"CULTURAL CHRISTIANS" AND THE SEARCH FOR CIVIL SOCIETY IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA. (May 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xi, Lian
• Is Part Of: Chinese historical review. Volume 20:Number 1(2013)
• Page Start: 70
• Page End: 87
• Publication Date: 2013-05
• Subjects: "Cultural Christians -- " Protestant elites -- "rights defense -- " civil society -- political dissent -- Yu Jie -- Fan Yafeng -- Gao Zhisheng -- Liu Xiaobo; China -- History -- Periodicals; China -- Relations -- History -- Periodicals; 951
• DOI: 10.1179/1547402X13Z.00000000017
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1547-402X

Abstract

Abstract : This article traces the emergence of political and legal activism among China's Protestant elites since the turn of the twenty-first century. It explores the work and the writings of several contemporary public intellectuals and activists who have discovered in their newfound Protestant faith a sacred ground upon which they stand in opposition to the arbitrary powers of the Party-state. Other liberals such as Liu Xiaobo also see Christianity as offering guidance for both democratization and moral regeneration of Chinese society—a theme that echoes many Chinese intellectuals' response to Christianity at the birth of the Republic a century earlier.