Religious Policies in the PRC: A Sociopolitical History

UC Berkeley presents a talk by Fenggang Yang on the historical and political backgrounds of the religious policies of the Chinese Communist Party since 1949.

Fenggang Yang, Associate Professor of Sociology, Purdue University

In this lecture, Professor Fenggang Yang of Purdue University will provide the historical and political backgrounds of the religious policies of the Chinese Communist Party and state since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. There are three distinct periods: from 1949 to 1966, the Party-state first targeted religious supply by suppressing various religions, co-opting the five major religions through establishing the “patriotic associations,” and reducing the number of religious venues; from 1966 to 1979, all religious venues were closed down, eradication measures targeted religious demand through atheist propaganda and imprisonment of staunch believers; from 1979 to the present, limited tolerance of certain religious groups is governed by increasingly strict regulations. Whereas in the material economy the PRC has undergone dramatic reforms toward a market economy, the religious policy and regulations have remained ideology-based and have had little change from the pre-reform era. In fact, the overall policy is not substantially different from that of the 1950s. However, the restrictive regulations are rendered ineffective by the economic and sociopolitical changes in the larger society, including the open-door policy that integrates China into the globalizing world. All kinds of religions have revived in the reform era.