One of the biggest surprises following the the Reform and Opening era has been a rapid development of religion in China. Yet challenges remain: the cognitive dissonance between atheism and theism, the function of religion in society and politics, and the ambiguity of religious leaders vis-a-vis Beijing.
Religion in China now stands at a critical juncture. Zhuo, an expert on the subject, will offer his observations on these and other recent developments.
A reception will follow the talk.
Speaker:
Zhuo Xinping is the director of the Institute of World Religions at the Chinese Academy of Social Science and a member of the Standing Committee of China’s National People's Congress. He holds a Ph.D. from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and his main research interests include Christian theology, Western philosophy and comparative studies of Western and Chinese cultures.
Moderator:
Richard Madsen is the director of the Fudan-UC Center on Contemporary China and distinguished professor of sociology at UC San Diego. He has been called “one of the modern-day founders of the study of Chinese religion” by noted journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winner Ian Johnson, and is currently working on a book about happiness in China, which he describes as an exploration on searching for a good life in China in an age of anxiety, tapping into people’s sense of meaning.