Marxism Research Network
Unofficial English Translation

The Social Costs of Religious Belief: A Case Study of Gannan and Linxia Prefectures in Gansu Province

Science & Atheism

The relationship between religious belief and economic and social development is complex and multifaceted. It is undeniable that throughout the long course of human history, religion has played, and continues to play, many positive roles and influences on economic and social development, particularly within the spiritual world of humanity. However, reality also demonstrates that if religion does not develop rationally or fail to adapt well to actual society, it can, to a certain extent, become a primary cause of regional underdevelopment—especially in areas with a heavy concentration of religious believers among ethnic minorities. In analyzing the current state of religious, economic, and social development in Gansu, this article focuses primarily on Gannan [Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture] and Linxia [Hui Autonomous Prefecture]. It attempts to reveal the inhibitory effects of religion on the economic and social development of these regions, as well as the social costs paid by ethnic minority areas due to religious belief. The goal is to identify one cause of poverty and backwardness in ethnic minority areas, with the hope that religion can develop rationally in a modernizing China, better adapt to society, and play a greater and stronger positive role in the harmony and sustainable development of Chinese society.

Gansu has been a multi-ethnic and multi-religious region since ancient times, home to all five major religions: Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, and Protestantism. Believers of these five religions are spread throughout the province. In Gannan Autonomous Prefecture, where Tibetans live in concentrated communities, and Linxia Autonomous Prefecture, where the Hui people reside, the masses of ethnic minorities such as the Tibetans and Hui are essentially religious in their entirety. However, the state of local economic and social development is not optimistic; the local people lead lives characterized by poverty and backwardness. Among the seven counties and one city of Gannan Prefecture (Hezuo City, Lintan County, Jonê County, Zhugqu County, Têwo County, Maqu County, Luqu County, and Xiahe County), five are national-level poverty-stricken counties (Lintan, Zhugqu, Jonê, Xiahe, and Hezuo City). In the seven counties and one city of Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture (Linxia City, Linxia County, Yongjing County, Hezheng County, Guanghe County, Kangle County, Jishishan County, and Dongxiang Autonomous County), all except Linxia City are national-level poverty-stricken counties [1]. Naturally, the economic and social backwardness of ethnic regions has geographical, climatic, transportational, and historical causes. However, the fact that local masses place all their hopes for changing their fate and seeking happiness in religion, and invest excessively in religious belief, further induces the poverty and backwardness of the region.

This is because religious belief possesses significant material elements: the need to construct, expand, and maintain religious venues; the food, clothing, housing, and transportation needs of the clergy; the materials necessary for religious sacrificial rituals; and the expenditures for religious festivals and activities. All of these require material wealth as a prerequisite and support. These massive expenditures are essentially provided through donations from the local people. This brings a colossal burden and pressure to the local populace, affecting the overall economic and social development of the area.

The inhibitory effect of religion on economic and social development is manifold and multi-layered. This article attempts to analyze and explore it from the following perspectives:

I. The Consumption of Human, Material, and Financial Resources by Religious Belief The construction, maintenance, and operation of religious venues, along with religious clergy and devotional activities, consume vast amounts of human, material, and financial resources, thereby reducing the capacity of the people to engage in economic and social construction.

  1. Construction and Maintenance of Religious Venues Gansu has 6,771 approved religious activity venues, including 4,779 Islamic, 825 Buddhist, 804 Taoist, 287 Protestant, and 76 Catholic sites. There are 1,923 religious venues that have not been approved for opening, including 321 Islamic, 594 Buddhist, 792 Taoist, 188 Protestant, and 28 Catholic sites [2]. Most of these numerous religious venues have long histories and are massive in scale. Walking into the Tibetan Buddhist monasteries of Gannan or the Islamic mosques and gongbei [3] of Linxia, the scale and momentum, as well as the clean and tidy courtyards, leave every visitor in awe; some religious venues can only be described as "resplendent in gold and jade." One can only imagine the human, material, and financial resources expended therein.

Large numbers of construction workers, vast amounts of building materials, and significant sums of money are invested in the construction of these religious venues. The construction of a single monastery or gongbei may persist for many years; even the construction of a single gate can take several years and cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of yuan. Due to the sacred nature of religion, the building materials used here are generally the finest available, some of which must be transported from great distances, making them more costly than ordinary construction. The processing of materials is also meticulous, requiring experienced and skilled masters to use fine craftsmanship, which is more time-consuming and labor-intensive than ordinary materials.

At the same time, the maintenance of every religious venue, the vast array of religious facilities (including various statues and ritual implements), and daily necessities (water, electricity, etc.) expend significant human, material, and financial resources. When we enter the palaces, temples, and gongbei of Gannan and Linxia, we are struck by the numerous resplendent statues, various decorations, and the clean, orderly courtyards. Where do these facilities come from? Why are these massive architectural complexes and courtyards so clean and tidy? Without a doubt, this is the result of human effort, not divine power. These were sculpted and purchased with the money of the local masses, and are the result of the labor of extensive maintenance, nursing, and cleaning personnel. One can imagine how great the cost is, yet these funds basically originate from the donations of local religious believers; they come from the common people. This inevitably puts great pressure on their lives and reduces their capacity for economic and social construction.

