In 2018, the new “Regulation on Religious Affairs” (zongjiao shiwu tiaoli 宗教事务条例) went into effect in China. The government began a large-scale crackdown on large outdoor religious statues. This campaign addresses the Xi administration’s concern over increasing religious beliefs and public expressions in the 21st century. This talk investigates the motivation behind the rapid growth of monumental religious statues, especially ones depicting Buddhist gods, built by religious institutions and lay communities throughout China over the past two decades. The speaker will explore ways in which the boundaries of limited “religious freedom” are being tested, and cases of government interference with statues’ donors, worshippers, and pilgrims. The controversy around these statues helps us better understand Chinese Communist Party’s law enforcement into the spiritual world as well as its impact on local Chinese society.

Speakers:

Dr. Kaiqi Hua is a visiting scholar at the William S. Richardson School of Law. He was a lecturer in Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia in Canada, where he taught courses in Asian History, Cinema, and Buddhism. He was also a professor in Philosophy and Religious Studies for Semester At Sea. He holds a Ph.D. in World Cultures from University of California, Merced. His research interests include Chinese religion, cross-cultural contact, and interdisciplinary studies.

Faculty interlocutor Jonathan Pettit is assistant professor of Religion at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. He works on the production, circulation, and reproduction of early Daoist scriptures, and recently completed a book, to be published by UH Press, that explores how Daoist scriptures were altered and changed over time. He is also working on another book that examines the changing notions of the “world” in early Daoist geographical texts.

Co-Sponsor:

UH Department of Religion