Zhuo Xinping
The 2002 Surjit Singh Lecture in Comparative Religious Thought and Culture

Director of the Institute of World Religions and the Center for the Study of Christianity at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, Dr. Zhuo also serves as dean of the department of religious studies at the graduate school of the academy. A noted scholar and author, Dr. Zhuo has played a pioneering role in opening up the study of religion in post-Cultural Revolution China.

Dr. Zhou received his M.A. in religious studies from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a Ph.D. in theology and sinology from Munich University in Germany. He has authored 14 books and over 70 articles in German, Chinese, and English, and has delivered numerous papers and keynote speeches at scholarly conferences and symposia around the world.

His 2002 Surjit Singh lecture at the GTU, delivered on November 6, discusses how religion in China is being transformed as China opens to the outside world, and in the context of globalization in the fields of economics, law, politics and culture.

I feel greatly honored to be here to deliver this year’s Singh Lecture in comparative religious thought and culture. I am also very glad to meet so many old and new friends in Berkeley, especially just shortly after the successful international conference on “Faithful/Fateful Encounters: Religion and Cultural Exchanges between Asia and the West” from October 21 to 25 this year in Beijing, which was jointly sponsored by us, the Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Graduate Theological Union. So I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to you—in particular Professor Surjit Singh, Professor Philip Wickeri, Interim Dean Eldon Ernst, Dean Arthur Holder, and President James Donahue—for your kindness and trust in inviting me for this lecture and giving me this opportunity to promote our academic co-operation and deepen our friendship.

After China’s opening up to the outside world, the mutual understanding between the Chinese and American people has been improved rapidly. The American people have special interest and concern in the religious situation and religious development of the contemporary Chinese. In America and China, I have discussed this topic with many people from American religious circles, also including some religious leaders in Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism, the Bahai faith and so on.

Actually, a great change has taken place in religious understanding and religious activities in China today. This change is closely connected with China’s opening and also the reality of globalization in world development. In my discussion, dialogue or even debate with some people in the West, dealing with religious freedom and human rights in China, I had an impression that some of them didn’t understand recent developments in China and didn’t know the reality of religious existence of the Chinese today. In fact, we can observe the revival of religious life in contemporary China and also discover the awakening of religiosity or religious consciousness by many Chinese. For a better understanding and mutual dialogue, it might be necessary and useful to have a description and analysis of the tendency of this development.

The Meaning of Globalization for the Chinese
Globalization is an inexorable trend in world development today. China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) is also the symbol of its willingness to participate in international society and specifically in the process of globalization. Here China is facing a real living transformation from a closed society to an open society, from a planned economic system to a market-oriented economic system. Of course, some Chinese reformers in politics and economics wanted at the very beginning only economic globalization. But in this process itself many Chinese realized that “globalization” is not merely an economic phenomenon, but has more profound and lasting significance in the social and cultural development of the Chinese. In its modern implication “globalization” has close connections with social, political and humanistic considerations.

Economic globalization is only the surface layer of the complex of globalization, which can be directly and immediately perceived through the senses in human daily life. It means the periphery of ripples urged forward by its core of a certain concept in culture and value. In concrete analysis man finds that globalization as a cultural phenomenon includes different layers: Globalization in the fields of economics, science and technology is its material layer, namely the surface layer, which could be accepted and operated most easily. Now we are facing it directly. Globalization in the fields of politics, law and legislation is its institutional layer, which is in the middle of this complex and has its authority in determining the characteristics of such a development. This tendency of globalization is partly recognized in China, but some Chinese would like to evade this crucial question for the moment. Globalization in the fields of thought, mentality and faith is its spiritual layer, which is the deepest part of this development, and also most difficult to realize. But we can perceive or discern its attempt and effort already by its very beginning. In general, for the realization of globalization it is easy to reach a consensus in its material aspect, crucial though controversial in its institutional aspect, and most difficult in its spiritual aspect. The “clash of civilizations” is namely a resistance against this globalization, and happens exactly in its spiritual confrontation.

