Lost in the Market, Saved at McDonald's: Conversion to Christianity in Urban China

Abstract

Protestant Christianity has been growing very fast in China under communist rule. This article shows that the converts are not all marginalized individuals deprived of material and social resources. An increasing proportion of the converts are well-educated young people in urban China. To explain this conversion to a nontraditional religion, the micro-level factors of individual crisis, individual choices, and personal bonds are inadequate. The meso-level institutional factors of organizational strengths and competitiveness are important, but religious organizations are severely constrained by restrictive regulations in China. I argue that the macro-level contextual factors are very important to understand the phenomenon of large-scale conversion to Christianity in China today. The crucial contextual factors are the increasingly globalized market economy under political repression. Christianity provides peace and certainty in facing wild market forces. The Christian faith is liberating amid a stifling political atmosphere. McDonald's is a prominent symbol of the globalized market, which, like Christianity, is perceived as modern and cosmopolitan within the Chinese context.

Novo nascimento cristão: uma nova identidade? Conversão, etnicidade e cidadania na Indonésia

“…O estudo clássico de Snow e Machalek (1984) sobre a explicação da conversão cobre um amplo leque de fatores, de mudança psicológica pessoal radical (stress, privações) a interpretações mais sociológicas de atributos sociais (idade, classe, educação) e influências sociais (redes sociais, interação intensiva). Trabalhos posteriores sobre conversão, especialmente por parte de historiadores e etnógrafos, enfatizaram a necessidade de incluir o contexto social e cultural mais amplo no qual os indivíduos mudam de religião, sem por isso desprezar os fatores psicológicos (Yang 2005). A partir daí, Hefner (1993:4) defende o estudo da "conversão em toda a sua complexidade -sociológica e histórica, cultural e psicológica", entendendo a maneira pela qual "processos sociais e individuais interagem no tempo".…”

“…O componente institucional acrescenta o fato de que a religião também se tornou uma mercadoria e que as organizações religiosas se tornaram importantes fornecedoras nos mercados religiosos (Yang 2005). Esses mercados são aprovisionados pelos movimentos carismáticos, com sua semelhança a companhias transnacionais.…”

“…Países como Cingapura, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonésia e Malásia têm as comunidades cristãs que mais crescem no mundo, e a maioria dos novos crentes é constituída por (jovens) chineses de classe média, em ascensão social, de centros urbanos da Ásia (Brazier 2006;Vatikiotis 2005;Yang 2005). Assim, a Ásia concentra hoje o segundo maior contingente de cristãos pentecostaiscarismáticos de todos os continentes, com um pico de crescimento entre 1970 e 2000, quando o número de seguidores cresceu de 10 a 135 milhões (Burgess 2002:301) 3 .…”

Yin Yang: A New Perspective in Understanding the Development of Religion in Contemporary China

“…It has been organized in accordance with Chinese people's occupations, incomes, residential areas, and ages. Even though public proselytism is illegal according to the Chinese Constitution, many religious believers would sing and hold scripture studies at fast food restaurants and other public places (Yang, 2005). The increasing diversity among religious organizations in China today A NEW PERSPECTIVE IN UNDERSTANDING THE DEVELOPMENT 88 suggests that the soft power of Yin has successfully facilitated growth and protection from the Chinese government's often changing policies on religion.…”

Spiritual Power. Ethnic Chinese Managers and the Rise of Charismatic Christianity

“…2 Countries like Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia are said to have the fastest-growing Christian communities and the majority of the new believers are upward mobile, urban, middle class Chinese (Vatikiotis 2005;Yang 2005). As such, Asia has reached the second largest number of Pentecostal-charismatic Christians of any continent with growth numbers of 10 to 135 million between 1970 and 2000 (Burgess and van der Maas 2002: 301).…”