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ABSTRACT Multiple Modernizations, Religious Regulations and Church ABSTRACT Multiple Modernizations, Religious Regulations and Church Responses: The Rise and Fall of Three “Jerusalems” in Communist China Zhifeng Zhong, Ph.D. Mentor: William A. Mitchell, Ph.D. There is an extensive literature on modernization, regulation and religious change from a global perspective. However, China is usually understudied by the scholars. Numerous studies tackle the puzzle of the rising of Christianity and its implications in China. However they fail to synthesize the multiple dynamics and diverse regional difference. This dissertation approaches the development of Christianity in contemporary China from a regional perspective. By doing a case study on twelve churches in three prefecture cities (Guangzhou, Wenzhou and Nanyang), I examine how different historical processes and factors interacted to shape the uneven development of Christianity under the communist rule. The main research questions are: How did Protestantism survive, transform and flourish under a resilient communism regime? What factors account for the regional variance of the transformation of Christianity? I argue that there are multiple modernizations in China, and they created various cultural frames in the regions. Although the party-state tried to eliminate religion, Protestantism not only survived, but transformed and revived in the Cultural Revolution, which laid the foundation for momentum growth in the reform era. The development of Protestantism in China is dynamic, path-dependent, and contingent on specific settings. Different modernizations, religious regulation, historical legacy and church responses led to the rise and fall of three “Jerusalems” in communist China. Copyright © 2013 by Zhifeng Zhong All rights reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................ v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................... vii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 Research Question and Scope. ............................................................... 1 Thesis Statement .................................................................................... 5 Methodology .......................................................................................... 6 Doing Field Work in China .................................................................. 11 A Brief History of Christianity in China .............................................. 15 Description and Organization ............................................................. 16 Significance and Limitation ................................................................. 20 2. EXPLAINING THE FATE OF RELIGION IN THE MODERN WORLD ....................................................................................................... 21 Modernization: One or Many? Destructive or Constructive?. ............. 21 Regulation and Religious Vitality: Positive, Negative or Contingent? .......................................................................................... 29 Religious Movement and Religious Revival ....................................... 32 Working Toward A Synthesis ............................................................... 34 Summary .............................................................................................. 36 3. CHRISTIANITY UNDER COMMUNISM: FROM 1949 TO 1971 .......... 37 A Long History of Forced Secularization. ........................................... 38 Communists’ Forced Secularization Project ........................................ 40 Multiple Responses from the Churches ............................................... 43 A Church Survived, Transformed but Divided .................................... 51 A Nature of the Church-State Conflict ................................................. 52 Summary .............................................................................................. 54 4. CHRISTIANITY UNDER COMMUNISM: FROM 1971 TO 2010 .......... 57 Religious Fever in the Reform Era. ..................................................... 58 v Explaining the Religious Revival ........................................................ 60 Back to the Dark Age ........................................................................... 63 Grand Transformation in the Reform Era ............................................ 66 Multiple Protestant Movements in the Reform Era ............................. 69 Unsuccessful Effort towards Religious Control .................................. 74 Summary .............................................................................................. 75 5. THE RISE OF AN URBAN "JERUSALEM" IN THE CITY OF WENZHOU ............................................................................................... 77 Modernization in Wenzhou. ................................................................. 77 Religious Regulation in Wenzhou ........................................................ 81 Protestant Growth in Wenzhou ............................................................ 86 Building Churches in Wenzhou ........................................................... 89 Summary .............................................................................................. 98 6. THE FALL OF A MISSIONARY "JERUSALEM" IN THE CITY OF GUANGZHOU ........................................................................................ 100 Modernization in Guangzhou. ........................................................... 100 Religious Regulation in Guangzhou .................................................. 102 Protestant Growth in Guangzhou ....................................................... 106 Building Churches in Guangzhou ...................................................... 112 A New Hope From the Margin? ......................................................... 124 Summary ............................................................................................ 125 7. THE RISE OF A RURAL "JERUSALEM" IN THE CITY OF NANYANG .............................................................................................. 127 Modernization in Nanyang. ............................................................... 128 Religious Regulation in Nanyang ...................................................... 131 Protestant Growth in Nanyang ........................................................... 135 Building Churches in Nanyang .......................................................... 140 The Rural Jerusalem is Shaking ......................................................... 153 Summary ............................................................................................ 154 8. EXPLAINING THE REGIONAL PATTERNS ........................................ 158 Regional Settings and the Development of Christianity .................... 158 Defining Region ................................................................................. 163 Regional Landscape ........................................................................... 165 Longitudinal Change .......................................................................... 169 Examining the Regions through the Lenses of Three Cities .............. 170 Working Toward a Framework to Analyze the Protestant Movement in China .............................................................................................. 176 vi Summary ............................................................................................ 181 9. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 182 Modernization, Regulation and the Development of Christianity ..... 183 The Rise and Fall of Three “Jerusalems”........................................... 185 Social Dynamics and Implication ...................................................... 186 Church-state Encounters .................................................................... 190 Protestant Movement: China and the World ...................................... 194 Suggestion for Future Research ......................................................... 196 Bibliography .................................................................................................. 198 vii LIST OF FIGURES 1 The Dynamic of Church Growth . ............................................................... 6 2 Map of the Locations of the Three Sampling Sites. ..................................... 8 3 Protestant Growth in Wenzhou. ................................................................. 86 4 New Churches Built in Wenzhou in the Reform Era . ............................... 88 5 Churches Built in the Reform Era. ............................................................. 89 6 The Shift of Religious Believers from the 1930s to the 1990s. ............... 105 7 The Shift of Religious Venues from the 1930s to the 1990s. ................... 106 8 The Protestant Growth in Guangzhou. ..................................................... 110 9 The Annual Baptism of Dongshan Church . ............................................ 114 10 Annual Baptism in Damazhan Church. ..................................................
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