China’s entry into the WTO is an effort to keep China’s “door” open to the outside world, and to let the Chinese economy feel the pulse or rhythm of the world economy. Nevertheless, this economic entry means also another “two” entries, the “entry of government” and the “entry of law”. On the one hand, economic globalization demands that the Chinese government re-consider and re-arrange its function in economic management and its style of action. The traditional “authority”, “power” and even “sovereignty” of the government are decreasing, which means that economic globalization has gone beyond the sphere of “economics”. On the other hand, economic globalization also asks China to “change” or “reform” its laws and regulations concerned, so as to conform to the requirements and regulations of the WTO. The transparency of the Chinese laws and their unity with international laws raise the question of “globalization of laws” seriously for China. Following these two steps we come to the sensitive issue of “political globalization”. Especially after “September 11”, the consensus and co-operation in the international campaign against terrorism should be the evidence of this new tendency of political globalization. The emphasis of political functions by the United Nations and the active participation of China in the United Nations prevent China already from avoiding this political globalization. Finally, with the development of economic, legal and political globalization, people begin to talk about the possibility and reality of a “cultural globalization”. Of course, it is the most difficult process and will face the tenacious resistance in the forms of “cultural diversities”, “cultural differences” and “cultural pluralism”. So, it’s still too early to talk about a “cultural globalization” or a “spiritual globalization”. But in the process of cultural encounter, dialogue, confrontation or conflict, we can still find a common interest in a “universal culture”. “Globalism” or “globalization” as a cultural concept is spreading far and wide. This global consciousness appears not only in the practical realm of politics, environment and ecology, and energy and resources, but also in the theoretical fields such as the pursuit for “global ethics”, the attempt to establish a “global sociology” or “global philosophy”, and the propaganda for a concept of “global value” etc. The Chinese translation of the book “Global Transformations: Politics, Economics & Culture” by D. Held and others (1999) and its subsequent series are read and discussed seriously by the contemporary Chinese.

In this context of globalization, religion has also a strong influence on the Chinese. China and its religions can’t exist any more in a “vacuum” separated from the outside world. With the “desalination” of the consciousness of “national boundaries” and the “weakening” of the authority of “state sovereignty” brought by the tendency of globalization, the missionary activities of various religions might be much easier and more effective worldwide. Although without an allowance for foreign mission, there is a “renaissance” of religion in China, more and more Chinese would be influenced and attracted by religions at home and abroad. Actually, among the five religions recognized officially in China, four religions (namely Buddhism, Islam, Protestantism and Catholicism) have international connections in their tradition. Even the indigenous Taoism now has worldwide influence and significance as well. Surely, the “global consciousness” of these Chinese religions will be strengthened within this new context, and more international exchanges and co-operations will be inevitable for them. Globalization has brought a feeling of “identity” or “confluence” to the Chinese religions in their relationship with other outside religions. As a result of this affinity and self-identity, the Chinese religions have entered into a multiple development. Facing the challenge of globalization and secularization, they have a more active attitude toward their dialogue with the main stream of ideology in China and in regard to their accommodation to the contemporary society. For our understanding of religious existence and its characteristics in this new situation, a corresponding new estimation should be made.

The Consciousness of Religion by the Chinese
Between 1949 and 1977 China was blocked from the outside world for political reasons, and existed as a closed society for almost 30 years. With the opening of China and its reform in economy and politics, China tries to keep pace with international development and hopes for a peaceful co-existence with other nations and cultures. In this period the Chinese are also astonished to realize the backwardness and poverty of their own country. The existential problem with the moral depravity and social corruption amidst China’s contemporary transformation, and also new troubles of social injustice and unfairness, have made many Chinese feel the crisis of value orientation and cultural understanding. The old world of mind is already broken, but the new one is yet to build up. With an atmosphere of “survival in globalization” and “liberation of thought and spirit” shortly after China’s opening to the outside world, many Chinese made a comparison between their backward reality with few religious activities or almost no such activities at all and the highly developed countries in the West with active religious, especially Christian, development. As a consequence, some Chinese turn naturally to religion and still many also have great interests and new considerations in the problems of faith and religion. In comparison with the past, the Chinese understanding of religion today is more pluralistic, more objective and active. Obviously this consciousness of religion is growing and spreading among the Chinese. Many people understand religion now from its role in the development of human civilization, from its function in the contemporary society, from its important participation in and contribution to human culture, and also from its ideal orientation for human nature.
In its long tradition, China is rich in religious resources. There were many religious activities and praxis in the ancient time. According to Robert Redfield, China had already a “great tradition” and a “little tradition” in its religious culture. (Redfield: pp.67-104) The “great tradition” was represented by Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, while the “little tradition” was represented by the Chinese folk religions which included a nearly infinite religious variety in the spiritual life of the Chinese. In addition, I should add a third one. Namely, in the religious development of the Chinese there was also a so-called “alien tradition” represented typically by Islam and Christianity, which stand still in an “unfinished encounter” with the Chinese culture. This alien tradition persists in keeping its self-identity and its community commitment in the Chinese context. In comparison with it, many Chinese in their “great tradition” didn’t emphasize or even care for the forms of the social organization of their religions. They wanted to embrace all of them and to reach a confluence from them. They were quite flexible in their religious commitment and could change easily from one religion to another. So, their consciousness of an institutional identity for a certain religion was ambiguous. This is often the reason for the debate: there would be no religion at all among the Chinese, according to the sociological understanding of religion by some scholars.

