Religions with Chinese characteristics for a New Era: a legal and political perspective

Abstract

The present work aims at analysing today’s religion politics in China, focusing on the ideological, institutional and legislative restructuring under the Xi Jinping administration. Since Xi Jinping’s election as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, China is undergoing an impressive transformation in terms of religious strategies, institutions and norms and the party plays a key role in shaping the religious field. The dissertation is threefold: chapter one will focus on the political sinicisation of religion, the ideological framework promoted by the CCP to guide religions in China; chapter two will concentrate on the institutional restructuring that has taken place in 2018, radically transforming the structure of the main institutions responsible for the administration of religion. In such religious restructuring, an insight on the increasingly important role of the United Front Work Department will be given. Finally, chapter three will provide an analysis of the newly issued Regulations on Religious Affairs and its complementary measures. The three chapters represent an attempt to examine the three-layer control mechanism enacted by the Chinese Government as in to ensure all religions follow the same Chinese-oriented path, to unite religions for the achievement of broader political goals (i.e. role of the United Front) and to improve rule of law in religious work (i.e. newly issued Regulations on Religious Affairs).