This book examines religious activismChristianity, Buddhism, and Taoismin China, a powerful atheist state that provides one of the hardest challenges to existing methods of transnational activism. The author focuses on mechanisms used by three kinds of actors: protesters, advocates and opportunists, and uses regional, inter-faith, and international comparisons to understand why some foreign advocates can enter China and engage in illegal aid and missions to empower local activists, while the same groups cannot conduct the same activities in another geographically, economically and politically similar location. The stories in this book demonstrate a more inclusive and bottom-up approach of transnational activism; they challenge the conventional spiral theory paradigm of human rights literature and the narrow views about GONGOs in civil society literature. This new knowledge helps to sustain a more optimistic view and offers an alternative way of promoting human rights in China andcountries with similar authoritarian environments.

Centers on case studies, more than 200 interviews, and the author's personal observations over five years Provides critical information to both practitioners and scholars on what activists should and should not do Analyzes the delicate competition between legally registered groups and the "underground" groups created by China's policies

Autorentext

Ray Wang is Associate Professor at National Chengchi University, Taiwan. His major research interests focus on human rights, religious freedom and transnational advocacy networks, and he is the recipient of an Excellent Young Scholar Research Fund from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (2018-2021).

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 2. Facilitating Activism in a Strong Authoritarian State.- 3. China's Religious Affairs Policy.- 4. United Front Work and Religious Affairs Institutions.- 5. A Tale of Four Cities: Transnational Christian Activism in the Heartland.- 6. Buddha vs. Jesus: The Transnationalism of Traditional Religions.- 7. Go Beyond Religion and China.- 8. Conclusion.