The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao by Ian Johnson

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao by Ian Johnson Yanfei Sun Ian Johnson, The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao. New York: Pantheon, 2017. x, 455 pp., US$30.00 (PB). ISBN 9781101870051 In The Souls of China, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ian Johnson tells the stories of the return of religions in Chinese society after the end of the Cultural Revolution, and the spiritual lives of the Chinese people amid the dramatic social changes of the post-Mao period. One of the most noteworthy features of this book is its richness. Johnson has put an amazing array of religions and people from wildly different social worlds into a single book. In this work, we meet Nan Huaijin 南懷瑾 (1918–2012), an enigmatic master of Chan 禪 Buddhism and promoter of Chinese classics who defies any easy labeling, as well as a bevy of his admirers, many of whom are China’s nouveau riche or second-generation party members (hongerdai 紅二代), who were flocking to Nan’s hermitage on Lake Tai 太湖; followers of a Daoist qigong 氣功 master, who persisted in practicing their teacher’s breathing techniques in private homes and helped to organize a retreat that drew hundreds years after the government’s 1999 crackdown of Falungong 法輪功 and the subsequent disappearance of the qigong movement from public view; the propagandists who appropriated folk art to be used in the recent China Dream campaign that called for national renewal based on traditional values; as well as a mother who found solace and dignity in her yearly ritual of Qingming 清明 tomb-sweeping for her son whose life was tragically lost in 1989. Three cases figure most centrally in the book. The first is the Ni family in Beijing who played an instrumental role in reviving the pilgrimage associations devoted to the Daoist goddess Our Lady of the Azure Clouds (Bixia yuanjun 碧霞元君) on Miaofeng shan 妙峰山 in the outskirts of Beijing. The second is a family of Daoist ritual specialists in Shanxi who have provided services in funeral rituals, fortunetelling, and geomancy for generations. The third case is the Church of Early Rain (Qiuyuzhifu 秋雨之福) in the city of Chengdu founded and led by Wang Yi, a former human rights lawyer. In his narrative, Johnson often allows several storylines to unfold at the same time. In Chapter 17, for example, we are able to see the rivalry between two Daoist families; the relationship between Daoist musicians and the temple manager; the structure of the rituals at the temple festival and the musicians’ role in it; the generational gap between the old Daoist who clings to his family’s traditional rural base [End Page 206] and his forward-looking, city-oriented son; and the momentary reversal of gender roles and power relations when the woman spirit medium rebuked the temple manager in the voice of her possessing deity. To be sure, Johnson also selects and tailors. But he always manages to let the complexities of the social world shine through. The richness of the book has been achieved partly because of Johnson’s ethnographical talent: He built connections with men and women of very different social backgrounds, establishing enduring ties with them and allowing them to open their inner world to him. What is equally impressive is that all the materials are well contextualized, as Johnson documents so well the religious ramifications of China’s leadership transition from Hu Jintao to Xi Jinping. Despite its extraordinary scope and complexity, this book flows well. This has been achieved largely by two means. Johnson’s use of the solar terms (jieqi 節氣) in the Chinese traditional calendar to organize his chapters not only provides structure and rhythms for the book, but also creates an impression that contemporary happenings still connect with China’s past, befitting a book on the return of traditions. Moreover, different cases are linked together by at least two broad themes. The first is the central role of religion in people’s lives—how people find meaning in life and death, moral anchorage, beauty, and a community in religion. This is Johnson’s answer to why religions not only came back but also are so alive and well...