A Historical Review, Part 5: – Moral Crises and Stability Maintenance
Today, Chinese society faces a great crisis. In the light of this, we see the new religious regulations and recent events. There are several crises and challenges.
First, there is the challenge of legitimacy of governance or ruling. China no longer has monarchical rule from heaven. She cannot return to that stage, but she is still trying to establish a societal foundation.
Second, national salvation was promised and delivered through the reforms of Deng Xiaoping. The government was legitimate as long as everybody got rich together, but this legitimacy is slowly waning.Because of an autonomous economy, the burgeoning middle class demands greater freedom, rights of speech, and human rights. How can the institutional structures of China deal with this? Talk of structural reform is couched in terms like “economic-structural reforms,” but this actually means reforms of government and societal structure.
The governing party lacks internal motivation (which would stem from a concept or ideal) to deal with this. There are also no clear options. China’s moral standards are in decline, and the self-governing grassroots have collapsed.
A decade or two earlier, we talked of the moral deprivation of the higher authorities. But today, corruption has infiltrated every level. Every person, whether on a moral level or for social capital, wants to get the most out of others. There has been a loss of the most basic autonomous civil units. Today, civil servants come from the province to villages and individuals; in the past, civil servants were from the county level. There is greater uniformity, but no grassroots self-government. This leads to a lack of options. To maintain stability, tremendous pressure is exerted from the top-down. There are very few middle options.
This is not merely a challenge of legitimacy, but of efficiency. Under the traditional governance structure of China, there has always been a power struggle between the central and local governments. The central government has different parties and groups. Previously, this was solved through power sharing, which looked something like the Senate of the Roman Empire, which was ruled by senators and nobles. But now the pendulum has swung to the other side, so everything includes an office of military and political affairs. This includes the permanent committee in the Politburo, where everything is under the authority of one person. Rule from the top reduces efficiency, and there has been a loss of autonomous civil units, but there has also been a rise of regulation by technology. These include facial recognition, internet policing, and more. Thus, to make up for the loss of autonomous civil units, ruling has become incredibly [technologically] efficient.
Even though there is a stable society today, it harbors the possibility of another, greater crisis. Not only is there a governing crisis, there is also a racial crisis, including places like Xinjiang and Tibet. Change in the system affects all of this, impacting the body as a whole.
In response to this crisis, there is a movement to strengthen authoritative structures. To protect itself, this is called “stability maintenance.” The ruling party must find an ideology other than national salvation for the basis of their rule. There are several. One is the Chinese Dream, which is nationalism. It promises a progression from rich to great: “In the past we were rich, now we are great.” In other words, “Make China great again.” Let China become heroic again. If China is to be great, it will inevitably clash with America; this is one response to the current situation.
Another response is to emphasize the legitimacy of ideology, i.e. the Confidence Doctrine: confidence in our chosen path (of socialism); confidence in our guiding theories; confidence in our institutions; confidence in our culture.
How do you develop this confidence? The first way is to deal with official corruption. Then, emphasize an active ideology and the right to speak. There must also be an emphasis on Chinese characteristics, and a suppression of universal values. This includes the New Religious Regulations. At the core of these regulations is a question of loyalty, equivalent to asking, “Who’s the boss?” Christianity must be softened and Sinicized, all of which contributes to the development of confidence in this new ideology. Add to this the encouragement for people to reject Western holidays such as Christmas, and this is how we ended up where we are today. It is all part of a logical chain; there are deep roots for where we are now.
I predict this is not short-term, but will continue for 10 to 20 years, or longer. For now, we do not see viable short-term options. Either China will be thrown into sudden chaos, or it will slowly develop an unknown ideology toward stability. What style this might be, we do not know. When we look at the New Religious Regulations and its clash with the church in recent years, we see the process of the gospel penetrating a culture. At the core of this first stage is the question: “Who and what is the church?”
Who is the head of the church? Where does the church’s allegiance lie? As the gospel transcends culture, this is a fundamental conflict in the first stage of establishing an institutional church. Although questions of faith are involved, the questions today are those of ecclesiology. The focus is not on who believes or who does not, but on where the church’s allegiance lies. Is the church merely a component under the Chinese system – or does the church have its own self-sufficient system and legitimacy?
Then, there is conflict over governance authority. Who has power? In the past, while China was busy getting rich, the government had confidence in its full legitimacy to rule and there were fewer questions of loyalty. But now, in this time of reconstruction, they ask: “Do you love me? If you do, you must raise the national flag. If you love me, you will register [your churches].” In the traditional Chinese way, the government feels the need to establish its legitimacy, all the way down to the most basic autonomous civic units, through demanding absolute political loyalty. As you understand the inertia of Chinese culture, you see how an organization like the church creates many problems.
The road ahead is unclear, and it may be decades long. The most important question is: “What is the church?” It is essential for us to know how the church should view itself.
Translation provided by Moses, Jane, Ryan, and the China Partnership translation team.
