Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: i cinesi deludono

Bombacci e Persio dovran votarsi a qualche santo.
 
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/oct/29/china-getting-religion/
 
 
Are China’s Rulers Getting Religion?
Ian Johnson
 
With worsening inflation, a slowing economy, and growing concerns
about possible social unrest, China’s leaders have a lot on their
plates these days. And yet when the Communist Party met at its annual
plenum earlier this week, the issue given greatest attention was not
economic policy but what it described as “cultural reform.”
 
The concern appears quixotic, but China is now in the grips of a moral
crisis. In recent months, the Chinese Internet has been full of talk
about the lack of morality in society. And the problem is not just
associated with the very rich or the political connected—concerns
shared in western countries—but with the population at large. This has
been precipitated in part by a spate of recent incidents in which
people have failed to come to aid of fellow citizens caught in
accidents or medical emergencies. A few weeks ago, a two-year-old girl
in Guangzhou was hit by a car and left dying in the street while
eighteen passers-by did nothing to help her. The case riveted China,
causing people to ask what sort of society is being created.
 
So, no sooner was the plenum over than the party indicated that it
would limit the amount of entertainment shows on television and
possibly set limits on popular microblogs. While it is easy to read
this move simply as censorship, which it certainly is, it also
reflects the new preoccupation with morality: many of the banned shows
are pure entertainment—the party now wants more news programs—and
Chinese microblogs have long been a forum for anonymous character
assassination. Meanwhile, though it has been far less noted, Beijing
is giving new support to religion—even the country’s own beleaguered
traditional practice, Daoism.
 
After decades of destruction, Daoist temples are being rebuilt, often
with government support. Shortly after the plenum ended, authorities
were convening an International Daoism Forum. The meeting was held
near Mt. Heng in Hunan Province, one of Daoism’s five holy mountains,
and was attended by 500 participants. It received extensive play in
the Chinese media, with a noted British Daoist scholar, Martin Palmer,
getting airtime on Chinese television. This is a sharp change for a
religion that that was persecuted under Mao and long regarded as
suspect. What, exactly, is gong on here?
 
Daoism (sometimes spelled Taoism) began as a philosophical tradition
in early China. Its most famous work is the Daodejing, attributed to a
person known as Laozi, who may have existed in the 6th century BCE. It
developed into an organized religion by the 2nd century CE. Although
its practices vary widely, it generally advocates self-discipline and
good living as a way to attain immortality, as well as elaborate
rituals to purge individuals or communities of evil. Its ideas of
harmony with nature underlie many aspects of Chinese culture, from
calligraphy and painting to architecture and medicine. For
generations, its formal teachings were passed down by Daoist priests
as well as lay practitioners.
 
During the Mao years many of its traditions, such as fortune telling,
geomancy, possession by spirits, and popular rituals, were banned as
superstitious. But it’s been making a limited comeback. Although still
dwarfed by Buddhism, as well as newer religions, like Christianity,
the number of Daoist temples has at least tripled over the past
fifteen years, according to official figures. Priests and nuns who run
the temples provide services to pilgrims and go out into the community
to consecrate homes or businesses, and perform funerals. Others spread
Daoist ideas through martial arts, such as Tai Chi, or medicine—two
disciplines rooted in Daoism.
 
One reason authorities are now embracing Daoism as a source of moral
guidance is that, in contrast to Christianity—which sometimes runs
afoul of authorities—Daoism is widely seen as an unthreatening,
indigenous religion. That’s true of Buddhism as well, which was
founded in today’s India but took root in China 2,000 years ago. But
Buddhism has long had a cadre of devoted, missionizing monks and nuns
who try to spread the word, whereas Daoism is sometimes hard to crack—
you often have to earn a Daoist master’s trust and respect before he
or she will take you on as a disciple. Moreover there’s no Daoist
Gideons International, dropping the Daodejing in Chinese hotels. And
then, of course, Daoism can be seen as the original tune-in-turn-on-
drop-out religion; many Daoist luminaries have preferred a life of
contemplation to pursuit of earthly power.
 
Still, the Daodejing, says a lot about ruling, and one translation of
that work’s title is “The Way and its Power.” Certainly, the text can
be read profitably by authoritarians (translations from Lao-tzu’s
Taoteching, Copper Canyon Press, 2009):
 
    the rule of the sage
    empties the mind
    but fills the belly
 
Then again there are other verses that might well trouble a government
trying to fight a perception that it is corrupt:
 
    The reason people are hungry
    is that those above levy so many taxes
 
or:
 
    the reason people are hard to rule
    is that those above are so forceful
 
Another part of Daoism that isn’t so easy for the government to
swallow is that it has become a world religion, one that a government
can’t easily control. Four months ago, for example, a very different
international conference on Daoism had been held at exactly the same
location—a conference that the government was far from excited about.
Organized by Chinese and international scholars and practitioners, the
conference did not have as much high-level support but it reflects
something potentially more powerful: an explosion of popular interest
into Daoism and Chinese religion. The authorities not only shunned it
but put up roadblocks. It was almost canceled at the last moment and
was eventually curtailed from five to three days, with many panels cut
or abbreviated.
 
I attended that conference, which focused on the role of women in
Daoism, commercialism of its temples and other issues facing the
religion, and observed the discomfort of Chinese officials as the
organizers announced that next year’s conference was going to be held
at a German lakeside resort. One official later said to me that it
should be up to the Chinese government, not a non-government
organization of scholars, to determine when an important Daoist
conference should be held. He was also skeptical of many of those who
came, some of whom were practicing Daoists or martial artists—who were
these people? Many weren’t even Chinese!
 
Tellingly, none of the participants from June—and very few foreign
scholars save Mr. Palmer—took part in the recent government-sponsored
conference. It wasn’t posted on scholarly websites and was treated by
Beijing as something that didn’t really concern the outside world.
 
But the more China’s leaders try to use religion for their own
purposes, the more difficult it may be to have an actual effect on
perceived problems like society’s moral decline. Despite the
rebuilding of temples, religious life is still tightly limited. Many
practitioners do find a deeper moral answer in the teachings of Daoism
and other religions. I have seen volunteers at Daoist temples provide
food for the poor or engage in disaster relief. The teachings of
compassion and unity with nature also make sense in a country that has
pursued economic gain at the expense of charity and concern for the
environment.
 
But religion is still fighting an uphill battle. The recent conference
gave Daoism an unprecedented amount of media attention, but most of
the time religious life is completely absent from Chinese television
or other media outlets. Then again, as the Daodejing makes clear,
human endeavors often miss the point:
 
    Thirty spokes converge on a hub
    but it’s the emptiness
    that makes a wheel work

 Are China’s Rulers Getting Religion?
 
ne hanno bisogno, quei porci capitalisti di stato...
http://tradingnostop.finanza.com/2011/12/01/il-crollo-delleconomia-in-cina/
 

 wrote in message 
news:5ed55740-f0ac-4acd...@w3g2000vbw.googlegroups.com...

Giusto per informare le solite anime candide.
 
Templi e monasteri han continuato a funzionare in Cina anche durante Mao.
In scala ridotta ovviamente, ne ho visitati nel lontano 87.
 
Oggi ci sono monaci taoisti e buddhisti che girano in ogni citta'
Alla grande
 
Qualche chiesa, non vedo novita', solo i disinformati si scandalizzano. 
 
 

non vedo
 
 Condividi con Giovannino le forme di autogratificazione?