  1. Religious Clergy For religious venues to operate, they cannot function without a large number of clergy. Among the five major religions currently in Gansu, there are over 20,000 religious clergy, including 5,042 in Islam, 12,000 in Buddhism, 2,826 in Taoism, 295 in Protestantism, and 135 in Catholicism [4]. These clergy members do not participate in productive activities; all their living expenses come from society and the believers in their parishes. This inevitably brings various burdens and pressures to the believers and local society, affecting the coordinated development of the economy and society. "In a society, a large number of clergy specialized in religious activities means a reduction in the number of laborers engaged in productive labor, and the expenditures required to maintain them will necessarily increase" [5].

Reality shows that this large body of clergy is a "mixed bag of dragons and snakes" [6]. Among them are many talented and capable patriotic personages with profound knowledge and progressive ideas; there are also reactionary elements who are anti-people, anti-society, and anti-state; and there are ignorant individuals who lack their own thought and simply follow the crowd. It is undeniable that those progressive patriots have contributed to social harmony, stability, and healthy development, leaving behind many "beautiful stories" [7] in history and real life, and creating spiritual wealth for humanity; they are indispensable to the people's lives. However, the reactionary elements among them, encouraged by anti-China forces at home and abroad, have also caused great disasters for society. Repeated social riots involving ethnic and religious issues are clear examples of this, such as the "March 14" incident in 2008 and the "July 5" incident in 2009 [8].

  1. Religious Belief Activities Monasteries, palaces, and other religious venues frequently hold religious activities, and believers often go to these sites to pray or worship. Religious activity itself is a form of economic consumption. During religious activities, the food and clothing of monks and priests, the burning of large amounts of incense, paper, and candles, and the use of various props and sacrificial offerings all consume many resources.

Religious consumption is a non-productive form of consumption with a strong parasitic nature, relying primarily on the alms of believers. This brings burdens and pressures to believers in terms of financial, material, and human resources. Mr. Robert Barro believes that, given a certain level of belief, more frequent church attendance is more detrimental to economic development because excessive resource input into religious activities does not change the output (i.e., the level of piety), but instead restricts economic investment [9].

While fulfilling religious faith, these activities also frequently require religious masses to engage in various donation activities to raise funds for their own expansion and strengthening. The fund-raising and economic accumulation of religion allow religious venues and organizations to possess vast wealth, but simultaneously, the income and wealth of believers and the masses are greatly reduced. The most direct impact of religion on the economy lies in the fact that religious consumption diverts large amounts of wealth from the production process toward non-productive fields.

In many places in Gannan and Linxia, the sharp contrast between magnificent temple architecture and the dilapidated housing of believers is a vivid portrayal of this. Among some ethnic minorities with backward productive forces, religious consumption severely hinders productive accumulation, the expansion of re-production, and even the development of productive forces. This is not only a historical summary but an economic law; the appearance of this situation inevitably leads to the accumulation of social wealth in religious orders rather than in social expanded re-production. If this reaches a level that the social economy can hardly bear, the capacity of the people for economic and social construction will be greatly damaged, leading to the general impoverishment of a regional society. This directly causes the poverty of the believers' lives and the lag in local economic and social undertakings.

II. Irrational Occupation of Land Resources by Religious Venues Religious venues occupy large amounts of fertile land, reducing the space available within the region for cultivation and for developing economic and social undertakings. At the same time, this creates irrationality and chaos in construction space, leading to many thorny conflicts and disputes in society.

As mentioned previously, the construction of several thousand monasteries, Taoist temples, and churches in Gansu occupies vast amounts of land, and some monasteries are in a state of continuous expansion. In Gannan and Linxia, walking along certain streets and fields, you will find a temple or church every short distance; one could say that religious architecture is visible everywhere. Due to the mysticism of religion, the construction of religious venues emphasizes fengshui [10] and geographical positioning; therefore, these numerous religious venues are basically established on plots with relatively good geographical locations. Furthermore, as the crowds visiting these religious venues increase, the demand for roads also rises sharply. Consequently, many roads of varying scales that are difficult to plan holistically occupy even more land. This results in a massive reduction of land used for production, living, and social development, posing a threat to the life and development of the local people.

The construction of large numbers of religious venues also causes extreme irrationality and chaos in construction space. Due to the sacred nature of religion, there is great resistance to the relocation of religious venues. Therefore, many places encounter great difficulties when conducting holistic construction planning and try their best to avoid monasteries. This results in extreme irrationality and chaos in local construction space, affecting the overall development of the locality. In Gannan and Linxia, there are situations where civilian homes are inside monasteries or temples are inside [residential] courtyards, leading to irreconcilable conflicts and disputes between the monasteries and the populace. This creates extreme difficulties for the work of local governments, and improper handling of such issues may even lead to social instability.

