The Religious Dimension of Politics in Maoist China¹

This article presents four main approaches to research on the dissemination of Marxist ideology in China: those of intellectual history, political or social history, history of religion and discourse analysis. Rather than argue for the theoretical applicability of the term ‘political religion’ to the case of China under the rule of Mao Zedong (1949–76), it offers a broader consideration of the relevance of religion to politics in modern China. It suggests that a ‘religious dimension’ was consistently present in the propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party as well as in people's minds.