Contenu du sommaire : L'anticléricalisme en Chine

The apparition of anticlerical themes in medieval anti-Buddhist polemic Anti-Buddhist criticism appeared soon after the religion's introduction in China. It was caused both by its novel and complex ideology and by the monks' behaviour, who tried to escape imperial authority and who lived according to rules deemed offensive by public opinion. This article analyses, within the corpus of anti-Buddhist medieval polemical texts, the specifically anticlerical themes, notably concerning the monks' mores and the danger they posed to a state threatened by an erosion of its authority. For a better understanding of the agenda behind such criticism, these polemical texts are compared with the Western anticlerical tradition. The medieval anti-Buddhist rhetoric has been adopted ever since as anticlerical stereotypes, which were instrumental in the state's efforts to control the clergy.

Secular physicians against ritualistic medicine (exorcism) under the Ming. The disappearance of therapeutic rituals from the curriculum of the Imperial Institute of Medicine Therapeutic ritual has long since formed an integral part of traditional Chinese medicine. Elevated to the level of a medical specialisation under the Sui (581-618), it was included as such in the courses offered by the Imperial Institute of Medicine. Its existence in the institute's curriculum is cited in the official histories up to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Its disappearance occurred no later than 1570. The treatises of the secular Ming physicians shed light on the reasons that subtend not only its disappearance but also the discrete, almost stealthy, procedure of its suppression. Since this medico-religious tradition is acknowledged by the classic Huangdi neijing, secular physicians have never been able to contest openly its nominal presence as a form of official medicine, but remain in general hostile to its practice. The physicians' attitude towards exorcists can be interpreted as anticlerical since it is based on ideological rather than doctrinal reasons. It furthermore invokes a fundamentalist ideal (the imagined decay of the exorcists' authority) and implied conflicts about actual social power.

The Christians of the mid-Qing period were as much subject to anticlerical feelings and action as were Buddhist and Daoist cults. After the anti-missionary edict of 1724, Christian family heads and wandering preachers - the "clerics" of eighteenth-century Christianity - found themselves being targeted as "morally corrupt". In the mental universe of their anti-Christian neighbours, the propagation of celibacy, the nomadic life style of missionaries, alleged acts of black magic and sexual indecency against minors constituted breaches against common morality. For the state officials, Christian clerics were furthermore a potential fifth column of high treason. In contrast with Buddhist millenarianism, however, the Christian "threat" remained wholly imaginary - at least until the re-entry of European missionaries around 1830.

On Islam in China : antireligious provocations and anticlerical attitudes since the nineteenth century During the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, antireligious provocations and anticlerical attitudes deeply marked the history of Chinese Muslims (Hui). This article examines the issues and the forms of these conflicts. It distinguishes quarrels that stem from intolerance between Hui and non-Muslim communities from plainly anticlerical attitudes. Anticlericalism in a Hui context, notably attacks by reformers on ahong (imams) as stalwarts of traditional Islam, are expressions of a desire for religious reformation and are merely of intra-Muslim concern.

The 1922 antireligious campaign In the spring of 1922, the campaign for the rejection of religion initiated by the Comintern agents in Shanghai met with almost unanimous support among China's students and intellectuals. In the flood of articles, pamphlets and speeches that marked the movement during its four months, the novelty of the campaign lay in not merely refuting dogmatic concepts (as the modern critical analysis developed after the acceptance in China of the European concept of "religion" had done), but in attacking the Church as an institution. The arguments borrowed profusely from French anticlericalism. The very name chosen by the movement, feizongjiao, was the term then in use for translating laïcité. Christianity, the main target of the zealots, was combated mainly in the name of science, progress and intellectual freedom, which was acknowledged to extend to Buddhism, Taoism and other religious teachings as well. The thrust of the rhetoric focused on the defence of national sovereignty, but - despite the parallels with nineteenth-century refutations against Christianity - now hinged on the notion that foreign religious encroachment was driven by capitalism. The issue was not a wholesale rejection of foreign influence, but only of certain types of foreign presence. The anticlerical ingredients of the Chinese tradition were thus enriched and renewed, but only with its revival in 1923 the antireligious movement was to convey a well- defined political and social agenda.

