A Protestant Church in Communist China

by John Craig William Keating

2012 · Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Freedom of religious belief is guaranteed under the constitution of the People’s Republic of China, but the degree to which this freedom is able to be exercised remains a highly controversial issue. Much scholarly attention has been given to persecuted underground groups such as Falun, but one area that remains largely unexplored is the relationship between officially registered churches and the communist government. This study investigates the history of one such official church, Moore Memorial Church in Shanghai. This church was founded by American Methodist missionaries. By the time of the 1949 revolution, it was the largest Protestant church in East Asia, running seven day a week programs. As a case study of one individual church, operating from an historical (rather than theological) perspective, this study examines the experience of people at this church against the backdrop of the turbulent politics of the Mao and Deng eras. It asks and seeks to answer questions such as: were the people at the church pleased to see the foreign missionaries leave? Were people forced to sign the so-called “Christian manifesto”? Once the church doors were closed in 1966, did worshipers go underground? Why was this particular church especially chosen to be the first re-opened in Shanghai in 1979? What explanations are there for its phenomenal growth since then? A considerable proportion of the data for this study is drawn from Chinese language sources, including interviews, personal correspondence, statistics, internal church documents and archives, many of which have never previously been published or accessed by foreign researchers. The main focus of this study is on the period from 1949 to 1989, a period in which the church experienced many ups and downs, restrictions and limitations. The Mao era, in particular, remains one of the least understood and seldom written about periods in the history of Christianity in China. This study therefore makes a significant contribution to our evolving understanding of the delicate balancing act between compromise, co-operation and compliance that categorizes church-state relations in modern China.

The Politics Of East Asia

by John E. Endicott, William R. Heaton

2019 · Routledge

This is the first undergraduate text on the politics of East Asia to be published since 1970. Looking at both domestic and international politics, the authors discuss the political systems of China, Japan, and Korea within the context of environmental factors, culture, society, the economy, geography, language, historical and political traditions, etc. The People’s Republic of China is presented as a country with strong traditions, committed to rapid development under frequently changing ideological auspices. Its two governmental apparatuses—the party and the bureaucracy—sometimes act in unison, sometimes are locked in fierce struggles, and often are motivated by differing ideologies and administrative dynamics. Japan is seen as a mature society and a developed economy with functioning democratic institutions and a strong party system, but, like the PRC, subject to powerful traditions and influenced by radical ideologies. Both North and South Korea are discussed, with a comparison and contrast of the authoritarian-democratic system in the South, where a basically democratic parliament finds itself in conflict with a quasi-dictatorial regime and an all-powerful president. The book is completely up to date. The section on China takes into account the major developments of the post-Mao period, including the accession of Hua Kuo-feng and the struggle against the Shanghai faction. The discussion of Japanese politics covers the 1976 elections, and the creation of the Shin Jiyu club in the developing thrust away from factional politics to an issue-oriented electorate.