Event Type: Branch

Takes Place: 26th November 2024

Time: 7 p.m.

Venue: Theatre 2, Roland Levinsky Building, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA

Description: China was an overwhelmingly religious society at the time the Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949. The talk looks less at the institutionalized religions that the CCP notionally recognized – Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, Protestantism and Catholicism – and focuses on the religion of the vast majority of the population, which the regime dismissed as ‘feudal superstition’, i.e. not a proper religion at all. Mao Zedong’s vision of Communism put much greater stress than the Soviet model on transforming the heart/minds of the masses, and a key dimension of this transformation entailed eradicating popular conceptions of the world as governed by supernatural entities and cosmic forces. The talk dissects the elements that went into this policy of eradication, including mass propaganda, education, science, the utilization of folk culture, informal networks and, increasingly, coercion. It also looks at popular resistance to the regime through the lens of folk religion. By looking at the Maoist party-state from the unusual angle of folk religion, it seeks to illuminate its workings and effectiveness.

How to book: The easiest approach is to book tickets online: plymouth.ac.uk/arts-institute Otherwise phone the Arts Institute Plymouth University T: 01752 585050 Or email - theartsinstitute@plymouth.ac.uk

Price: Free for members & students, Visitor tickets: £6.00, concessions £4.00

Tel: 01503230106

Email: a.cousins345@btinternet.com

Website: www.ha-plymouth.org.uk

Organiser: Alan H. Cousins

Lecturer: Professor Stephen Smith, All Souls College Oxford

Region: South-West England

Branch: Plymouth