CAN 300 MILLION CHINESE BELIEVERS BE WRONG?

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SHANGHAI 000105

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/CM, DRL/IRF AND INR/EAP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/15/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF CH
SUBJECT: CAN 300 MILLION CHINESE BELIEVERS BE WRONG?

CLASSIFIED BY: Mary Tarnowka , Section Chief, Political/Economic
Section , U.S. Consulate Shanghai.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) Summary: One of the authors of a new
government-sponsored survey on spirituality in China downplayed
the reported findings that the number of religious believers in
China could be as high as 300 million. Shanghai Academy of
Social Sciences (SASS) Vice President Tong Shijun told Poloff in
a meeting on February 13 that the survey results were premature
and the results would be adjusted. One of the problems of the
survey was that many individuals who identified themselves as
religious were in fact believers in Communism and Confucianism.
The survey was part of a three-year research project on
contemporary Chinese life, which should be completed in March.
Tong said the goal of the study was to provide the government
with a better understanding of modern Chinese society to enable
it to adjust its policies. Marxism was still relevant and only
needed to be updated to meet the demands of modern Chinese
society. End Summary.



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300 Million Religious Believers?

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2. (U) According to a report in the February 7 edition of the
English-language China Daily, a new government-sponsored survey
indicated that the number of religious believers in China was
three times more than the official estimate. The survey was
conducted by SASS Vice President Tong Shijun and East China
Normal University Professor Liu Zhongyu as a part of a larger
study on contemporary Chinese life. The professors interviewed
approximately 4,500 people about their religious beliefs.
Thirty-one percent of those polled said that they were
religious. Of the 66 percent practiced Buddhism, Daoism or
Chinese folk religions. Twelve percent said that they were
Christian. It is not clear how the remaining 22 percent
identified themselves. Of the religions, 62 percent were
between the ages of 16 to 39, while 9.6 percent were 55 years or
older. When applied to the 1.3 billion people of China, the
survey results indicated that as many as 300 million people in
China were religious.




3. (SBU) In the article, Professor Liu attributed the increase
in the number of believers to the religious freedom enjoyed in
China and the social problems confronting Chinese people. In a
February 8 Washington Post article, Liu also pointed to the
growth in Chinese population as a factor in the increase of
religious adherents. The official estimate of religious
believers is 100 million, which has not been adjusted since the
1960s. (Note: Despite repeated attempts, Poloff was unable to
contact Liu to discuss the survey. End Note.)



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Adjusting the Numbers

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4. (C) On February 13, Poloff met with Shanghai Academy of
Social Sciences (SASS) Vice President and Deputy Party Secretary
Tong Shijun to discuss the survey. Tong oversees the entire
research project on contemporary Chinese life and was involved
in the survey. He downplayed the survey results and said that
the 300 million figure was misleading. The figures quoted in
the media were preliminary results and had yet to be analyzed by
experts. The confusion came when reporters who attended a
conference about the survey last October at East China Normal
University misinterpreted the discussions of the survey results

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as indicating the results had already been finalized.




5. (C) Academics involved in the project were now reviewing the
raw data collected during the survey and would adjust the
figures. The Ministry of Education also needed to review the
information before it was released and would also have a chance
to adjust the figures. Tong was in charge of the review process
and said the final results would be released in March of this
year. He personally did not believe that the final figure of
religious believers in China would be 300 million. He also
noted that the survey had many flaws, including asking too many
questions, many of which were difficult for people to understand.




6. (C) Tong added that the Chinese definition of religion was
also very broad. Many people in China practiced religion
sporadically, visiting temples during holidays and praying to
ancestors. The definition of spirituality in China also was not
as strict as in the West, which emphasized being a part of an
organized religious community and attending religious services.
Non-religious ethical systems such as Confucianism and Communism
also played roles in society similar to religious movements.
For example, Tong had interviewed an elderly woman who was a
member of the Communist party for the survey. When he asked the
woman if she was religious, she said yes. A surprised Tong told
her that she could not be religious because she was a communist.
She replied that communism was a type of religion.



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Updating Marxism

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7. (C) Noting that it was too early to predict what the
project's conclusions would be, Tong said that the data appeared
to point to two broad conclusions. First, Chinese society was
becoming more pluralistic. Traditional socialism, Marxism and
communism were becoming less influential as Chinese people began
to adopt different belief systems. Second, religious belief had
become more attractive as society became more market-oriented
and life became more difficult. He said that the Chinese
government had underestimated the importance of religion in the
past. There was a change in the 1990's and the government was
now conducting various studies on the role of religion in
society. While there were extremist movements such as Falun
Gong, religion was not inherently bad and could play a useful
role in society. The Chinese government now realized that it
needed to take religion into account as it strove to build
socialism.




8. (C) Tong warned against over-emphasizing the role of
religion and noted that non-religious ethical systems, mainly
Confucianism, were still much more influential in China than
religious movements. The study only showed that religion was
becoming more important. Tong was not surprised that people
were turning more to religion. It was very difficult to
practice Confucianism since it relied on practitioners to be
self-disciplined and actively engaged in improving society.
Religion, on the other hand, emphasized the role of a governing
deity that decided people's fate. According to Tong, believers
were more concerned with the afterlife and not as involved in
improving earthly society.




9. (C) Tong added that since China was a traditionally
Confucian society it was well suited to Marxism, which also
emphasized the importance of self-discipline and harmony. The
Chinese government had not given up on Marxism and while some
versions of Marxism were out-dated, Marxism itself was still
relevant. It was important to update and adjust Marxism to fit
the demands of society. The first step in this process was to
better understand society. Tong hoped the project would play a

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role in this process and provide the government with a more
comprehensive picture of modern society.
JARRETT