Religion and Institutional Transformation in 20th Century China

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel Proposal Application

Abstract

The twentieth century brought both challenges and opportunities to the practice of religion in China. Missionary religions adapted to suit Chinese realities, while Chinese religions transformed internally as they absorbed global ideas and discourses. The transformation of religion is unmistakable in the realm of ideas, both theological and social. But it was equally profound in the realm of institutions, which this panel defines as the practices, standards and organizations that shape and govern religious life, and the place of religion in society. Institutions constitute the written or unwritten rules that came to define the religious sphere: the new ways that religious groups organized themselves, and the social and political conventions that divided the religious from the secular. This panel focuses on the transformation both of individual religious groups, and of the religious sphere as a whole. It crosses the "mission boundary" by presenting this transformation as a single process that involved both Christian and non-Christian religion, as well as the development of new religions and hybrid institutions. The four papers will present different facets of this larger transformation: focusing in turn on how religious groups faced challenges in new modes of property ownership, diplomatic personality, fundraising and networking, and the notional divides that separated religious from charitable institutions.

Area of Study

• China and Inner Asia

Session Organizer

• Thomas DuBois, Australian National University

Individual Presentations

• The French Catholic Mission’s Property War in South China - Hongyan Xiang, Colorado State University

• Charity and Relief under the Red Swastika: Religion and Social Work in Shandong, 1937-1945 - Jun-hyung Chae, University of Chicago

• "May God Bless Manchukuo:” Manchuria and the Crisis of Vatican Diplomacy - Thomas DuBois, Australian National University