INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CHINA STUDIES

Guest Editors' Introduction

Chih-yu SHIH, Lang KAO — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0800

In Huntington’s formulation, civilizations are primarily religious. For him, though, the clash of civilizations takes place between sovereign entities. In this light, the end of the European religious war in the Treaty of Westphalia, that substituted sovereign nations for the Church, profoundly shaped the contemporary international relations and global governance. Thus, the subsequent expansion of the European order through colonialism encountered multiple worlds that were embedded in various different cosmological imaginations. These strangers mingled after this continuous process initiated by such expansion. Even so, invaders and defenders have entrenched a self-other, believer-alien, or West-East binary in the mind of the ensuing generations to save the ostensibly pure beliefs of each.

Combining Contracdictions: Jewish Contributions to the Chinese Revolution

Yitzhak SHICHOR — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Jews were deeply involved in Communist revolutions in Europe, and primarily in Russia, often in leading positions. This is understandable given their demographic location, extensive education and suffering over the years. However, how could we account for the fact that they also played a role in Communist revolutions in Asia, and especially in China? There were practically no Jewish communities to speak of and those few who lived there had been almost totally assimilated, and had no interest whatsoever in Chinese culture, history and politics. Still, Jews (who arrived out of China) not only took part in the revolution but had also helped igniting it and then stayed on or joined later. While dealing with this puzzle in my paper, I’ll try to offer a typology of Jewish activists and revolutionaries in China, to explain their motives (by choice or not), and to evaluate their contributions in perspective. It appears that
their Jewish identity did not play a direct role in their revolutionary activism, but it did play an indirect role. Included in this study are Grigorii Gershuni, Grigorii Voitinski, Boris Shumiatsky, Michail Borodin, Adolf Joffe, Pavel Mif, David Crook, Sidney Rittenberg, Israel Epstein, Sidney Shapiro, Solomon Adler, Sam Ginsbourg, Michael Shapiro, and more. Their main value to the revolution was mainly writing, translation, communication and publication. Although they were all deeply committed to the Chinese Communist revolution, some of them were jailed – for years – and occasionally more than once. Nonetheless, they continued to believe in, and even to justify, the Chinese Communist Party.

The Propagation of Japanese Buddhism in China, 1910-40s: Japan as the Guardian of East Asian "Traditions"

Shin KAWASHIMA — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0800

This research examines the propagation of Japanese Buddhism in China in the first half century of 20c. From the Japanese government’s point of view, Buddhism is a useful “device” to understand local society and to make propaganda or penetrate into local society in China. In 1920, Japan organized religious groups including Buddhism to make some movements on cultural exchanges and friendship activities with Asian countries and colonies including China. In the 1930s, Japan occupied Manchuria and built the puppet state, Manchu-kuo. Buddhism and its organization were the important “device” to manage the Japanese society there and were expected to penetrate in Chinese society. However, it was so difficult to set some goals on Chinese local society. This research illustrates the processes in the negotiation about the right of propagation of Japanese Buddhism in China, with the Chinese government, and introduces the views and observations on Chinese religious society by Japanese Buddhism, in order to consider the factor of “religion” on Chinese modern history.

The Russian Ecclesiastical Missions (1715-1864) to Peking and their Influence on China Studies in Russia

Alexi D. VOSKRESSENSKI — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0800

The aim of the essay is to find out how the Russian Orthodox Church as a religious institution influenced the birth and evolution of China Studies and helped to create a Sinology as a national academic discipline in Russia. The brief analyses of the history of the 14 Ecclesiastical Missions in China helps to figure out what kind of impetus this religious institution gave to Academic Sinology and how it helped to create a university Sinology as a national sinological school.

True Catholic and Authentic Chinese: The Theologico-Political Polemic in China

Wing Kwan Anselm LAM — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0800

After a lengthy negotiation between the Vatican and the Chinese government over decades, both parties signed a provisional agreement on 22 September 2018. Although they did not reveal the details to the public, both sides made a compromise on the appointment of the bishop, which is the crucial part of the conflict. Among those religions in China, the Chinese government paid
much more attention upon the Catholic Church. One of the reasons would be the similarity of two entities, that is the centralization of power on one person. The current policies like restricting children going to church, dismantling the cross of the church, no Christmas decoration or promotion during Christmas, which give negative impact upon the Catholic Church, while the Beijing government signed the provisional agreement on the appointment of the bishop. Pope Francis unlike his predecessor does not excommunicate those
bishops ordained without the Pope’s approval but resumes their episcopal duties, while the Catholic Church in China is still under persecution. How to understand the underlying reasons of the move of the CCP and the Vatican in this agreement? This paper will investigate the nature and principles of religious policy in China and the Vatican’s stance on China affairs in the light of a theologico-political polemic. This paper will first try to elucidate the theologico-political polemic. Then it will review the Sino-Vatican interaction since 1949 looking at how the CCP and the Vatican responded to this theologico-political polemic. Finally, the Sino-Vatican provisional
agreement will be evaluated in perspective or in light of this history. Is the provisional agreement a step towards the solution of the theologico-political polemic in China?

Beyond China's Threat: The Contextual Theology of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan

Chih-yu SHIH, Samantha Wan-Yu TSENG — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0800

Colonial relations have remained inspiring and vivid in the 21st century. They ave provided powerful morale for the Taiwan Independence Movement. In the quest for independent statehood, Taiwan can easily see China’s territorial ambition, economic invasion, and violation of liberalism. To regain selfrespect, the postcolonial elite could rely best and conveniently on the colonial
modernity brought by Japan. This perspective enabled the persistence of the image of inferior China. However, a particular string in the postcolonial relations did not assume Chinese inferiority. Rather, self-reflection on one’s practical conditions, which was independent from relations with China, inspired the effort to re-constitute Taiwan’s identity. This string of thought is the Presbyterian Church. Contextual theology resulted from the critical reflection and determination emerged to guide the Church’s subsequent approach to China. For the independence advocacy informed by colonial relations, the issue of human rights immediately suggests the image of
inferior China. However, for the Church, the issue connotes a mission in China that the Church should have cared about equally. This construction of a non-inferior/threatening China is how religion has brought to the intellectual perspective of Taiwan independence.