Dealing with religious existence and its significance in China, there are already three upsurges for the discussion and dialogue between Christianity and the Chinese intellectuals. The first upsurge was in the Late Ming and Early Qing periods. This was precisely the encounter between the Jesuit missionaries and the Chinese literati. In order to avoid the conflict between the two religions at that time, namely Christianity and Confucianism, Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) and other Jesuits tried to convince the European Catholic church that Confucianism was not a religion, but only a cultural tradition and that there should be no real religion at all in China. In this way, they wanted to tolerate the practice of worshiping Heaven and ancestor by the Chinese Catholics. But still they were accused for this tolerance of idolatry and superstition by other missionaries. So, the conflict happened in the form of the “Chinese Rites Controversy”. By this theoretical and spiritual encounter and dialogue, the thesis that China has no religion and Confucianism is not a religion was for the first time raised by the Western scholars, namely by the learned Jesuit missionaries in China. On the one hand, Ricci and his missionary colleagues thought that Confucianism and other religious practice in China were lower than a religion according to the standard of Christianity as a religion. On the other hand, they had respect and sympathy for the Chinese religions, especially for Confucianism. Ricci and his companions had the Buddhist costume and used also the title of the “Western monks” (Siseng) to identify themselves in the early period of their China mission. Only after they had a deeper understanding of the Chinese culture and realized the importance of Confucianism in it did they change their Buddhist costume into the Confucian costume and call themselves the “Western Confucians” or “Western Literati”(Xiru). They studied the Chinese classics seriously and made many friends among the Chinese intellectuals. It was just this attitude of studying and respecting the Chinese culture and religion by Jesuits that made a deep and good impression on some famous Chinese scholars. The Jesuit method of accommodation and inculturation of Christianity in China was quite successful. It enabled these Chinese intellectuals such as Xu Guangqi (1562-1633), Li Zhizao (1569-1630) and Yang Tingyun (1557-1627) to reach a consensus between Confucianism and Christianity and to accept the Christian faith without giving up their Confucian tradition. So these “three pillars of the early Catholic church” in China would be the “Confucian Christians” or “Christian Confucians” in their real identity. Together with the Jesuit missionaries, they succeeded in a kind of combination or confluence between Christianity and Confucianism, and promoted the Christian faith and the Western knowledge in China at that time, but also at a price of critique and resistance from Buddhism because of the Jesuit attitude of complementing Confucianism and replacing Buddhism.

The second upsurge was during or directly after the “New Culture Movement” at the beginning of the 20th century. In the atmosphere of the “anti-religions” or “anti-Christianity” movement, some representatives of the new intellectuals and reformers in this movement put again the thesis that China has no religion and Confucianism is not a religion, to the public. It is quite interesting that in this time the thesis was raised by the Chinese scholars themselves for denying religious existence in China and religious identity of Confucianism. For example, many famous scholars, such as Liang Qichao (1873-1923), Cai Yuanpei (1868-1940) and Liang Shuming (1893-1988), emphasized that China should be an “a-religious country”, and the Chinese nation should be an “a-religious nation” and that Confucianism shouldn’t be a religion. In their evaluation the Chinese culture and its Confucianism had the spirit of philosophy, which should be much higher than religion in the mental development. So, religion should be only the primordial period of development of human culture and would disappear gradually in the process of history according to their understanding. By comparing religion and philosophy, they believed that the Chinese culture should be already a mature culture and stand far above the level of religion in the development of human knowledge and national culture. Because of being immersed in this intoxication of philosophical superiority of Chinese culture, many Chinese scholars got shocked when they heard the critique from some Western philosophers that China had no serious or real philosophy at all, owing to its lack of a metaphysical tradition.

