ANU China Seminar Series: Special Event ‘An Afternoon on Religion in China’
Religious Groups, Varieties of Social Capital, and Contentious Collective Actions in Contemporary Rural China
Presented by Man-kong Wong
2:00pm–3:00pm, Thursday 23 August 2018
Seminar Room A, China in the World Building (188), Fellows Lane, ANU
This seminar will give an account of the work done by medical missionaries in pre-WWII Hong Kong. It will show that these medical missions held conflicting views and pursued competing projects. Some medical missionaries had no choice but to leave their missions; others were able to survive and achieve considerable successes. As part of a larger project of modernization, the Western medicine that medical missionaries brought to Hong Kong connected the community with the churches. Churches became more visible in the community as a result. Yet medical missionaries in Hong Kong, however Western in their ethos, also established and maintained relations with counterparts in other Chrisitan universities and colleges in China. These networks were of importance to the success of medical missions and medical work. All this makes the case of Hong Kong an interesting lens through which to explore notions of Chinese Christianity in an historical perspective. It may also be able to shed light on broader features of Asian Christianity.
About the speaker
Dr. Man-kong WONG is Associate Professor of History at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Formerly, he was the Director of China Studies at HKBU. His research interest covers the history of Christian missions in modern China and the medical history of modern China.
Religious Groups, Varieties of Social Capital, and Contentious Collective Actions in Contemporary Rural China
Presented by Yu Tao
3:30pm–5:30pm, 23 August 2018
Seminar Room A, China in the World Building (188), Fellows Lane, ANU
Why do some religious groups in China challenge state power while others cooperate with the government? Drawing on national survey data and comparative case studies from contemporary rural China, this research finds that contentious collective actions are less likely to occur in villages with religious groups that simultaneously overlap with secular social organizations and local authorities. Moreover, it reveals that religious groups with different varieties of social capital tend to play different roles in contentious collective actions, and those containing all three varieties of social capital (bonding, bridging, and linking) are more likely to serve as credible communication channels between local states and discontented citizens. These findings highlight two important issues that are often side-lined in the existing literature. First, the relationship between religious groups and contentious collective action is diverse rather than uniform. Second, this relationship is shaped not only by religious groups but also by other important players in the local political arena.
About the speaker
Dr Yu Tao is the coordinator of Chinese Studies in the University of Western Australia, where he teaches contemporary Chinese society and politics in both English and Chinese. He was trained as a political sociologist in Universities of Beijing, Cambridge, and Oxford, and his research primarily focuses on the interactions between religious groups, civic organisations and local state agencies in contemporary Chinese society and overseas Chinese communities.