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Chinese salvationist religions orChinese folk religious sects are aChinese religious tradition characterised by a concern forsalvation (moral fulfillment) of the person and the society.[1] They are distinguished byegalitarianism, a founding charismatic person often informed by adivine revelation, a specifictheology written inholy texts, amillenarianeschatology and a voluntary path of salvation, an embodied experience of thenuminous through healing and self-cultivation, and an expansive orientation throughevangelism andphilanthropy.[2]
Some scholars consider these religions a single phenomenon, and others consider them the fourth great Chinese religious category alongside the well-establishedConfucianism,Buddhism andTaoism.[3] Generally these religions focus on the worship of theuniversalGod (Shangdi) and regard their holy patriarchs as embodiments of God.
"Chinese salvationist religions" (救度宗教;jiùdù zōngjiào) is a contemporary neologism coined as asociological category[5] and gives prominence to folk religious sects' central pursuit that is thesalvation of the individual and the society, in other words the moral fulfillment of individuals in reconstructed communities of sense.[1] Chinese scholars traditionally describe them as "folk religious sects" (民间宗教;mínjiān zōngjiào,民间教门;mínjiān jiàomén or民间教派;mínjiān jiàopài) or "folk beliefs" (民间信仰;mínjiān xìnyǎng).[6][7]
They are distinct from theChinese folk religion consisting in the worship of gods and ancestors,[8] although in English language there is a terminological confusion between the two. The 20th-century expression for these salvationist religious movements has been "redemptive societies" (救世团体;jiùshì tuántǐ), coined by scholarPrasenjit Duara.[9]
A collective name that has been in use possibly since the latter part of the Qing dynasty ishuìdàomén (会道门; "churches, ways and gates"), as their names interchangeably use the termshuì (会; "church, society, association, congregation") when referring to their corporate form,dào (道; "way") ormén (门; "gate[way], door").
Their congregations and points of worship are usually calledtáng (堂; "church, hall") ortán (坛; "altar"). Western scholars often treat them as a "Protestant" stream in Chinese religion.[10]
TheVietnamese religions ofMinh Đạo andCaodaism emerged from the same tradition of Chinese folk religious movements.[11]
A category overlapping with that of the salvationist movements is that of the "secret societies" (秘密社会;mìmì shèhuì, or秘密结社;mìmì jiéshè),[12] religious communities ofinitiatory and secretive character, including rural militias and fraternal organisations which became very popular in the early republican period, and often labeled as "heretical doctrines" (宗教异端;zōngjiào yìduān).[13]
Recent scholarship has begun to use the label "secret sects" (秘密教门;mìmì jiàomén) to distinguish the peasant "secret societies" with a positive dimension of the Yuan, Ming and Qing periods, from the negatively viewed "secret societies" of the early republic that became instruments of anti-revolutionary forces (theGuomindang orJapan).[13]
Conceptual overlap exists withNew religious movements.[14]: 115–138 New religious movements have teachings and practices distinct from established religions and do not adhere to those religions' established authorities.[14]: 115 In the Chinese context, Falun Gong is a typical example of a new religious movement.[14]: 115
Many of these religions are traced to theWhite Lotus tradition[15] ("Chinese Maternism", as mentioned by Philip Clart[16]) that was already active in theSong dynasty;[17] others claim aTaoist legacy and are based on the recovery of ancient scriptures attributed to importantimmortals such asLü Dongbin andZhang Sanfeng, and have contributed to the popularisation ofneidan;[18] other ones are distinctivelyConfucian and advocate the realisation of a "great commonwealth" (大同;dàtóng) on a world scale, as dreamt of in theBook of Rites.[19] Some scholars even find influences fromManichaeism,Mohism andshamanic traditions.[20][21]
In the 16th to 17th century many folk religious movements were outlawed by the imperial authorities as "evil religions" (邪教;xiéjiào).[22] Small, local new religious movements tended to be tolerated by the state during the Ming and Qing periods, in part because of the state's limited capacity to exercise effective control at the local levels.[14]: 117 Opposition from the state contributed to new religious movements engaging in rebellions (such as the White Lotus and theTaiping Heavenly Kingdom) as did the sects' millenarian beliefs.[14]: 117
With the collapse of the Qing state in 1911 the sects enjoyed an unprecedented period of freedom and thrived, and many of them were officially recognised as religious groups by theearly republican government.[23] In theBeiyang period, political disunity and fragmentation resulted in the decline of old institutions.[14]: 118 New religious movements found opportunities to register with the government as religious, philanthropic, or public interest associations.[14]: 112 During this time, some new religious movements likeTongshanshe became modern organizations with national headquarters, local chapters, and the like.[14]: 118
