The world’s eyes will turn to China when it hosts the XXIX
Olympic Games Aug. 8-24 in Beijing. For many, eyes are
already on the ascendant Asian economic powerhouse. Tensions and issues
involving China are making headlines daily. Riots in the Buddhist region of
Tibet, dissenters on trial in China, allegations of terrorism by China’s Muslim
minority, protests and calls for Olympic boycotts – all these stories have
faith dimensions.
As a communist country, China is officially atheist, but
religious practice is permitted by Article 36 of the country’s constitution.
China’s size and history make it a land of diverse religious beliefs and
practice; experts, including those within China, say that religious activity is
increasing. The religious picture in China is particularly complex. In addition
to the usual challenges posed by scope and diversity of practices, religion in
China today has at least two levels: one official, one underground. China
officially acknowledges, and regulates, five major religions: Catholic
Christianity, Protestant Christianity, Taoism, Buddhism and Islam. Its
regulations make it difficult for those outside these sanctioned belief systems
to practice their religion; some within these five groups also experience a
variety of barriers to religious freedom. The Chinese government argues that
its regulations on religious activity promote social stability and discourage
foreign interference in its affairs.
China’s own major religious/spiritual/philosophical
traditions are Taoism and Confucianism; Buddhism, which came to China early in
its development, is widespread. Islam likewise came long ago to China as that religion
rapidly spread eastward in its early development. The growth of Christianity
reflects China’s interaction with the West, and mission work continues there
even as distinctly Chinese Christianity asserts itself. China is a religious
quilt; some patches represent folk or regional religions, others represent such
historic traditions as Judaism or the spread of more contemporary religions,
such as Mormonism. Religious expression also takes the form of new religions
that draw on China’s character and history; the Falun Gong movement is a
high-profile example of a distinctively Chinese blend of mind-body-spirit
practices. The movement was banned in China in 1999 as an “evil cult.”
Freedom of religious expression is part of the larger set of
human rights issues that are a flashpoint in China. Many groups concerned with
the state of human rights and the rule of law monitor religious freedom issues
in China. Still other groups are more narrowly concerned with religious rights
issues, including the ability to proselytize. But some major issues are at once
religious and political. Tibet is a case in point, a perfect storm for China.
Tibet’s spiritual and political head, the Dalai Lama, a Buddhist monk who won
the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, enjoys worldwide popularity, and supporters of
Tibet have built a worldwide network. The issue of Tibet – called Tibet
Autonomous Region by the Chinese, whose army entered the area in 1950 –
reaches deep into the region’s history and involves religious, ethnic,
economic, social and political differences.
Demonstrations aimed at spotlighting human rights issues
dogged the Olympic torch run before the opening of the Games, with Tibet an
especially high-profile cause for demonstrators. The U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom
has called on President Bush to boycott the Games’ opening ceremonies if conditions in Tibet do not improve.
Many organizations supporting independence for Tibet have pushed for dialogue
between the Dalai Lama and China about Tibet’s status.
Support for China’s view that Tibet is an autonomous Chinese
region has been expressed by Chinese people living abroad and, significantly,
Chinese students studying abroad, including in the United States. China’s
youngest citizens have grown up with the view that Tibet is, and historically
has been, a part of China. Some universities have been the site for both
pro-Tibet actions and counterdemonstrations. Chinese students are also using
the Internet to promote this view. Western support for Tibet has in turn prompted some
anti-Western demonstrations within China, since the West’s stance on Tibet
readily stirs Chinese grievances about Western imperialism.
Although less well-known than Tibet, another region in
western China where similar tensions are at work is also making occasional
headlines. Xinjiang in Central Asia is home to a Muslim population of Turkic
descent, the Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gurs). Historically the eastern part of
the region of Turkestan, this area is today called Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous
Region. Chinese authorities have responded to unrest there and have implicated
terrorism as its cause.
Religion in China
OVERVIEW
The government of China recognizes five major religions:
Taoism, Buddhism, Islam, Catholic Christianity and Protestant Christianity.
Religious groups that have clergy and a worship site are required to register
with the government (most do not have English-language Web sites). Some
religious groups have chosen not to register, giving rise to a variety of
alternative forms of religious organizations, clergy and places of worship, particularly
among Christians. Unregistered churches are sometimes called “underground”
churches, even though they may meet in a public place. “House churches” are
embryonic religious groups, often without an ordained leader. Experts also
estimate that hundreds of millions of Chinese engage in spiritual practices
through local temples or altars, worship of ancestors and other practices that
are neither legal nor explicitly banned by the government.
