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Chinese cadres pray for spirit intervention
By Wang Yijiang
HONG KONG - Down with ghosts, monsters and feudal superstition in the glorious
new China, based on socialism, materialism, atheism and Deng Xiaoping "to be
rich is glorious" thought. Only it hasn't happened quite that way. Some
high-ranking Communist Party officials of questionable ethics increasingly have
turned devoutly to prayer, burning joss sticks and making pilgrimages to
Buddhist temples. The irony is rich, like the nouveau riche cadres with their
ill-gotten gains.
Pursuant to the rigid planks of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) platform, a
communist must be a devout proponent of Marxism, dialectical materialism and
atheism. As a matter of practice, however, a great number of party officials,
many of them of practicing dubious ethics, have turned religious and even
superstitious, kneeling down before Buddha statues and praying, perhaps for
good and almost certainly that they may evade judgment and punishment. Even the
previous state president and CCP chairman Jiang Zemin is a regular pilgrim
haunting Buddhist temples.
"Superstition is a form of official corruption," a senior research fellow with
the CCP Central School told the International Herald Leader, an incisive daily
newspaper sponsored by the official Xinhua News Agency. Sociology professor Wu
Chongqing told Xinhua that quite a few officials were "indulging in corruption
while burning incense in prayer" before they were dismissed and penalized. In
fact, they pray they may not be caught red-handed, but god-worshipping is
nothing but a means of self-comfort, the professor added.
Feudal superstition, deeply rooted among the populace, has a history of several
thousand years in China. But unlike some Occidental religious beliefs seeking
mental purity, many Chinese people are hoping to ward off evil and beckon good
fortune through worship rituals, according to Wu.
It has become all the rage among bureaucrats to kowtow to the immortal spirits
enshrined in Buddhist or Taoist temples on the second early morning of the
first Chinese lunar month. Chen Shixiu, an important local-level official, is a
case in point. Chen believes that his promotions and the prospects of his
political career are all blessed by the sanctified spirits, and he now makes
generous donations, thousands of yuan, to religious causes. "There are a lot
more officials above my rank who worship Buddhism and Taoism," he told this
reporter. "We all want to pray for safety and wealth during the Chinese New
Year, but the first joss stick [of great significance] is too expensive to
buy."
As a matter of ritual, offering the first incense to divinities ensures that
the prayer is heard and perhaps also answered first. Therefore, the first
incense burned at the inception of a new lunar year can be sold for the value
of half a limousine.
Sociologist Li Mingshui noted that the spouses of some depraved officers are
far more zealous in their religious beliefs than their spouses, who dare not
perform their devotions in public. In a city of northeast China's Shandong
province, for instance, officials' wives used to be organized every year for a
pilgrimage to Mount Tai where they each distributed a six-digit donation to the
local Buddhist and Taoist shrines, one at a time. "The busy officials have no
time to do such stuff themselves, and they are not supposed to show up on open
religious occasions. So their wives take matters into their own hands," said
Li.
Even Jiang Zemin, former supreme leader of the Chinese government and the armed
forces, turns out to be a pious pilgrim. On June 5, 2004, commander-in-chief
Jiang paid a widely reported homage visit to the famous Zhantanlin Temple
located in north China's Anhui province. In order to await his belated arrival,
the temple delayed the scriptures-chanting morning hours. The monastery abbot
personally lit up three joss sticks for the military strongman, who following
the worshipping rites, took over the sticks and piously placed them in the
censer. Jiang stayed for almost an hour at the temple, longer than scheduled.
On the way out, he turned around, hands pressed together, and bade "Amitabha",
a commonly used name for the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life, to the abbot
and the other monks.
Prior to the 16th assembly of the CCP National Congress, during which he
resigned as CCP general secretary and state president, Jiang Zemin visited
Bailinchan Temple in north China's Hebei province. Perhaps his prayer was
answered; he remained the first in military command as chairman of the CCP
Central Military Commission after the assembly and only stepped down last
September.
"As general secretary of the party, I'm an atheist. But I have wide interests
including religions, and I visit a religious sanctum every year," Jiang
explained to the Hong Kong Commercial Daily last September.
It is reported that this political heavyweight also paid tribute to Mount Wutai
in 2001, a celebrated Buddhist sanctum in north China's Shanxi province. But
the Mount Wutai tour today has become part of a cash-making pilgrimage
itinerary. A story published earlier by the International Herald Leader related
how political and business figures of a feather flocked together in prayer. A
real-estate tycoon spent a good fortune all along the way to accompany a mayor
to Mount Wutai. "I paid for his two-way flight ticket and the bill of a
four-star hotel where we spent the night. And I donated in his name 1,000 yuan
[US$9.58] to more than 10 temples each," the tycoon told to the newspaper.
When devout religious worship becomes a haven for citizens and officials of
dubious ethics, it is doubtful that there are many corners in China left
unsullied.
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