Free Writing Commentary on Falun gong

With the reading you have done last week and the new assignments for the coming week I would like you to attempt to describe your sense of Falun gong. Knowing what you do about the sociology of religion and the dialectical relationship between magic and religion, as well as the interpretation of religion and politics as distinct symbol systems consisting of key words and expected practices, see if you can explain the phenomenon of Falun gong. Its founder Li Hongzhi has steadfastly maintained that Falun gong is NOT a religion (zongjiao) and yet one cannot help but recognize as religious certain aspects of the practice, and the behavior of practitioners. The government, of course, has denounced Falun gong as an "evil cult"(xiejiao), yet it is not entirely clear that the movement is a cult at all. Schechter offers a different take altogether by removing himself from these partisan debates and focusing on the "human rights" dimension of the government's persecution of followers of the movement. Well by now you know enough about cults, religion, government policy on religion, and Falun gong to say something about what it adds up to so far. Just write down what you think and see if you can employ the theory we have learned to explain what Falun gong means to you four weeks into the semester. 

Constitutional Protection of Religion in China

OK everyone, I am back from my trip out of town and have recovered from the Irish misfortune of this afternoon. You are to write this weekend about your observations and comments on Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution. The constitution may be found at:


http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/constitution/constitution.html


I also asked you to have a look at Document 19, that is if you can get a page capture of it from Google Books. A portion of this was published in English in Donal E. MacInnis, Religion in China Today Policy and Practice (Maryknoll: Orbis , 1989) We read a page or two of discussion of this document in Anthony Yu's work on State and Religion in China. You can revisit his commentary and the quotes from it there.


Given the wording of the Constitution's Article 36, why is it that there has been so much difficulty with religion in both theory and practice? How does Document 19 contribute to our understanding of this complex relationship? Another question to consider would emerge from rereading the quotation I sent you last week on the Chinese state as a critical force in traditional religion. Here is the quote again for you to ponder as you reflect on the tension between state and religion:


He goes on to suggest that "belief" in the state was one of the principal forms of traditional Chinese religion, and that this belief entailed adopting its rituals.We may wonder, in this regard, whether anything basic has changed in contemporary China. Certainly, the requirement of belief in the state and participation in its prescribed rituals has not. Indeed, we might say that, insofar as belief in the state and participation in its ritual sis central to the definition of the "modern" state, China is truly, as we saw Faure to suggest, the first nation-state. 


(John Lagerwey, "State and Local Society in Late Imperial China," T'oung Pao 93 (2007): 475.





OK let's see what's on your minds.

Chinese Religions, Cults, the State and Politicization

To this point in the class our reading and discussion has moved across the diverse religious and political geography of contemporary China (Overmyer, Jensen, Blum and Jensen, Yu), the history of the concept of "religion" (Smith) while also opening a window on the longer history of Chinese millenarianism and religious persecution (Chang). With this background I would like to see what you make of the argument advanced Maria Hsia Chang that Falun gong represents a sect that "is apocalyptic and millenarian." Given what you have read about Falun gong so far consider the merit of Chang's claim. Is Falun gong a millenarian movement on par with early religious phenomena like the White Lotus? If so, why? If not, why not? Also, what do you make of her extraordinary claim that the Chinese revolution was a millenarian movement and thus the heightened sensitivity displayed by the Chinese government toward Falun gong is a consequence of the adventist ideology that both movements share. (See page 59)