These informal practices may appear cultural or behavioral
rather than religious/spiritual. The ancient Chinese tradition of Confucianism
is a system of values and ethics deeply embedded in culture that influences
institutions and decision-making today, even though it is not an institutional
religion. Popular practices can also walk a fine line between being religious
or having another purpose and meaning. The Falun Gong movement is a case in
point; it is a system of exercises that draws on some traditional ideas and
attitudes about health as well as spiritual elements.
DEMOGRAPHICS
• The Pew Form on Religion & Public Life analyzed several recent
surveys of religious affiliation among Chinese. The report
also looks at characteristics of people who are interested in information about
religion. Contact report author Brian J. Grim,
senior research fellow in religion and world affairs, through Robert Mills,
202-419-4564. • Read “The Red, Black, and Gray Markets of Religion in China,”
a 2006 Sociological Quarterly article by China scholar Fenggang Yang
that provides statistics over time of religious believers in China. The article
also provides a brief history of the changing attitudes of the Chinese
communist government toward religion. • Religious Intelligence,
a London-based news service that tracks developments in worldwide religious
issues, offers ethnic and religious breakdowns of the Chinese population; search the site’s newsroom for stories about China. • Read a Feb. 8, 2007, Washington Post story about a government-sponsored survey in China that found as
many as 300 million religious believers, around three times the official
estimate. Even while this number is higher than government figures, scholars
outside China are skeptical of the survey methodology; they believe the number
of believers is even higher.
BUDDHISM About: Buddhism came to China in the early centuries
of the Common Era and developed some distinctive variations there, Pure Land
and Chan (in Japan, Zen). The Pure Land school emphasizes devotion; Chan
emphasizes meditation. Chinese Buddhism includes a great tradition of
influential teachers. Over millennia, Buddhism has spread through its
adaptability to the countries which it has penetrated. In China, Buddhism has
evolved into coexistence and compatibility with the native traditions of
Confucianism and Taoism.
Government-sanctioned group: Buddhist Association of
China
What’s new: Buddhism is China’s biggest religion,
with more than 13,000 temples, 200,000 monks and nuns and tens of millions of
believers, according to government estimates. Signs of interest in Buddhism can
be found on the streets today in the form of prayer bead bracelets worn by
individuals. The money that can be generated by “temple tourism”
makes it important for political authorities to maintain harmonious enough
relations with the Buddhist community.
CATHOLICISM Government-sanctioned group: Chinese Patriotic
Catholic Association
About: Tension has existed for decades between those
who join the association and those who refuse to accept governmental regulation
of religion and/or understand church authority as vested in the Vatican. These
issues of authority and allegiance have produced an underground as well as
“official” church.
What’s new: In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued a
letter
decrying this division while rejecting government regulation, seen as a step toward
healing a long-standing split and improving relations with the government,
which does not recognize the Vatican. Part of the split manifests itself in
disagreement over who appoints the Chinese Catholic hierarchy, a disagreement
that has led both sides to refuse to recognize some high-ranking clergy. But
the ordination in December 2007 of Bishop Joseph Gan Junqiu had Vatican
approval, a sign of movement in Chinese-Vatican relations.
CONFUCIANISM About: Confucianism is not popularly perceived as a
religion, though scholars may treat it as such. It is an ethic and way of life
that has deeply permeated China’s culture since its beginnings in the 6th
to 5th century BCE with the sage Confucius. At its core is the
Confucian idea of virtue, which found expression in government and other social
institutions as well as in individual character. After vilifying this ancient
tradition during the time of the Cultural Revolution, Chinese officials today
are using to their advantage the Confucian cultural values that promote social
harmony.
What’s new: A Confucian revival is exemplified by
China’s plan for a “Confucius City,” a complex that would not only celebrate Confucius and
other ancients but also Chinese technology from past to present.
Resources:
• Jump to a list of experts below.
• Confucius Institutes are springing up all over the world
to promote the study of Chinese language and culture.
• Read a Chinese appreciation
of the formative influence of Confucius at ChinaTravelGuide.com.
FALUN GONG About: The Falun Gong (also known as Falun
Dafa) movement was banned in China in 1999 as an “evil cult.” Falun Gong is a
mind-body-spirit practice that builds on traditional Chinese thought and
practices. Founder Li Hongzhi began teaching it in 1992. The Chinese government
estimated the number of practitioners at 70 million when it cracked down on the
sect in 1999.
ISLAM Government-sanctioned group: The Islamic Association
of China.
According to Chinese government statistics, China
has more than 20 million Muslims, more than 40,000 Islamic
places of worship and more than 45,000 imams.
About: China’s major ethnic Muslim groups are the Uighurs
(pronounced WEE-gurs) and the Hui. The Hui are related to the ethnic majority
Han Chinese. The Uighurs are a Central Asian Turkic group living in Xinjiang
Uighur Autonomous Region.
What’s new: The area has been the site of recent
disturbances the Chinese have described as “terrorist,” with a harsh response
from authorities.
