Overview

In this landmark contribution to the study of modern China, Steve Smith examines the paradox of 'supernatural politics'. He shows that we cannot understand the meaning of the Communist revolution to the Han Chinese without exploring their belief in gods, ghosts and ancestors. China was a religious society when the Communist Party took power in 1949, and it sought to erode the influence of the minority religions of Buddhism, Daoism, Catholicism and Protestantism. However, it was the folk religion of the great majority that seemed to symbolize China's backwardness. Smith explores the Party's efforts to eliminate belief in supernatural entities and cosmic forces through propaganda campaigns and popularizing science. Yet he also shows how the Party engaged in 'supernatural politics' to expand its support, utilizing imagery, metaphors and values that resonated with folk religion and Confucianism. Folk religion is thus essential to understanding the transformative experience of revolution.

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9781009600989

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Reviews

'Supernatural Politics is an extraordinary work by a comparative-minded historian at the top of his game. Filled with bold arguments and enlivened by vivid details culled from a broad range of sources, Smith sheds new light on everything from competing Chinese official views of different religious practices in the 1950s to the role of traditional symbolism in Mao's personality cult.' Jeffrey Wasserstrom, editor of The Oxford History of Modern China 'This is a groundbreaking, deeply original piece of work that reshapes the field of Mao-era Chinese history. Smith has gathered an unmatched set of historical materials to make the case that religious practice survived and grappled with Mao's regime in a way that was more complex and effective than previous studies have realized. One of those rare works that completely rewrites the field.' Rana Mitter, author of China's Good War: How World War II is Shaping a New Nationalism 'This deeply researched study shines a bright light on an otherwise opaque but significant subject: the salience of religion in Mao's China for state propagandists and ordinary people alike. Smith's novel findings and nuanced interpretations open a revealing window not only to state-society relations in the Mao period, but to contemporary legacies as well.' Elizabeth Perry, author of Anyuan: Mining China's Revolutionary Tradition

Author Information

Steve Smith is Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. His last book, Russia in Revolution, won the BASEES Alec Nove Prize and the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize.

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