China started – after initial suppression – to tolerate religion under Deng Xiaoping, as the communist rulers of the country expected religion was something for the older generation and would die out. Journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao explains in a Q&A to JWT Intelligence why they were wrong. And the implications for business.Read More →
Most reviewers of Ian Johnson’s latest book The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao focus on religion, while his book also has a profound political dimension. “Interesting that only a religious journal gets the deeper meaning of my book–not only as a challenge to religion and values, but also to China’s political order,” writes Johnson on Facebook.about the review in Voegelinview.Read More →
An upsurge in folk religions, Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and other forms of spirituality is caused by China’s development into an industrial superpower, argued journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao earlier this week at a speech at , according to the Yale Daily.Read More →
Mao Zedong and his followers have tried to eradicate cultural icon Confucius, from China’s history. But with some help from current president Xi Jinping, Confucius is making a comeback, reports journalist Ian Johnson, author or The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao for the New York Times.Read More →
China’s leadership is gathering this week in Beijing to prepare another five-year plan, and affirm president Xi Jinping for another five-year term. Journalist Ian Johnson looks for the New York Times at the new role China is playing in the world. “His China could become a model for digitally driven authoritarianism around the world.”Read More →
Protestantism, Buddhism and Taoism grow fast in China, but followers of the Catholic faith are dwindling. Author Ian Johnson of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao reports from the countryside on why Catholicism finds it harder to find a solid footprint among Chinese looking for moral values, for the America Magazine.Read More →
Strippers are invited at funerals in Taiwan, drag queens in Sichuan. Author Ian Johnson of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao discusses at ChinaFile how those drag queens are rooted into society.Read More →
Singapore’s directive government has long focused language training on English and later Mandarin, for commercial reasons. But journalist Ian Johnson notes at the New York Times that traditional Chinese dialects, including Hokkien, are making their comeback, allowing families to talk to each other and understand their past.Read More →
The decision by the Cambridge University Press to bow to Chinese censorship and block over 300 articles on its China site has shocked the academic world. Journalist Ian Johnson , author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, reports on the issue for the New York Times and tested from Beijing what he could no longer get.Read More →
Religious groups in China have had different degrees of success, depending on their relations with the authorities. Among the Buddhist Fo Guang Shan, has been the most successful, writes author Ian Johnson of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao in the New York Times. Has Fo Guang Shan changed China, or is China changing Buddhism, he asks.Read More →
What is China up to is a question that is more often asked than answered. Journalist Howard French’s book Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape China’s Push for Global Power certainly has not the most benign take on the country’s ambitions. Fellow author Ian Johnson reviews the book for Chinafile.Read More →
Shocking footage of a traffic accident, where nobody came to the rescue of the female victim, triggered off a national debate on the state of morality in China. Journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao looks at the different viewpoints of the debate, for the New York Times.Read More →