About: The TSPM is a lay movement; the CCC is the
umbrella group of church leadership. (The term “three-self” refers to
self-support, self-government and self-propagation, principles intended to
emphasize the independence of Chinese Protestants from foreign influence.)
Chinese Protestants are not denominational. These two groups, headquartered in
Shanghai, also have a relationship with the Amity Foundation,
which works with Protestant churches in China.
What’s new: Christianity, China’s second largest
permitted religion, is growing in China in a variety of ways. The Center for
the Study of Global Christianity
at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass., projects that China will have 196 million Christians
and be the world’s third largest Christian nation by 2050. China’s independent
“house church” movement is driving that growth.
Resources
• Jump to a list of experts below.
• Amity News Service
is the source of information about TSPM/CCC activities. Contact (in Hong Kong) amityhk@pacific.net.hk.
• Todd Johnson is director of the
and can talk about trends in the growth of Christianity. Contact 978-468-2750
• Qiu Zhonghui, general secretary of the Amity Foundation, has called for more recognition of Christian charity work. The Christian
foundation, with headquarters in Nanjing, promotes education, social welfare
and development. Read the foundation’s FAQ
about the Protestant church in China. Contact amitynj@amityfoundation.org.cn.
• Read a list of books on Christianity
published in China since 1978.
TAOISM (Daoism) Government-sanctioned group: China Taoist Association
About: Taoism began in China in the third century BCE
and is based on the teachings of Lao Tzu, author of the Tao-Te Ching (also Daodejing; means “Classic of the Way of Power”).
What’s new: The Research Association of Laozi Taoist
Culture was launched in China in March 2008. The group is the first in recent
history dedicated to the study of this traditional Chinese religion. In 2007, China
hosted an international forum on the Tao-Te Ching Taoism’s sacred text. Chinese officials said at the forum that Taoism was an important part of China’s history and a way to
build a harmonious society today.
HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY
• Amnesty International has a campaign
about China in light of the Olympics. Read the section on China
from its Amnesty International Report 2007 or search for current news about
China. Amnesty USA media contact on Asia issues is Sharon Singh, 202-544-0200 ext.
289.
• The Dui Hua Foundation
in San Francisco is a nongovernmental organization working for human rights in China.
John Kamm is director. Contact 415-986-0536.
• Human Rights in China is an international Chinese nongovernmental organization to promote
international human rights and advance the institutional protection of these
rights in China. HRIC’s Olympics Campaign Web site can be found at Incorporating Responsibility 2008.
Executive director of the group is Sharon Hom. Contact in New York, 212-239-4495, hrichina@hrichina.org.
• The New York-based international
group Human RightsWatch
developed the campaign Beijing 2008: China’s
Olympian Human Rights Challenges. Executive director Kenneth Roth wrote a letter April 9, 2008, to heads of state
urging them to press China on Tibetan issues, imprisonment of dissenters and
the Sudan-Darfur connection. Press contact for the group’s China campaign is Minky
Worden, 212-216-1832, hrwpress@hrw.org.
TIBET ADVOCACY
• The International Campaign for Tibet
has offices in four countries, including the U.S. It has organized the Race for
Tibet campaign to put pressure on China to talk with the Dalai Lama about Tibet. John
Ackerly is president. Ben Carrdus is press contact in the campaign’s Washington
office, 202-580-6760, benc@ictibet.org.
• Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy is a nongovernmental
human rights organization based in Dharamsala, India, home of the Tibetan
government in exile. Read its 2007 annual report
on human rights in Tibet. Contact office@tchrd.org.
• Tibet House
in New York supports all aspects of Tibetan culture and was founded at the
request of the Dalai Lama. Contact executive director Ganden Thurman about
China-Tibet issues, 212-807-0563.
• The Tibet Fund
is the humanitarian relief organization supporting the Tibetan exile community.
It works with the Central Tibetan Administration
of the Tibetan government in exile. Contact in New York, 212-213-5011.
• Students for a Free Tibet
is an international network of campus and community groups in more than 35
countries. Chapters in the U.S. are organized into regions. Read the group’s international blog.
Lhadon Tethong is executive director; view her blog Beijing Wide Open, about China
and the Olympics. Contact the New York-based group, 212-358-0071.
• The International Tibet Support Network
in London has developed a number of Olympics-related strategies,
including Team Tibet,
to spotlight Tibetan issues. The network includes a number of U.S. regional
members.
The contact for Team Tibet is Freya Putt, 202-758-3277, freya@tibetnetwork.org.
• Read an April 17, 2008, New York Times story about a Chinese freshman at Duke University caught between pro-Tibet
demonstrators and Chinese counterdemonstrators.