Desired, mocked, corrected : stray monks in the vernacular novel from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century The number of monks breaking their vows is so great in the Ming and Qing vernacular novel that this genre has been considered the ultimate expression of Chinese literary anticlericalism. While the oldest novels pictured the stray monk as a seduced ascetic, worthy of both pity and blame, it was not before the early seventeenth-century vogue of the erotic novel that the shameless debauched monk emerged as the stereotypical clerical protagonist. Topping the hierarchy of vices is the barbarian monk, master of sexual magic and equipped with a monstrous body. In contrast to the magician-cum-rapist, one encounters figures of eccentric holy monks. Often farcical, riotous or drunken, these monks are all the more licentious as they strive for holier goals. Some of them, like the famous Crazy Ji, are heroes of narratives which are generally pro-Buddhist. Some others, however are real Confucians clad in monkish robes and act as righters of the stray mores of their times, condemning monks and laymen alike.

Anatomy of an anticlerical discourse: the Shenbao, 1872-1878 The Shenbao, the chief daily publication of Shanghai, vividly illustrates the religious life in the treaty ports during the late nineteenth century. This documentation includes a body of anticlerical articles aimed at Buddhists and Taoists which can be identified by formal criteria, such as stereotyping, calls for harsh policies, obsessive imagination, or verbal abuse. Anticlerical articles coexist with less hostile discourses, yet constitute a specific corpus characterised by its violent language. Three major themes can be identified: clerical sexuality, violent fund-raising techniques, and, less often, black magic. An analysis of the discourse and of the underlying mentality shows that anticlericalism in this context is mostly a result of a rejection of lifestyles considered to be in contradiction to prevailing values concerning the human body and social relations.

"Lamas" as seen from China : fascination and repulsion The Chinese phantasmagoria of Tibetan monks abound in images of fascination and repulsion. The representation of the "lama" in China is a superposition of the full variety of images of foreign clerics (fanseng) from the "West" (India, Central Asia and Tibet). The image of the depraved Tantrist, expert in black magic and sexual techniques, coexists with that of the holy arhat. The discourse on lamas in novels, official documents and the Chinese press has developed along four broad themes : "Lamaist" heterodoxy, the Barbarian monk, the evil influence of lamas on emperors and ordinary people, as well as the personality cult of the "Living Buddhas". Lamas were subjected to the same anticlericalism which generally targeted the whole of China's clergy. Xenophobia and a discourse founded on the "original sin" of Tibetan monks under the Yuan dynasty added to its impact.

Qigong between the various "anti" discourses. From communist anticlericalism to Falungong fundamentalism Qigong masters, as healers, mystical teachers and symbolic providers, have become a kind of secular clergy in post-Mao China. Following the emergence of these charismatic figures and their tens of millions of adepts, an anticlerical discourse appeared, which was used by the masters themselves as well as by their opponents. Qigong and its offshoot, Falungong, offer a prism for analysing the mutations of anticlericalism in contemporary China. Successively brought into the service of state construction, of a return to the sources of tradition, of anti-superstition polemics, of a religious fundamentalism and of an anti-heretical political campaign, anticlericalism reveals the lines of tension which have shaped the constellation of Chinese body and breathing arts networks.

For a comparison between European and Chinese anticlericalisms The comparative method used in this volume, i.e. applying the European notion of anticlericalism to a Chinese context, is justified by actual similarities. More fundamentally, it is also justified by the irrelevance of any radical opposition between European and Chinese ways of constructing religion. In both cases, the definition and role of religion within society has been the subject of on-going debate, generating a variety of anticlericalisms as by-products. The history of this debate in Europe and its evolution through time and space allows to differentiate between several typological case studies, for instance between Catholic and Protestant countries. Many of these case studies have equivalents at one point or another of Chinese history. Analogies appear when scrutinising the liberal view of religion as a separate sphere within society, the relationship between religion and predominant morality, the inclusion of religion within the official bureaucracy or the links between anticlericalism and anti-religion. In conclusion, there may well be a universal typology of anticlericalisms, within which both European and Chinese cases would find their specific place.