Chinese Secret Societies. Volume 1. General Introduction

Author: Qin Baoqi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-10-01
Features: The book China's Secret Societies is divided into seven volumes, and this volume is the Volume General Theory. The General Theory primarily presents our views on some important and controversial theoretical issues concerning China's secret societies. These issues include the positioning of the two major systems of China's secret societies—secret religious sects and secret associations. For example, should secret religious sects be positioned as "religious groups" or as "secret folk associations"? Do secret religious sects originate from the Taiping Dao and the Five-Paili Dao of the late Eastern Han Dynasty, or from the heretical Buddhist sects since the Northern and Southern Dynasties? From their development trends, are secret religious sects inevitably destined to evolve into mainstream religions, or are they bound to decline as folk secret associations? Are secret associations created by Ming loyalists in the early Qing Dynasty to restore Ming rule as "anti-Manchu" groups, or are they folk secret associations formed by the lower classes for mutual aid and resistance against oppression? Are secret religious sects and secret associations "revolutionary organizations" representing the interests and demands of the lower classes, or are they primitive and backward organizations established by some rebellious individuals in lower society to achieve their own political or economic goals? What positive and negative roles have they played in history, and what positive and negative impacts have they had? What governance measures have successive governments taken toward secret societies? How should these measures be viewed and evaluated? These issues involve the fundamental perspectives of researchers on China's secret societies and are the main problems this book aims to address.