China鈥檚 wave of temple visitors
Since the end of COVID-19 restrictions last year, visits by China鈥檚 younger citizens to their country鈥檚 temples 鈥� Buddhist or Taoist 鈥� have shot up, according to online travel platforms. As the Sixth Tone news site put it, 鈥淣ow, many young Chinese have found a new way to unwind from the daily grind: religious sites.鈥�
One commentator, Song Yuqian, says the rush to worship 鈥渃an satisfy young people鈥檚 desire for certainty and give people the possibility to heal 鈥榮piritual internal friction.鈥欌�� The article quotes one temple visitor, Yang Jiang, as saying: 鈥淲e have longed for the waves of fate so much, only to find in the end that the most beautiful scenery in life is calmness 鈥� calmness of the heart.鈥�
Dozens of Buddhist temples have seen another kind of surge: elderly people choosing to live out their final years under the care of monks, nuns, and fellow residents 鈥� a phenomenon allowed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) only over the past decade. Temple leaders encourage the elderly residents to take care of others as well as themselves. Such practices ensure 鈥渟eniors feel like they are neither fragile nor a burden,鈥� writes Qi Tengfei, a professor of sociology at Shenzhen University, in Sixth Tone.
鈥淒uring one of my research visits to Bohai Shuangyuan Nursing Home,鈥� he states, 鈥淚 heard a message broadcast over the loudspeaker calling seniors to attend to a resident who was in hospice. The response shocked me: The seniors appeared in high spirits as if they were going on holiday rather than a deathbed. The ward quickly filled with chanters 鈥� an unthinkable occurrence at other nursing homes.鈥�
These stories of spontaneous and grassroots revival in religion run counter to the ruling party鈥檚 attempts to define the ideals of the Chinese people. Under party leader Xi Jinping, all religions must be guided by the government, have 鈥淐hinese characteristics,鈥� and adhere to socialism and Marxist materialism. For the religions of ethnic minorities 鈥� Tibet鈥檚 Buddhists and Xinjiang鈥檚 Muslim Uyghurs 鈥� the crackdown on traditional practices has been particularly harsh.
In March, Mr. Xi began a global promotion of the notion that China has a unique civilization with values distinct from other parts of the world, especially the West. 鈥淐ountries need to keep an open mind in appreciating the perceptions of values by different civilizations,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd refrain from imposing their own values or models on others and from stoking ideological confrontation.鈥�
Yet Mr. Xi claims his ideas define the values that the Chinese people should follow. The state-run Global Times even launched a series of articles in April describing 鈥淴ivilization,鈥� a play on his family name (pronounced 鈥渟hee鈥�) and the word civilization.
James Palmer, a deputy editor at Foreign Policy, says China鈥檚 traditional religions have genuine global appeal. 鈥淏ut any promotion of traditional Chinese culture under the CCP is stripped of the beliefs once at its core.鈥�
The new wave of templegoers in China is offering an alternate vision to the official version of national ideals 鈥� one of inward reflection and outward compassion freely chosen. Such values and practices, found in many faiths, cut across all civilizations. As the commentator Song Yuqian notes, 鈥淧aying a visit to a temple opens a new window for people to ... heal from mental exhaustion.鈥�
