- 20 Jan 2021 04:23
#15151288
Sometimes they try, sometimes they don't. It depends on the local government, whether the mayor has ambitions, or whether the Politburo got its feelings hurt last week by something mean the other powers said.
The problem with Western policy on China is that it's very "damned if you do and damned if you don't." Over the last couple years this has led to China increasingly being like "fuck it, the West is going to shit on us no matter what we do, may as well do what we want." If the West had been a little more consistent in its critiques, the liberalization of the 2000s-2015 could have probably continued - but so be it.
Xi has made this a part of his populist appeal, and there has been a resurgence of traditional Chinese culture in the last ten years.
ness31 wrote:From your reply it sounds as though China tries hard to accommodate religious observance in order to give the pretense of functioning pluralism.
Sometimes they try, sometimes they don't. It depends on the local government, whether the mayor has ambitions, or whether the Politburo got its feelings hurt last week by something mean the other powers said.
The problem with Western policy on China is that it's very "damned if you do and damned if you don't." Over the last couple years this has led to China increasingly being like "fuck it, the West is going to shit on us no matter what we do, may as well do what we want." If the West had been a little more consistent in its critiques, the liberalization of the 2000s-2015 could have probably continued - but so be it.
ness31 wrote:But I guess my query (which was quite vague) was more, do they have national pride in their religious customs? Would they show Taoism favour over others? Do they have that capacity?
I’d have thought that was one of the perks of being a superpower with a rich cultural history
Xi has made this a part of his populist appeal, and there has been a resurgence of traditional Chinese culture in the last ten years.