Few studies exist on the history of Buddhism in Mainland China between the surrender of Japan in 1945 and the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. How Chinese temples and ordinary monks and nuns survived during the Civil War between the Kuomintang and the Communists, and how Buddhist ritual service, which most monks and nuns depended on for a living, were affected by the conflicts are questions worthy exploring. In the initial two years after the end of the Sino-Japanese War, grateful for their own survival, mourning the dead and fearful for the future, people in southern Jiangsu experienced an unprecedented religious fervor. Religious activities such as pilgrimage, worship, and request for Buddhist ritual service rapidly increased. Before this popular enthusiasm receded, however, the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party resumed their fighting in Northeast and North China. A large number of monks and nuns flooded to Jiangnan for shelter. Prior to the Communist forces crossing the Yangtze River in April 1949, the battlefield between the two parties remained in north of the River and most parts of southern Jiangsu were not directly affected by the war. Nevertheless, the conflict still affected the lives of monks and nuns in the area in many ways. The struggle between the two sides in intelligence operation and labor movement, for example, had negatively affected the life of monks and nuns in southern Jiangsu. Meanwhile, monks and nuns were not completely passive in the current of events and lost all initiatives. As the Kuomintang and the Communists used Buddhist temples as their covers, the monks and nuns were also taking advantage of the battles to benefit themselves. Balancing religious beliefs and considerations of income became increasingly difficult at a time when material interests, political attitude, and religious practice were closely intertwined.
