KSCB753 Popular Rel. Sects in China

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2021
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 4 credit(s) (plus 1 credit for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: k (colloquium).
Taught in person.
Teacher(s)
Nikolas Broy (lecturer), Mgr. et Mgr. Dušan Vávra, Ph.D. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
doc. Lucie Olivová, MA, Ph.D., DSc.
Department of Chinese Studies – Asia Studies Centre – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. et Mgr. Dušan Vávra, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Chinese Studies – Asia Studies Centre – Faculty of Arts
Timetable of Seminar Groups
KSCB753/01: each odd Monday 10:00–11:40 B2.43, each odd Tuesday 18:00–19:40 B2.51, each odd Wednesday 8:00–9:40 B2.42, each odd Thursday 18:00–19:40 B2.23, each odd Friday 14:00–15:40 B2.21, except Mon 22. 11.
KSCB753/02: each odd Monday 16:00–17:40 VP, each odd Tuesday 16:00–17:40 B2.51, each odd Wednesday 16:00–17:40 N42, each odd Thursday 16:00–17:40 B2.32, each odd Friday 16:00–17:40 B2.51, except Thu 25. 11.
Prerequisites
KSCB003 Religions in China || KSCA019 Chinese philosophy II
General knowledge of Chinese religion based on the course KSCB003 Religions of China, or KSCA018-019 History of Chinese thought I-II. (Or an equivalent elsewhere.)
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/15, only registered: 0/15, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/15
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The topic of this seminar is the phenomenon of various unofficial religious organizations existing parallel to the state and against the state in Chinese history (late imperial China to the present). The first part of the course focuses on the complex problem of the relations between state and religion in traditional China and shows the variable social and political implications of "secret" religious organization in traditional Chinese culture. The second part of the course addresses the same phenomenon in the modern Chinese and Taiwanese society. At the end of the course the student will be able to: - understand the phenomenon of "secret societies" in Chinese culture - understand and explain the social, political, and economic context of religion in Chinese culture
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction: The Religious Landscape of China
  • • short introduction to the religious field of imperial and modern China, the Three Teachings, Popular Religion
  • • transformation of religion in modern China, particularly Republic and People’s Republic
  • • religions and the state in imperial and modern China
  • Required reading:
  • Goossaert, Vincent, and David A. Palmer. The Religious Question in Modern China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. (chap. 1: The Late Qing Religious Landscape, 19-41)
  • 2. "Orthodoxy" and "Heterodoxy": Religious Nonconformism in China and beyond
  • • religious policy in Chinese societies
  • • sects in East and West, depiction of sectarian religion in the West -> similarities?
  • • depiction of popular sects in official writings and the media
  • • terminology: sects and redemptive societies
  • Required reading:
  • Brook, Timothy, "The Politics of Religion. Late-Imperial Origins of the Regulatory State." Pages 22–42 in Making Religion, Making the State. The Politics of Religion in Modern China. Edited by Yoshiko Ashiwa and David L. Wank. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 2009.
  • 3. Popular Sects from the Han to the Song: The varieties of sectarianism in medieval China
  • • Early Daoist sects: Five Pecks of Rice Sect, Heavenly Master Daoism, and the "Great Peace" (taiping)
  • • Buddhist millenarism in medieval China
  • • the "White Lotus" during the Song as reality and myth (cf. Barend ter Haar)
  • • White Lotus and White Cloud as "popular nonmonastic Buddhism"
  • • Manichaeism: Mingjiao
  • Required reading:
  • Ownby, David. "Chinese Millenarian Traditions: The Formative Age." The American Historical Review 104, no. 5 (1999): 1513–1530.
  • 4. "Precious Volumes" (baojuan) and Sectarian Writings
  • • sectarian writings and teachings
  • • introduction to the genre of baojuan (“precious volumes”)
  • • common religious and moral values
  • Required reading:
  • Overmyer, Daniel L. “Values in Chinese Sectarian Literature: Ming and Ch'ing Pao-chüan.” In Popular Culture in Late Imperial China. Edited by David Johnson, Andrew J. Nathan and Evelyn S. Rawski, 219–254. Taipei: SMC Publishing, 1987.