III. High Consumption of Time and Energy by Religious Belief Activities There are approximately 3.44 million religious believers of various types in Gansu Province, accounting for 13.15% of the province's total population [11]. In Gannan and Linxia, the Tibetan and Muslim masses are essentially religious in their entirety. Religious venues such as monasteries and palaces frequently hold religious activities of varying scales, all of which require the participation and involvement of the religious masses. Moreover, some of these activities last for a long time; during these periods, all individual and family affairs must be subordinated to religious activities and temporarily suspended. Beyond these collective religious activities, the daily devotional activities of believers at home or in temples are also a mandatory part of their lives. In many Buddhist monasteries in Gannan, many pious believers can be seen every day bringing offerings and spending vast amounts of time and energy on prostrations, chanting sutras, and worshiping. In Linxia, no matter where one goes, the call to prayer from mosques can be heard from time to time; local people have habitually regarded it as their own daily schedule, and within the mosques, the sound of imams chanting and the shadows of Muslims praying are constant. This makes one wonder how much time and energy they expend on religious belief. This greatly discounts the time and energy they have for improving their standard of living and developing economic and social undertakings. While being moved by their piety, looking at the backward life and social reality of the local people inevitably brings to mind how people in large cities work against the clock to improve their standard of living, which is how they achieved the advanced economic and social status of those cities. In contrast, these parish masses invest massive amounts of time and energy into religious belief activities, which will inevitably affect the improvement of local living standards and the overall development of the region.

IV. The Shackle of Religion on People’s Thinking

By its very essence, every religion rejects the pursuit of material interests, considering the blind pursuit of wealth to be shameful and immoral. Religion either advocates for people to purify their hearts and diminish their desires [12] in pursuit of immortality; or it exhorts people to distance themselves from desire, fame, and fortune during their earthly lives to achieve beauty in the hereafter, ascend to heaven after death, or enter the Western Paradise. For instance, the Buddhist tradition pursues the transcendental rather than secular interests. Traditional Christianity likewise does not pursue quick successes and instant benefits [13], but rather considers wealth illusory and dangerous, something to be discarded. Taoism, even more so, advocates an "extra-mundane" [14] outlook on life and values. This traditional avoidance of profit characteristic of religion is detrimental to the development of a market economy. Consequently, in Gannan [15], many believers would rather set aside their work every day to go to the temples with offerings, spending entire days prostrating, chanting sutras, and worshipping in kowtow. In the mosques of Linxia [16], the figures of Muslims in prayer can be seen at any time. The center of life for people in these religious districts is not focused on carrying out productive forces or engaging in economic activities; rather, it revolves tightly around religion. Their daily lives—even their entire lives—are lived for religious faith, for the pursuit of a nebulous afterlife and immortality. Influenced and constrained by the conservative concepts of these religious canons and doctrines, the believing masses remain content with the status quo or place their hopes in the next life. This inevitably leads to a loss of momentum for enterprise and development, decreasing the enthusiasm of the people for engaging in legitimate economic activities and social undertakings, which results in poverty for society as a whole.

V. Conclusion

From the above analysis, we can see that the inhibition of economic and social development by religion in a region is multifaceted. From the consumption of wealth and goods to the occupation of land, and from the dissipation of time to the shackling of thought, this inhibitory effect penetrates every aspect of social life in religious districts. Believers in these districts have thus paid a massive social price. Although there are many reasons for the poverty and backwardness of religious areas, an inappropriate religious burden is indeed one of the causes of the low living standards and lagging social development of the people in these districts. In contemporary Chinese society, where the international situation is complex and volatile, and where national reactionaries and religious extremists both at home and abroad are "restless and ready to move" [17], how to better guide religion under the guidance of the Scientific Outlook on Development [18], minimize the negative effects of religion on society, and allow religion to develop reasonably to better adapt to contemporary Chinese society and play a role in the harmonious and sustainable development of society—this is the task that our state, government, religious figures, and all sectors of society should work toward together.

Notes:

  1. Economic Forum. http://cache.tianya.cn/publicforum/Content/develop/l/107201.shtml
  2. Gansu Province Condition Data Handbook—2008-2009. Party School of the CPC Gansu Provincial Committee, 2009.
  3. Gansu Province Condition Data Handbook—2008-2009. Party School of the CPC Gansu Provincial Committee, 2009.
  4. Luo Li. "The Relationship between Religion and Economy" [J]. Journal of Southwest University for Nationalities, 2006 (6), p. 76.
  5. Luo Li. "The Relationship between Religion and Economy" [J]. Journal of Southwest University for Nationalities, 1906 (6), p. 76.
  6. Gansu Province Condition Data Handbook—2008-2009. Party School of the CPC Gansu Provincial Committee, 2009.

About the Author: Liu Xiaoxiong is a faculty member in the Department of Sociology, School of Politics and Law, Northwest Normal University.