In the period of the “New Culture Movement”, the Chinese term “Zongjiao” was used to express “religion” through the application and introduction by Japanese. But this understanding of religion through the Chinese word “Zongjiao” was closely connected with the sociological interpretation of religion, focused on its structured organization. In the dialogue between Christianity and the Chinese culture, many Chinese Christian scholars were not satisfied with the translation of “religion” through the Chinese term “Zongjiao”. Wang Zhixin (1881-1968), a Chinese philosopher of religion, also a Christian scholar, once remarked: “When Zongjiao (religion) comes to our mind, we recall all those high rising temples and majestic churches and also those well structured and organized material aspects associated with this concept. It is hard to believe that this material form and expression of religion takes its origin totally from an intangible spirit. Originally, the word ‘religion’ does not designate merely a system, but gives resonance to human feelings of veneration and devotion. Our translation ‘zongjiao’ narrows down this original connotation of the word. Upon hearing the word ‘zongjiao’, we tend to imagine a structured organization which a given part of mankind identifies with.”(Wang Zhixin: p.1) The Western concept of “religion” covers originally both a wider extension and a deeper content of meaning. Its primary connotation refers to “knowledge” and “behavior” on the basis of faith. But the sociological definition of religion in the understanding of Chinese term “Zongjiao” aims primarily at the social group phenomenon, which narrows the actual meaning of religion. In comparison, another well-known Chinese philosopher of religion and again a Christian scholar, Xie Fuya (1892-1991) has said: “There are indeed to be noted major differences between our present employment of the Western concept of religion and our own ‘zongjiao’. When looking for synonyms of religion in Chinese dictionaries, we may chance to come on ‘dao’. ‘Dao’ (Tao) connotes at the same time two aspects: substance and function; religion seems to elicit connotations of method and objectives. ‘Dao’ succeeds well in portraying harmony between the individual and the cosmos, without neglecting aspects both of activity and accommodation of the individual with society.” (Xie Fuya: p.250) With these analyses and comments, the Chinese Christian scholars responded actively to the thesis of the representatives of the “New Culture Movement” and pointed out that the Chinese shouldn’t have a narrow understanding of religion. It was not enough to explain religion only from its structured organization or its traditional function. In fact China should be also a nation rich in religious heritage and still active in religious life. For them, it would be possible and necessary to combine Christianity with the Chinese culture, which could be surely meaningful and fruitful for the development of both.

The third upsurge is since China’s opening to the outside world and still in full swing. It is a complete re-consideration and re-evaluation of the relationship between religion and the Chinese culture, between religious existence and the Chinese identity, and also between religious consciousness and Chinese mentality. The Chinese intellectuals recognize the positive function and the far-reaching significance of religion to the Chinese society and culture for the first time so thoroughly and seriously. People talk about the function of religion in interpretation and practice. The former means the function of cognition and evaluation through religious ideology, world-outlook, symbol and metaphor, such as its psychic regulation, collective condense and behaviors’ standard. The latter means the function for coordination of social relations, for consensus and agreement, for social control and co-existence, for organization of masses, and for cultural orientation and spiritual cultivation. So, people acknowledge openly the social function of religion in China today, especially emphasizing its positive functions such as psychic accommodation, social unification, socialization of individuals, cognition of similarity or identity in culture and custom. People point out the moral value of religion in contemporary China. After the disillusion from “collective morality’ in the Chinese political practice in the past, and especially with the emphasis of so-called “individual emancipation”, there is another extreme for unduly protruding the importance or even the unique of “individual morality” based on personal feeling and contingency in daily life. The morality based on so-called a personal feeling is now accepted by many young people in China. The slogan “Follow the feeling” becomes a fad. There is a well-known saying in a pop song: “Follow the feeling, and let it catch me!” Everything should be controlled by such kind of feeling. We can find such expressions as “economy of feeling”, “art of feeling”, “politics of feeling” and “morality of feeling”. But the question is: on the floating, melting ice of an “individual morality” combined with an “individual feeling”, can the modern people really settle down and have a safe life? Facing with individualism and egocentrism, religious morality encourages people to “return to tradition”. This choice is considered seriously by many Chinese as the way back in their moral attitude in contemporary society. Through its transcendent dimension and ultimate concern, religious morality can give certain spiritual guidance and values of faith to the moral practice or to its social application in the process of Chinese social and cultural transformation. It should be an effort to combine ideally “particularity” with “universality” and “individuality” with “collectivity”. In the contemporary dialogue, the cultural value and significance of religion for the Chinese are also discussed and stressed. The acceptance of “religion as culture” in China has marked a decisive progress in its assessment of religion and also enabled China to return to the general and also basic consensus on the cultural understanding of religion in evaluating human existence. The thesis that China should be an “a-religious country” or an “a-religious nation” can no longer find any resonance for acceptance in contemporary China.

