Morality and Religion in China’s Rise
Transcript of Morality and Religion in China’s Rise
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Morality and Religion in China’s Rise
• Sr. Beatrice Leung, Ph.D.• Honorary Professor,• The University of Hong Kong
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China Aiming at a Great Power Status
• Economically , Militarily and Politically• Continuous growth of 8% in GDP • In the G20 Summit• In the naval review at Qingtao
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China’s Internal Setback
• "Sanlu milk powder scandal " crystallized problems in business ethics & socialist morality
• Campaign on socialist morality fails to check the wide spread of social crime .
In Social Morality and Business Ethics.
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Difficulty in building up Socialist Morality
• Confucius morality (functional ethnics) replaced by socialist moral value by Mao.
• Deng’s Pragmatic Consumerism swept away Communist principles & suggested the end justifies the means.
• One Child Policy –lacking parental discipline lead to indulgence to youth
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Role Models in Morality
• Rev. Sheng Yan聖嚴法師of Taiwan and her Chi Zi Charitable Organization慈濟功德會.
• Mother Theresa of Calcutta and herreligious order –The Sisters of Charity
• Not Lei Feng – no followers
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Can Religion Help?• Religious leaders were asked to promote
economic development and social harmony but not in building up socialist morality
• Muslim in Xinjiang isfighting with Beijing
• Mother Theresa’s request tohave a house catering for thepoor in China was rejected
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Value for Morality
• For CCP: essential for the sustainabilityof economic development
• For religion: transcendentalvalue embedded in human actions
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Directives on moral principles
• Religion: the Bible (Book) and theNatural Law
• CCP: dialectic materialism
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China’s Perception on Religion
• A catalyst and framing element in social unrest
• Means the capitalist West employed to topple socialist States
• Competing for market :Chen Yun’s prophesy in the downfall of Communism
• Separatist movements
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China and Religion : Clash of Ideologies
• Clash between religious idealism with the dialectical materialism
• The prophetic leadership ofCardinal Zen confirmedChina’s suspicion on religion
• China’s rise : it is heading togreat power status caringno religion
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China and Religion: The Clash of Moral Authority
• The hollowness in Communist ideology
• But Communism is neededto maintain its legitimacy.
• Rev. Sheng Yan and MotherTheresa have moral authority,
• Moral authority is not withLei Feng
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Ideological competition between Communism and religion
• Beijing avoids to compete with religion.
• If religion were not under Party/state control, Communism in China might be onits loosing end as prophesizedby Chen Yun
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Mega Reasons from distancing Religion
• Religious leaders had passed the test on authenticity
• Fundamental contradictions in CCP: • 1.planned economy vs market
capitalism• 2. Bourgeois become
CCP members
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Conclusions
• The campaign of building upof morality cannot reap much fruit.
• Growth of crime rate and prosecutionrate paralleled with the lengthenof period of the campaign