EDUCATIONAL
/ CULTURAL
• Asia Society is a
global organization promoting education about Asian countries and relations
between Asia and the United States. Journalist-author Orville Schell is director of the group’s Center for U.S.-China Relations.
Contact Schell in New York, 212-327-9264, orvilles@asiasoc.org.
• China
Institute
promotes the study of Chinese culture. Sara Judge McCalpin is president of the
New York-based organization. Contact 212-744-8181, info@chinainstitute.org.
Government sources
Chinese government
• The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States of America is in Washington,
D.C. Contact its press office, 202-328-2580. China also maintains five
consular districts in the U.S., with offices
in San Francisco, Houston, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
• The government of the People’s Republic of China has an
English-language Web site.
• The State Administration for Religious Affairs
deals with religion in China; Ye Xiaowen
is director-general.
MEDIA
• The authorized Internet portal for China is the China
Internet Information Center in Beijing, offering news and information. Check the “culture” category
for religion and other cultural news.
• Xinhua
is the government-authorized news agency in China.
Tibet
• The Dalai Lama’s Web site includes news
of his activities. He lives in exile in Dharamsala, India. Contact ohhdl@dalailama.com.
• The Office of Tibet in New York
is the official agency of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile in
the Americas. Tashi Wangdi is the official representative of the Dalai Lama.
Contact 212-213-5010.
• The Web site of the administration of the Tibetan government in exile, based in Dharamsala, India,
includes helpful background
as well as news.
U.S. Government
• The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (established by the
International Religious Freedom Act of 1998) monitors freedom of religion and
conscience and reports annually to Congress. The 2008 annual report, released May 2, says that China continues “systematic and egregious” violations
of religious freedom, even as religious communities and freedom of expression
within sanctioned groups grow. On Feb. 28, 2008, the commission called
on President Bush to raise issues of religious freedom when he visits for the
Olympics. Michael Cromartie is commission chair; contact through communications
director Judith Ingram, 202-523-3240 ext. 127. • The U.S. State Department’s 2007 International Religious
Freedom Report on China notes that China’s respect for religious freedom “remains poor;” the report
includes religious demographics and a section on Tibet. The secretary of state
has designated China as a “country of special concern” because of consistent violations of religious freedoms. Contact the
department’s press relations office, 202-647-2492.
• Read/view an April 23, 2008, statement
about Tibet and the Olympics by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte,
appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sub-Committee on Asian
and Pacific Affairs.
• The Congressional-Executive Commission on China reports
annually to Congress and to the president on the development of human rights
and the rule of law in China. Douglas Grob is staff director. Contact 202-226-3777, douglas.grob@mail.house.gov. It tracks and analyzes
developments in religious expression. The commission held hearings
Feb. 27, 2008, on the impact of the Olympics on human rights in China. Read the section on religious
freedom in China in its 2007 annual report
(see Page 90).
• The CECC keeps up with news
about China, and its Web site is a good place to check for current
developments; the links at its Virtual Academy
are comprehensive.
• David Aikman
is the author of Jesus in Beijing:How Christianity Is Transforming
China and Changing the Global Balance of Power. The 23-year veteran of Time
magazine and former foreign correspondent has expertise in Asia and religious
freedom issues and has given testimony to Congress. Contact david@davidaikman.com.
• Edward
Irons is a consultant and director of
the Hong Kong Institute for Culture, Commerce and Religion.
He has written about Falun Gong and is the author of the
Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Contact him through the institute, hkiccr@netvigator.com.
• Yunfeng Lu is a sociologist of religion at Peking
University in Beijing.
He is the author of The Transformation of Yiguan Dao in Taiwan: Adapting to
a Changing Religious Economy. He wrote a section on religion in modern China
in the Encyclopedia of the World and Its Peoples and has written about Falun
Gong and Yiguan Dao. His articles have appeared in Journal for the
Scientific Study of Religion. Contact him, ssyflu@yahoo.com.cn.
• Jonathan Y. Tan teaches Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Islam and world religions at Xavier
University in Cincinnati. His extensive publications list includes articles for
the New Catholic Encyclopedia on China’s historical religions. Contact
513-745-3794.
• Philip L. Wickeri
is Flora Lamson Hewlett Professor of Evangelism and Mission at San Francisco
Theological Seminary. He worked for more than 20 years in Asia and now visits
China and other Asian countries several times a year for teaching and research.
Contact 415-451-2820, pwickeri@sfts.edu.
• Robert P. Weller
is professor and chair of anthropology at Boston University. He has written extensively
on Chinese religion and society and is expert on the popular/folk religions of
China. Contact 617-353-6714, rpweller@bu.edu.
• Fenggang Yang
is an associate professor of sociology at Purdue University specializing in the
sociology of religion. He is also director of the Center on Religion and Chinese
Society.
