The Year 1989 in China:A Religio-Political Analysis with Special Emphasis on Christianity

Abstract

This paper studies the question of the significance of the year 1989, which represents a political and sociocultural break (watershed) both for the West and for the East. In China this Datum is above all associated with the demonstrations and the massacre on Tian’anmen-Square. The paper sketches out (I) a “phenomenology” of the year 1989 in China, in which the events that are significant from the religio-political point of view and in respect of the history of Christianity are emphasised particularly and the “reception” of European events in China analysed. In a further section (II) the many-sided interdependences and reciprocities between the events within China and those in China and Europe are studied. Finally (III) the question of the lasting impact and after-effects of the events of the year 1989 in the Chinese context are discussed. They had important social and religio-political consequences not only in the People’s Republic of China, but also for Hongkong. At the same time a lasting effect in the area of Sino-Vatican relations is confirmed. But after-effects can also be seen in various other areas, particularly in attitudes to human nature and to religion (or the question of transcendence) in China.