In this third upsurge the dialogue with Christianity is also fruitful. In the middle of the 1990’s, I mentioned five aspects of Christian significance for the modernization of Chinese society as a kind of summary to the spiritual encounter between Christianity and China in the new, namely contemporary context:

1. The significance of introspection in the Christian concept of original sin for the self-understanding of the modern Chinese: In the face of today’s social corruption and ugliness, many Chinese have come to realize the deep insight in the Christian traditional concept of original sin, which should be a timely warning against human greed, arrogance and prejudice.
   
2. The significance of value-creation in the Christian concept of salvation for social transformation in contemporary China: Many Chinese hope to use this concept in an effort to overcome such problems as excessive consumerism, egocentrism and a selfish lack of empathy for others, and to establish some real and lasting value through great social and ideological changes, and in this way to make up for the weakness in the Chinese tradition.
   
3. The significance of Christian concept of transcendence for inspiration in the reform of Chinese society today: Many Chinese believe that our reform today needs transcendent criteria to guide and evaluate its orientation and practice, and to preserve China from a utilitarianism that brings about only shortsighted development and confusion.
   
4. The significance of the Christian concept of ultimacy for historical reflection on Chinese modernization: This concept can remind the Chinese to be aware of the problems, contradictions, conflicts and alienation brought about by the process of modernization, and not to be intoxicated with their achievements in modernization.
   
5. The significance of the Christian concept of ecumenism for China’s cultural reconstruction: With the “global awareness” in a “global village” China is no more a “Central Kingdom”(Zhongguo). Only when China’s social culture becomes congruent with the rest of the world can it effectively show its unique character and contribution. In its present development China should have “global perspective” and “global responsibility”(CRUX,pp.31-39).

With this openness and frankness, China has entered the best time in its modern history for its tolerance and acceptance of religion, especially for its dialogue with and ready embrace of Christianity since the “Chinese Rites Controversy”. So, I feel confident that this third upsurge of dialogue will continue and achieve more fruitful results than ever before in our history.

The Variety of Religious Life in China Today
In the context of globalization there is a pluralistic tendency in the consciousness of religion by the Chinese. As a consequence, we can also find a multiple development of religious existence in China today. In my analysis, the variety of religious life of the contemporary Chinese reflects itself in the following two aspects and three orientations:

The first aspect is the development of the “institutional” religions. We know that there are five officially recognized “institutional” or “systematic” religions in China now, namely Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism and Catholicism. It is clear that there is a “renaissance” or revival for all these five institutional religions after the “Cultural Revolution”. But it is not simply a return to or a restoration of the past tradition. We can discern various orientations in their development, which the tradition couldn’t include completely.

1. The first orientation is the continuation of an active political participation and co-operation of religion in the society. This development is still the main stream, or at least superficially so. China keeps the form of the “patriotic” committees or the like for these five institutional religions. They have the function of organizing their believers nationwide and play the role of liaison between government and religious believers in China. In doing so, they show obviously their political consciousness and keep the mutual support between them and the government. Strictly speaking, the Chinese religions are not completely separated from politics, they were not also in the past history. So, these five institutional religions are the symbols of religious representatives in China’s social and political life.

Nevertheless, there is to an extent some potential crisis in their unity and identity, because there are now different developments and demands for self-identities within these five religions through their domestic or international connections. It is now a serious challenge whether such religions can really continue to “represent” all their denominations or sects, or how they can avoid the tension between their unity and plurality.

2. The second orientation is grassroots development and local multiplicity with certain conservative elements in doctrine and practice. Though still in the form or framework of the five institutional religions, these religious organizations have much closer connections with local social structure and represent a new, spontaneous formation of the fabric of society on the grassroots level. This development has typically the combination with the folk-beliefs and local customs, but it represents in fact the majority of religious believers in China, its characteristic reflects their demands, responses to the modern development and the connected problems.
   
3. The third orientation is the emphasis of religiosity itself by some members of these five institutional religions. They have special concern for the cultural interests and the spiritual quality of their religions. They don’t go against the existing politics in society or in their religions, and they have no interests for a special co-operation with certain politics as well. Mainly they care for their religious life and spiritual cultivation, and believe in an indirect improvement of society through the personal cultivation and sublimation under the influence of religion. So, they are active in non-political social activities and non-governmental organization (NGO) activities. Religion is for them an ideal intermediate institution in a civil society. Their attitude represents the third orientation or the middle way, and signifies a potential and important development of religion in the future of China.