He has published extensively on immigrant religion and religious change in
China. His books include (as co-editor) Asian American Religions: The Making
and Remaking of Borders and Boundaries. Contact 765-494-2641, fyang@purdue.edu.
Buddhism
• See TIBET for experts in Tibetan Buddhism.
• Wei Dedong
is a religion sociologist and an associate professor of religious studies at Renmin
University of China.
He is a visiting scholar until mid-May 2008 at the Baylor Institute for Studies
of Religion
and a specialist in Buddhism. Contact 254-710-1846, dedongwei@hotmail.com.
• Andy Ferguson is the author of Zen’s Chinese Heritage:
The Masters and Their Teachings. He is also general manager of South
Mountain China Tours
in San Francisco. Contact 800-952-1967.
• Alison Denton Jones
is a doctoral candidate in sociology at Harvard University. She is in China
researching urban Buddhism. Contact adjones@wjh.harvard.edu.
• Chun-fang Yu
is Sheng Yen Professor in Chinese Buddhist Studies at Columbia University in
New York. She specializes in Chinese Buddhism and Chinese religions. Contact
212-851-4147, cy2126@columbia.edu.
Christianity
CATHOLIC
• Named after the late Cardinal Ignatius Kung, who had been
imprisoned in China, the Cardinal Kung Foundation in Stamford, Conn., works on raising awareness of the persecution of Catholics
in China and supports the underground Catholic Church in China. The foundation
urged the Olympic International Committee to cancel the 2008 Games because of
China’s violations of human rights. Contact foundation president Joseph Kung,
203-329-9712, jmkung@aol.com.
• The U.S. Catholic China Bureau,
based at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., promotes relationships
and understanding between Catholics in China and America. The bureau works with
a cross-section of Catholic groups, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops. The Rev.
Michel Marcil is executive director. Contact 973-763-1131.
• Richard Madsen is professor and chair of the sociology department at the University of California,
San Diego, and is known for his expertise on China’s Catholics. He has
written several books on Chinese culture, including one on China’s Catholics.
Contact 858-534-2779, rmadsen@ucsd.edu.
PROTESTANT
• China Aid Association is a Christian group in Midland, Texas, that monitors religious persecution in
China. It focuses on Protestant “house churches”; read its 2007 report
on house churches in China. Founder and president Xiqiu (Bob) Fu has testified
before U.S. and international bodies on religious persecution; he is studying
for his doctorate at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Contact
432-689-6985.
• Church in China
is a Web ministry that promotes Christianity in China and tracks news about the
church there. Executive director is the Rev. Anthony G. Bollback, author of two
historical novels about China and a retired missionary to China who lives in Kissimmee,
Fla. Contact AGBollback@cfl.rr.com.
• The international ministry Open Doors supports
persecuted Christians worldwide; its U.S. office is in Santa Ana, Calif. China
is No. 10 on its watch list. Read a Feb. 26 news release on China and the Olympics. Open Doors USA president is Carl Moeller. Contact
him through Jerry Dykstra, media relations director for the group, in Grand
Rapids, Mich., 616-915-4117, jerryd@odusa.org.
• Mark L. Bailey
is a professor of Bible exposition at Dallas Theological Seminary and seminary
president. In fall 2007, the seminary began offering online courses in Chinese
for students in China and elsewhere. Read a Nov. 25, 2007, Dallas Morning News story
about the program. Contact through the communications office, 214-874-4410.
• Daniel H. Bays
is a professor of history and Asian studies at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.
He has published on Protestant Christianity in China and teaches courses on
modern China. Contact 616-526-6992, dbays@calvin.edu.
• May M.C. Cheng wrote “House Church Movements and Religious
Freedom in China.”
She is a fellow at the Centre of Asian Studies at the University of Hong Kong.
Contact maycheng@hkuspace.hku.hk.
• Zhao Qizheng and Luis Palau
wrote the 2008 book A Friendly Dialogue Between an Atheist and a Christian.
Zhao is vice chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese
People’s Political Consultative Conference and former Minister of Information. Palau
conducts evangelizing events worldwide. Contact through their publisher, Zondervan,
in Grand Rapids, Mich., 616-698-3246, or contact Palau at his Portland,
Ore.,-based ministry through media director Craig Chastain, 503-614-1554.
• He Qi is a Christian visual artist who has exhibited worldwide. He was formerly a
professor at the Nanjing Union Theological Seminary. Read an April 2008 Christianity
Today story
about the artist, who is based in St. Paul, Minn. Contact 123@heqigallery.com.
• Carsten Vala wrote his dissertation on Chinese Protestants
and their relationship to the Chinese state. He will receive his doctorate in
political science from the University of California, Berkeley, and teach at
Loyola College in Baltimore in fall 2008. Contact Carsten_v@yahoo.com.
