Sectarian Religion and Political Action in China

Abstract

Why were religious sects in China so often associated with political violence? From the Five Pecks of Rice sect at the end of the Han to the Boxers and Red Spears in the twentieth century, the Chinese authorities have blamed heterodox religious ideologies for inciting people to act against the government. The authorities often repressed even sects that never engaged in violent opposition to the government. The Luo Sect, for example, which was popular among canal men during the Ming and Qing dynasties, was persecuted in spite of its generally pacific behavior (Overmyer, 1978; Kelley, 1981). The Yiguan Dao in Taiwan today is similarly illegal, although it carries on no political activities (Jordan, 1978; see also Jordan's article in this issue). Why did the government shun even nonpolitical religious sects so strongly? Overmyer (1976: 4) argues that sectarian violence, when it occurred, was based on sectarian ideology-destruction of the state is one way for people to express their eschatological dream