Bibles have been legally available in China, both in print and online. But a recent crackdown by the authorities on online bibles might signal a wider crackdown, writes journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, for the New York Times.Read More →

In China power and religion are intertwined, argues journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao and you cannot understand China without knowing its religion. At the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy, he explains how religion moved from apparently irrelevant to crucial in today’s China. Why religion is not going away, as many intellectuals have thought.Read More →

China’s presidency – now no longer a two-term function – is highly ceremonial, but still matters, writes journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao at the NY Review of Books. Xi Jinping was already lifetime leader of the Communist Party and of the Central Military Committee.Read More →

Despite fierce opposition, both the Vatican and the central government in Beijing seem very eager to sign a deal on reestablishing diplomatic relations. Journalist Ian Johnson, who broke the story end January, and author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao tries to figure out why both a so eager to push ahead, he tells at PRI. The real issue for both is about social control, he says.Read More →

Who killed more, Hitler or Stalin, is a question often asked. Journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, argues – 60 years after the Great Leap Forward started – that Mao Zedong is often wrongly excluded from this debate. But he opts for a nuanced approach in The New York Review of Books, although in numbers Mao beats both Stalin and Hitler.Read More →

The Roman Catholic Church at the Vatican has shocked its communities in China by asking two “underground” bishops by complying to the country’s rulers. Journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, tries to make sense out of the move for the New York Times.Read More →

The less-than straightforward relation between China’s communist rulers and religion is one of the complicated concepts author Ian Johnson of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao tries to explain. From repression, to tolerance and now moving to a idea to use religion to restore some order, that relationship has changed profoundly, he tells The Politic, although it varies depending on what religion you look at.Read More →

Author Ian Johnson of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao meets controversial artist Qiu Zhijie for the New York Review of Books.Before the interview, Ian Johnson puts Qiu and their first meetings into perspective. Here is the introduction of the interview.Read More →

Journalist Ian Johnson’s latest book The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao is not short of positive reviews. But Jeremiah Jenne gives in the World of Chinese his review an extra twist. The Return of religion in China is not limited to the country’s search of new values, but might be part of a worldwide search of values, Jenne writes.Read More →

Daoism is key to understand today’s China, says journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao. to ABC News. “You can provide values, an escape for people, or turn inward to piety, but you cannot challenge the Government. You can’t be an alternative source of values or the Government will turn against you.”Read More →

Religious persecution in China is high on the political agenda, but most people do not see how the country’s religious revival is going to change our relations in the long run, argues journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao at the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.Read More →