PENTECOSTAL
• Cecil M. Robeck Jr. is professor of church history and ecumenics and director of the David J. DuPlessis
Center for Christian Spirituality at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena,
Calif. He is an expert on global Pentecostalism and can comment on the spread
of Pentecostal faiths in China. Contact 626-584-5250, cmrobeck@fuller.edu.
Confucianism
• Joseph Adler
teaches East Asian religions at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. His specialty
is neo-Confucian religious thought. He is the author of Chinese Religious
Traditions. Contact 740-427-5290, adlerj@kenyon.edu.
• Roger T. Ames is a philosophy professor at the University
of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu. An expert on Confucianism, he is teaching at
Chinese University in Hong Kong in spring 2008 and will teach at Peking
University in fall 2008. Contact rtames@hawaii.edu.
• John H. Berthrong
is associate professor of comparative theology and associate dean for academic
and administrative affairs at Boston University School of Theology. He is an
expert in Confucianism and East Asian theology. Contact 617-353-3050, jhb@bu.edu.
• Ann-ping Chin is a senior lecturer in the history department of Yale University. She is the
author of The Authentic Confucius: A Life of Thought and Politics.
Contact 203-432-1394, annping.chin@yale.edu.
• Tu Weiming
is Harvard-Yenching Professor of Chinese History and Philosophy and of
Confucian Studies and, until July 1, 2008, also director of the Harvard-Yenching
Institute.
Contact at the institute, 617-495-3369, wtu@fas.harvard.edu.
• Thomas Wilson
is professor of East Asian history at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. He has
written widely on Confucianism and is co-writing a cultural history of
Confucius. Contact 315-859-4404, twilson@hamilton.edu.
Falun Gong
• Craig A. Burgdoff is the
author of “How Falun Gong Practice Undermines Li Hongzhi’s Totalistic Rhetoric”
in the April 2003 edition of Nova Religio. He is an associate professor
of religion at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. Contact 614-236-6454, cburgdof@capital.edu.
• Gareth
Fisher has written about Falun Gong. He is researching the revival of lay
Buddhism in China under globalization and is a visiting lecturer in sociology
and anthropology at the University of Richmond in Virginia. Contact
804-289-8074, gfisher@richmond.edu.
• Scott Lowe
is professor and chair of philosophy and religious studies at University of
Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He has written about Falun Gong and new religious
movements. Contact 715-836-2993, lowed@uwec.edu.
• David Ownby
is a history professor at the University of Montreal and author of the 2008
book Falun Gong and the Future of China. He testified in 2005 about Falun Gong and other “unofficial” religions in China before the U.S. Congressional Executive Commission on China. Contact
514-489-7421, david.ownby@umontreal.ca.
• James T. Richardson
is a professor of sociology and judicial studies at the University of Nevada, Reno,
and director of the Grant Sawyer Center for Justice Studies. One of his
specialties is new religious movements and the law; he has written about the Falun
Gong movement and Chinese law. Contact 775-784-6270, jtr@unr.edu.
Islam
• David G. Atwill is assistant professor of Chinese history and religion at Pennsylvania State
University. He teaches a course called Islam’s Orient: Islam, Nationalism and
Ethnic Violence in China and is studying Tibetan Muslims. Contact 814-863-7840, dgatwill@psu.edu.
• Dru C. Gladney
is president of the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College and professor of anthropology at the college in Claremont, Calif.
He has conducted research in China and has written extensively about China’s
Muslim minority. Contact 909-607-8035, dru@pomona.edu.
• Jonathan N. Lipman
is a history professor at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. He has
taught and written widely about Muslims in China and is the author of Familiar
Strangers: A History of Muslims in Northwest China. Contact 413-538-2368, jlipman@mtholyoke.edu.
• The Uyghur Human Rights Project
monitors the status of the Uighurs, a Central Asian people who are Turkic and
historically Muslim. China calls their homeland the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous
Region (XUAR for short); the area is commonly known as East Turkestan. The
project is concerned about religious persecution.
It is run by the Uyghur American Association in
Washington, D.C. Association president Rebiya Kadeer wrote “Not the Torch of
Liberty,”
about China and the Olympic torch, in the April 1, 2008, Washington Post.
Contact 202-349-1496.
• Islam in China
is a blog begun in 2007 by a Sinophile Muslim blogger using the name Wang Daiyu,
a 17th-century Chinese Muslim scholar and astronomer. Contact wangdaiyu@gmail.com.
Taoism
• The Daoist Foundation in
Olympia, Wash., is dedicated to preserving and transmitting traditional Daoism
(Taoism). Contact co-directors Louis Komjathy or Kate Townsend, info@daoistfoundation.org.
