ABSTRACT

In the post-Mao decades China has experienced widespread revival of religious faith and practice. According to official reports, followers of the five religions, namely, Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism, totaled 136 million in 1999. Taking the post-totalitarianism framework as a point of departure this chapter argues that in China, the state acts as a calculating monopolist, distinguishing religions on the basis of their ideological assertiveness and organizational independence. The chapter seeks to develop a pragmatic authoritarian explanation accounting for the interaction between the communist state and the reviving society. It proposes pragmatic authoritarianism in explaining the Chinese state's management of religious groups and activities. The chapter presents an image of the state as a discreet and exclusive owner of the instruments of political control, namely, organization and ideology. It explains the intriguing and uneasy co-existence of a reviving and expanding societal sphere and a predominant state.