was converted into a warehouse for medicinal herbs. By 1967, no churches in China were being used for Christian services. Mao had hoped to discourage Christians from continuing their faith by eliminating their traditional place of worship, but this tactic proved unsuccessful as communities moved underground and Christians continued to worship in secret. Although Mao was unsuccessful in stamping out the Christian faith, he effectively annihilated churches and any physical objects associated with Christianity. Mao’s merciless Red Guards traveled around China destroying crosses and sacred religious objects as well as burning down churches. This destruction was meant to emphasize Mao’s power over China and sometimes banners saying “Long Live Chairman Mao!” were hung over the ruins. The modern Chinese government has continued