• Fabrizio Pregadio is acting associate professor of
religious studies at Stanford University and an expert on Taoism.
Contact 650-723-3322, pregadio@stanford.edu.
• Kenneth Dean
is a professor and holds the Lee Chair of Chinese Cultural Studies at McGill
University in Montreal. He specializes in Taoism and Chinese popular religion.
Contact 514-398-5882, Kenneth.dean@mcgill.ca.
• Philip Clart
is associate professor of East Asian religions at the University of Missouri in
Columbia. He translated and annotated The Story of Han Xiangzi: The Alchemical
Adventures of a Daoist Immortal, a 17th-century
Chinese novel. Contact 573-882-8830, clartp@missouri.edu.
Tibet/Tibetan Buddhism
• See also TIBET ADVOCACY under ORGANIZATIONS.
• The spread of Tibetan Buddhism in the West has brought
many Tibetan Buddhist teachers to monasteries and centers in the U.S. The World
Buddhist Directory
at Buddha.net
lists 121 U.S. centers in the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism, the tradition that is practiced in
Tibet.
• Journalist Mayank Chhaya
wrote the authorized biography Dalai Lama: Man, Monk, Mystic. He is an
expert on Indo-Asian affairs. Contact him through the book’s publicist at
Doubleday in New York, 212-782-9000,
• Jeffrey Hopkins
has translated for the Dalai Lama, taught a generation of American Buddhist
scholars at the University of Virginia and written extensively about Tibetan
Buddhism. He is professor emeritus of Tibetan Buddhist studies at the
University of Virginia. Contact him through his publisher, Snow Lion in New
York, 607-254-6088.
• Author Pico Iyer has observed the Dalai Lama for more than
three decades. His 2008 book The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth
Dalai Lama realistically assesses the Dalai Lama’s accomplishments. Contact
Iyer, who is often quoted on the subject of globalism, through his publicist
Sheila O’Shea at Alfred A. Knopf in New York, 212-572-2152.
• E. Gene Smith studied Tibetan Buddhism in India and Nepal.
He was field director of the Library of Congress Field Office in India and
wrote Among Tibetan Texts: History and Literature of the Himalayan Plateau.
He is on the board of directors of the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York. Contact him through Wisdom
Publications, his publisher in the Boston area, 617-776-7416.
• Elliot Sperling
is a Tibetan specialist at Indiana University. Indiana University’s Inner Asian
and Uralic National Resource Center has a number of resources
on Tibet. Contact him, 812-855-2233, sperlin@indiana.edu.
• Robert A.F. Thurman
is president of Tibet House
in New York, which supports Tibetan culture and was founded at the request of
the Dalai Lama, whom he has known for more than 40 years. A former Tibetan
Buddhist monk, Thurman has written extensively on Tibetan Buddhism and is the Jey
Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the department of
religion at Columbia University. His 2008 book, Why The Dalai Lama Matters:
His Act of Truth as the Solution for China, Tibet and the World, elaborates
on an idea
to give Tibet sovereignty while remaining a part of China. Contact him at Tibet
House, 212-807-0563.
• Deer Park Buddhist Center and Monastery
in Oregon, Wis., preserves Tibetan Buddhist teachings and culture. The Dalai
Lama visited there in 2007. Contact the center, 608-835-5572.
• The Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center in Bloomington, Ind., includes the Kumbum Chamtse Ling Monastery, named after an important monastery in Tibet. The Dalai Lama visited the center
in October 2007. The center was founded in 1979 by the Dalai Lama’s brother Thubten
Norbu. Contact the center, 812-331-0014; press contact is Lisa Morrison,
812-361-8023.
• Tibetan Studies WWW Virtual Library
is a comprehensive guide to Tibetan studies on the Web.
• The China Tibetology Research Center is
the Chinese national center of research into Tibetan culture. Contact in
Beijing, kyb@tibetology.ac.cn.
• Read an April 17, 2008, Xinhua story on Tibetan Buddhism, which the Chinese call “Lamaism,” that illustrates how
Chinese understand Tibetan religion and culture.
Human rights
• See also HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY under ORGANIZATIONS.
• Ming Wan
is a professor of government and politics and director of the Global Affairs
Program at George Mason University. He is the author of Human Rights in
Chinese Foreign Relations: Defining & Defending National Interests.
Contact 703-993-2955, mwan@gmu.edu.
• Stephen Angle
is associate professor of philosophy at Wesleyan University in Middletown,
Conn. He is the author of Human Rights and Chinese Thought: A Cross-Cultural
Inquiry and maintains an extensive Web page
on human rights in China. He was co-editor and co-translator of The Chinese
Human Rights Reader: Documents and Commentary, 1900-2000. Contact
860-685-3654, sangle@wesleyan.edu.
