To include religion in a discussion of emerging social movements in China would seem to be a natural thing to do: after all, one could argue that in China, the social movements with the greatest numbers of followers, the most efficient mobilizing ability, and the greatest capacity for resistance to government repression are religious ones. From the underground churches to Tibetan and Muslim movements to Falungong, organized popular resistance in China has frequently taken religious form since the late 20th century. And yet, an uncritical application of the sociological concept of the 'social movement', with its emphasis on conflict and a state-society dichotomy, to China's religious sphere–and perhaps, by extension, to Chinese society in general -- risks blinding us to the true location and dynamics of social agency in China. While it is not difficult to identify religious movements of resistance in China, such phenomena merely represent a small but attention-grabbing portion of a broader process of the redeployment of religious networks and communities in their relation to society and the state.
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Questioning 'social movements' Temple revivals in the Chinese countryside The qigong movement Conclusion References Index terms