  • 5. Popular Sects in the Ming: Patriarch Luo and his Legacy
  • • Patriarch Luo
  • • Non-Action Sect (Wuweijiao)
  • • Yellow Heaven Sect (Huangtianjiao)
  • Required reading:
  • ter Haar, Barend. Practicing Scripture: A Lay Buddhist Movement in Late Imperial China. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2014. (chap. 1: Patriarch Luo: From Soldier to Religious Teacher, 12-49)
  • 6. Popular Sects in the Qing: Between Rebellion and Salvation
  • • Rebellions: Sect of Heavenly Principle (Tianlijiao), 1813
  • • Eight Trigrams Sect (Baguajiao)
  • • familial sectarian networks: The Wang family in Shifokou, Hebei
  • • Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (Taiping tianguo)
  • Required reading:
  • Gaustad, Blaine C. “Prophets and Pretenders: Inter-Sect Competition in Qianlong China.” Late Imperial China 21, no. 1 (2000): 1–40.
  • 7. Popular Sects in Modern China I: Yiguandao
  • • history and development
  • • teachings and practices
  • • Yiguandao as a modern redemptive society
  • • Globalization of Yiguandao
  • Required reading:
  • Jordan, David K., and Daniel L. Overmyer. The Flying Phoenix: Aspects of Chinese Sectarianism in Taiwan. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986. (chap. 9: Case Study III: The Unity Sect (I-Kuan Tao), 213-249)
  • 8. Popular Sects in Modern China II: Falungong
  • • the “qigong fever” in late twentieth-century China
  • • Li Hongzhi and Falungong
  • • the persecution of Falungong since 1999
  • • the subsequent development of Falungong outside of China
  • Required reading:
  • Penny, Benjamin. The Religion of Falun Gong. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2012. (chap. 1: What is Falun Gong?, 1-35)
  • 9. Popular Sects and Spirit-Writing Associations in Modern Taiwan
  • • the popularity of spirit writing (fuluan) in the Taiwanese religious landscape
  • • the diffusion of sectarian religious symbols: Wusheng Laomu (“the Eternal Mother”) in Taiwanese religions
  • • examples: Cihuitang (“Compassion Society”)
  • Required reading:
  • Clart, Philip. “The Phoenix and the Mother: The Interaction of Spirit-Writing Cults and Popular Sects in Taiwan.” Journal of Chinese Religions 25 (1997): 1–32.
  • 10. Redemptive Societies and Sectarianism in Modern Chinese Societies
  • • review and discussion of terminology
  • • reflections on the entire course contents
  • Required reading:
  • Palmer, David A. "Chinese Redemptive Societies and Salvationist Religion: Historical Phenomenon or Sociological Category?" Minsu quyi, no. 172 (2011): 21–72.
Literature
    recommended literature
  • Liu, Kwang-Ching and Richard H.-C. Shek, eds. Heterodoxy in Late Imperial China. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2004.
  • Jordan, David K., and Daniel L. Overmyer. The Flying Phoenix: Aspects of Chinese Sectarianism in Taiwan. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.
  • Penny, Benjamin. The Religion of Falun Gong. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2012.
  • HAAR, B. J. ter. Practicing scripture : a lay Buddhist movement in late imperial China. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. x, 298. ISBN 9780824839277. 2014. info
  • GOSSAERT, Vincent and David A. PALMER. The religious question in modern China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. xi, 464. ISBN 9780226304168. 2011. info
  • Making religion, making the state : the politics of religion in modern China. Edited by Yoshiko Ashiwa - David L. Wank. Standford: Standford University Press. vi, 294. ISBN 9780804758420. 2009. info
  • Popular religious movements and heterodox sects in Chinese history. Edited by Hubert Michael Seiwert. Boston: Brill. xvi, 548 p. ISBN 9004131469. 2003. info
  • OVERMYER, Daniel L. Precious volumes : an introduction to Chinese sectarian scriptures from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center. xi, 444. ISBN 067469838X. 1999. info
  • Popular culture in late imperial China. Edited by David G. Johnson - Andrew J. Nathan - Evelyn Sakakida Rawski - Judith. Berkeley: University of California Press. xvii, 449. ISBN 0520061721. 1985. URL info
Teaching methods
lectures
required reading -> class discussions
Assessment methods
1) absence policy - no absence allowed
2) active participation in the class (required readings, class discussions)
3a) final test - for colloquium (K)
3b) final test and essay - for exam (Zk) Master's program students are required to take exam.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Information on course enrolment limitations: Studenti magisterského studia povinně zapisují zkoušku.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2016.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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