• William P. Alford is Henry L. Stimson Professor of Law,
vice dean for the graduate program and international legal studies, and director
of East Asian legal studies at
Harvard Law School. He is an expert
on China, Chinese law and human rights in East Asia. Contact 617-495-4693, alford@law.harvard.edu. His assistant
is Emma Johnson, johnson@law.harvard.edu.
• Andrew J. Nathan
is Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science at Columbia University. His
areas of expertise include Chinese politics and human rights. Contact 212-854-6909,
ajn1@columbia.edu (email preferred).
• Orville Schell
is director of the Center for
U.S.-China Relations of the Asia Society
in New York and emeritus professor and
dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California,
Berkeley. His 14 books include nine about China, among them Virtual
Tibet: Searching for Shangri-La From the Himalayas to Hollywood. Contact
212-327-9264, orvilles@asiasoc.org.
• China e-Lobby
and membersof China Freedom Blog Alliance are among those in the blogosphere following the
campaign to pressure China.
• Susan Brownell
is author of Beijing’s Games: What the Olympics Mean to China (2008).
She is a Fulbright research scholar in Beijing for 2007-08 and a member of the
International Olympic Committee's Selection Committee. She blogs at the China
Beat.
She is also anthropology department chair at the University of Missouri - St.
Louis. Read a April 15, 2008, Wall Street Journal profile
of her. Contact 314-516-6451, sbrownell@umsl.edu.
• Victor Cha holds the D. S. Song-Korea Foundation Chair in Asian Studies in the Department
of Government and the Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown
University in Washington, D.C. He is writing a book on sports diplomacy and the
Olympics in Asia. He recently worked as a director for Asian Affairs at the National Security
Council.. Contact 202-687-2978, chav@georgetown.edu.
• Helen Jefferson Lenskyj is professor in the Department of
Sociology and Equity Studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in
Toronto and author of Inside the Olympic Industry: Power, Politics, and
Activism. Contact 416-923-6641 ext. 2326, hlenskyj@oise.utoronto.ca.
• Monroe Price
is co-editor of Owning the Olympics: Narratives of the New China (2008),
director of the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg
School, University of Pennsylvania, and law professor at Cardozo School of Law
in New York. See a list
of contributors to the book and their chapters. Contact 215-898-7041, price@asc.upenn.edu.
• David Wallechinsky is an Olympic historian who is vice
president of the International Society of Olympic Historians.
He is author of The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 and Tyrants:
The World's 20 Worst Living Dictators. Contact through Aurum Press, publicity@aurumpress.co.uk.
• The Library of Congress posts a
list of books
on the history of politics in the Olympics.
Policy Chinese politics, history, economics, law
• Warren I. Cohen is Distinguished University Professor
of History at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He is on the board of scholars of the U.S.-China
Institute
at the University of Southern California. Among his
18 books is America’s Response to China: A History of Sino-American
Relations. Contact 301-299-5266, wcohen@umbc.edu.
• June Teufel Dreyer
is a political science professor at
the University
of Miami.
Her research interests include ethnic minorities in China. She was a member of
the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission established by Congress.
Contact 305-284-2403, jdreyer@miami.edu.
• Merle Goldman
is professor emerita of history at Boston University and research associate of the John K. Fairbank Center for East Asian
Research
at Harvard University. Her most
recent book is From Comrade to Citizen: The Struggle for Political
Rights in China. Contact 617-495-4570, mgoldman@fas.harvard.edu.
• Harry Harding
is University Professor of International Affairs at George Washington
University. He chairs the China Task Force of the Eurasia Group, a New
York-based consulting firm. His areas of expertise include Chinese domestic
politics and U.S.-China relations. Contact 202-994-1715, hharding@gwu.edu.
• David
M. Lampton
is George and Sadie Hyman Professor of China Studies and director of the
China Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University. His newest book is The Three Faces of Chinese
Power: Might, Money and Minds. Contact 202-663-7739, dmlampton@jhu.edu.
• Justin Yifu Lin is founder and
director of the China Center for Economic Research at Peking University. In
February 2008 he was named chief economist
of the World Bank.
He is frequently quoted. Contact jlin@pku.edu.cn.
• Susan Shirk holds the Ho Miu Lam Endowed Chair in China
and Pacific Relations at the University of California, San Diego, and is director of the Institute on Global Conflict and
Cooperation within the University of California System. Her most recent book is
China: Fragile Superpower. Contact 858-822-4349, sshirk@ucsd.edu. • Ezra F. Vogel is Henry
Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences Emeritus at Harvard University. He
headed several of Harvard’s research centers devoted to East Asia, and his work
has been cited extensively. Contact through Holly
Angell, assistant director of Harvard Asia Center,
617-496-6824.