The Republic of China viewed new religious movements less favorably over time.[14]: 119 After theNorthern Expedition, theNationalist government banned several major new religious movements, deeming them superstitious and as presenting an infiltration risk.[14]: 119 The popularity of new religious movements continued to grow during the Nationalist era despite the state's disfavor.[14]: 119 Sociologist Yanfei Sun attributes the success of new religious movements during this period their effective harnessing ofnationalist sentiment, their ability to take advantage of diverse social networks, and their "eclectic blending of messages from various deep-seated religious traditions [which] resonated with the Chinese people."[14]: 119
The Nationalist government's efforts to constrain new religious movements was also limited in regions governed by local strongmen and in areas that Japanese forces occupied.[14]: 119 Additionally, lobbying efforts on behalf of some new religious movements resulted in them being allowed to exist and develop in the form of charitable organizations.[14]: 119
From 1931 to 1945, Japan encouraged the growth of new religious movements in Manchuria and other occupied areas, believing that this would advance Japanese interests.[14]: 119
During theSecond Sino-Japanese War, both the Nationalists and the Communists sought to mobilize new religious movements to help achieve wartime objectives.[14]: 119 Yiguandao became the largest new religious movement of the era, in part because of its effective use of opportunities during the war.[14]: 119
Thefounding of the People's Republic in 1949 saw increased suppression of new religious movements.[24] The PRC began acampaign to suppress the new religious movements that had developed during the Republic of China era, deeming them reactionary secret societies (fandong huidaomen) that may have been infiltrated by Nationalist elements and which could engage in sabotage.[14]: 38, 120 These efforts eliminated new religious movements from public practice.[14]: 38
In the mid-1990s, the Chinese state began to adopt Westernanti-cult discourse and terminology, influenced by the global media coverage of groups like theBranch Davidians,Aum Shinrikyo, and theOrder of the Solar Temple.[14]: 122 It stopped using the Mao-era term "reactionary secret society" to refer to such groups, and instead began using the term "evil cult" (邪教xiejiao) or "cultic organization".[14]: 122 From 1995 to 1999, theMinistry of State Security, theState Council, and theCPC Central Committee designated 14 new religious movements as evil cults.[14]: 122
Since the 1990s and 2000s the climate was relaxed and some of these sects have received some form of official recognition.[25] InTaiwan all the still existing restrictions were rescinded in the 1980s.
Folk religious movements began to rapidly revive in mainland China in the 1980s, and now if conceptualised as a single group they are said to have the same number of followers of thefive state-sanctioned religions of China taken together.[26] Scholars and government officials have been discussing to systematise and unify this large base of religious organisations; in 2004 theState Administration of Religious Affairs created a department for the management of folk religions.[26] In the late 2015 a step was made at least for those of them with a Confucian identity, with the foundation of theHoly Confucian Church of China which aims to unite in a single body all Confucian religious groups.
Many of the movements of salvation of the 20th and 21st century aspire to become the repository of the entirety of the Chinese tradition in the face of Western modernism and materialism,[27] advocating an "Eastern solution to the problems of the modern world",[28] or even interacting with the modern discourse of anAsian-centered universal civilisation.[28]
The Chinese folk religious movements of salvation are mostly concentrated in northern and northeastern China, although with a significant influence reaching theYangtze River Delta since the 16th century.[29] The northern provinces have been a fertile ground for the movements of salvation for a number of reasons: firstly, popular religious movements were active in the region already in theHan dynasty, and they deeply penetrated local society; secondly, northern provinces are characterised by social mobility around the capital and weak traditional social structure, thus folk religious movements of salvation fulfill the demand of individual searching for new forms of community and social network.[29]
According to the Chinese General Social Survey of 2012, approximately 2.2% of the population of China, which is around 30 million people, claim to be members of folk religious sects.[30] The actual number of followers may be higher, about the same as the number of members of the five state-sanctioned religions of China if counted together.[26] In Taiwan, recognised folk religious movements of salvation gatherapproximately 10% of the population as of the mid-2000s.
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