Besides these five officially recognized institutional religions in contemporary China, there exist in fact also other institutional religions, domestic or foreign. On the one hand, the domestic tradition continues in two ways: the one is the restoration of worship and rituals for respecting China’s cultural ancestors such as Huang Di (Emperor Huang or Yellow Emperor) and Yan Di (Emperor Yan ), and of course Confucius, supported by the state, which is a direct continuation of the official worship of Heaven and ancestor by the sovereigns in the past, symbolizing the “great tradition” in China. The other is the revival of Chinese folk-religions or folk-beliefs almost everywhere. These kinds of religions or beliefs have a long historical tradition and also a broad basis among the masses. They have their organizations or institutions. Recognized or not, they are tolerated or allowed to exist by local governments, and accepted by the local people, such as Sanyi Religion (Sanyijiao) and Mazu Worship in Fujian province and so on. This is the reality of the vivid “little tradition” in China. On the other hand, with the opening to the outside world and after the return of Hong Kong and Macao to China, there is indeed a complicated existence of other foreign religions among the contemporary Chinese through the influence of scientific or economic co-operations, trade and commercial exchanges, overseas studies, immigration or marriage, such as Orthodox Christianity, Judaism, Mormonism, Bahai faith, Hinduism and even some new religions. So, the existence of religions exceeding the framework of five recognized institutional religions is already a matter of fact.

The second aspect is the development of “personal” religion or religious mentality for many Chinese. A new phenomenon of religious life in China is the religious confession or manifestation by many individuals, especially among the Chinese intellectuals. Maybe they are Christians, Buddhists, Taoists or Bahais, but don’t have any strict institutional or denominational identity. For this reason they are free from any institutional responsibility or commitment, nevertheless, they are really very religious and pious. This is a kind of anonymous or universal confession and conversion, and as a consequence out of the perspective of traditional sociological understanding of religion in China. This new development symbolizes a unique combination of a kind of “individual religion” with “civil religion” in the formation of a civil society in China. Although they don’t have traditional institutional connections, they keep in touch freely with friends, colleagues, classmates or even families and form also a kind of community life. That means they have their own special “holy union”. In this way, their religious activities have the characteristics of cultural or academic activities, and have more freedom and less limitation even than so-called “family church” or “house church” in Christianity. With their religious ideal or demand, these people are very active in social action and service, such as cultural and art activities, education, environmental protection and participation in NGO activities.

In connection with this “personal” religion or religiosity, I’d like also to point out the intellectual interests in academic studies of religion in China today. The majority of these scholars are not in any religious circle. But they play the pioneer role in a systematic research on religion. The depth and broadness of their research are sometimes even greater than the studies from religious circles in China. And this kind of research has an overwhelming influence on the secular society of China. These scholars have good exchanges and co-operation with religious scholars and theologians at home and abroad. There is also no fundamental difference between their study and the studies by religious scholars or theologians. The result of this research is the positive and strong influence on Chinese society for its correct understanding, sympathetic tolerance, embrace and acceptance of religion. This phenomenon is unique in the study of religion worldwide. Maybe we can discover the new meaning in the understanding of religion and enrich our knowledge in human religiosity or spirituality from it.

In conclusion, globalization stimulates the interests and self-consciousness of religion for many Chinese. In this context there is obviously a revival or normalization of religious life in China. China is no longer isolated from the world community, which gives us the possibility and opportunity for the mutual exchange and dialogue dealing with the religious and spiritual life. The progress of religious understanding and the improvement of religious life in China should be recognized and encouraged. Our conformity and consensus of opinions on this level will surely benefit each other and promote our friendship.

References
D. Held, A.McGrew, D.Goldblatt, J.Perraton :
Global Transformations: Politics, Economics & Culture
Polity Press Limited, 1999

Robert Redfield:
Peasant Society and Culture: An Anthropological Approach to Civilization
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956

Wang Zhixin:
Zhongguo Zongjiao Sixiangshi Dagang (Abstract of the History of Religious Ideas in China)
Shanghai, Sanlian, 1988

Xie Fuya:
Zongjiao Zhexue (Philosophy of Religion)
Qingnian Xiehui Shuju, 1950

Zhuo Xinping:
"The Significance of Christianity for the Modernization of Chinese Society"
CRUX A Quarterly Journal of Christian Thought and Opinion published by Regent College, March 1997 Vol. XXXIII, No. 1