The Social Costs of Religious Belief: A Case Study of Gannan and Linxia Prefectures in Gansu Province
The relationship between religion and economic and social development is intricate and complex. It is undeniable that throughout the long course of human history, religion has exerted, and continues to exert, many positive effects on economic and social development, particularly regarding the spiritual world of the people. However, reality also demonstrates that if religion does not develop reasonably or adapt well to modern society, it can, to a certain extent, become a major cause of regional backwardness—especially in ethnic minority areas with intense religious fervor. This article, in analyzing the current state of religious, economic, and social development in Gansu, focuses primarily on Gannan and Linxia prefectures. It seeks to reveal the inhibitory effects of religion on the economic and social development of these regions, and to uncover the social costs paid by ethnic minority areas due to religious belief. This study hopes to identify one cause of poverty and backwardness in ethnic minority areas, with the aspiration that religion can develop reasonably in a modernizing China, adapt better to society, and play a greater and more robust positive role in the harmonious 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 faiths are spread throughout the province. In the Gannan Autonomous Prefecture, where Tibetans live in concentrated communities, and the Linxia Autonomous Prefecture, where the Hui people [1] reside, the masses of Tibetans and Hui are essentially religious in their entirety. However, the state of local economic and social development is far from optimistic; the local people lead lives of poverty and backwardness. Among the seven counties and one city of Gannan Prefecture (Hezuo City, Lintan, Zhoni, Zhugqu, Tewo, Maqu, Luqu, and Xiahe), five are national-level poverty-stricken counties (Lintan, Zhugqu, Zhoni, Xiahe, and Hezuo City). In the seven counties and one city of Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture (Linxia City, Linxia County, Yongjing, Hezheng, Guanghe, Kangle, Jishishan, and Dongxiang Autonomous County), all except Linxia City are national-level poverty-stricken counties [2]. To be sure, the economic and social backwardness of ethnic areas has geographical, climatic, logistical, and historical causes. However, the fact that the local masses pin all their hopes for changing their fate and seeking happiness on religion, investing excessively in religious belief, has further induced the poverty and backwardness of the region.
Religious belief entails significant material elements: the need for constructing, expanding, and maintaining religious sites; the subsistence needs of the clergy; the materials required for religious sacrificial rituals; and the expenses for religious festivals and activities. All of these require material wealth as a prerequisite and support. These massive expenditures are fundamentally provided by the donations of the local people. This imposes a heavy burden and pressure on the local populace, affecting the overall economic and social development of the area.
The inhibitory effect of religion on economic and social development is multifaceted and multi-layered. This article attempts to analyze and explore it from the following perspectives:
1. The Consumption of Human, Material, and Financial Resources by Religious Belief The construction, maintenance, and operation of religious sites, religious personnel, and religious activities consume a vast amount of human, material, and financial resources, thereby reducing the capacity of the people to engage in economic and social construction.
1.1 The Construction and Maintenance of Religious Sites Gansu has 6,771 approved and open religious activity sites, including 4,779 Islamic, 825 Buddhist, 804 Taoist, 287 Protestant, and 76 Catholic sites. There are 1,923 unapproved religious activity sites, including 321 Islamic, 594 Buddhist, 792 Taoist, 188 Protestant, and 28 Catholics sites [3]. Most of these numerous religious sites have long histories and are massive in scale. Entering the Tibetan Buddhist monasteries of Gannan or the mosques and Gongbei [4] of Linxia, the scale and grandeur—the clean and tidy courtyards—would strike any visitor with admiration. Some religious sites can literally be described as "resplendent in gold and jade" (jīnbì huīhuáng). One can only imagine how much human, material, and financial capital has been consumed here.
Large numbers of construction workers, vast quantities of materials, and significant sums of money are invested in the construction of these religious sites. The construction of a single monastery or Gongbei can last for many years; the building of a single gate may take several years and cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of yuan. Because of the sanctity of religion, the materials used here are generally the best available; some must be transported from great distances, making them more costly than ordinary construction. The processing of materials is also handled with great care, requiring experienced and skilled masters to perform intricate carving, which is more time-consuming and labor-intensive than ordinary materials.
At the same time, the maintenance of every religious site, the vast array of religious facilities (including various divine statues, ritual implements, etc.), and daily necessities (water, electricity, etc.) expend significant human, material, and financial resources. When we walk into the various temples, monasteries, and Gongbei of Gannan and Linxia, we are moved by the numerous resplendent statues, various decorations, and the immaculate condition of the grounds. Where do these facilities come from? Why are these massive architectural complexes and courtyards so clean and orderly? Undoubtedly, this is the result of human effort, not divine power. These were funded and purchased by the local masses; they are the result of the labor of numerous maintenance, nursing, and cleaning personnel. One can imagine the magnitude of the cost, yet these funds are essentially derived from the donations of local believers—they come from the common people. This inevitably brings great pressure to their lives and reduces their capacity for economic and social construction.
1.2 Religious Personnel For religious sites to operate, they require a large number of clergy. Among the five major religions in Gansu, there are currently more than 20,000 religious personnel, including 5,042 in Islam, 12,000 in Buddhism, 2,826 in Taoism, 295 in Protestantism, and 135 in Catholicism [5]. These personnel do not participate in productive activities; all their living expenses come from society—from the believers in their parish. This inevitably brings various burdens and pressures to the believers and the local society, affecting the coordinated development of the economy and society. "In a society, a high number of clergy specialized in religious activities means a reduction in the number of laborers engaged in productive labor, and the expenses required to maintain them must necessarily increase" [6].
Reality indicates that this large body of clergy is a mixed lot (yúlóng hùnzá). Among them are many patriotic figures who are talented, capable, knowledgeable, and progressive; there are also reactionary elements who are anti-people, anti-society, and anti-state; and then there are ignorant individuals who have no thoughts of their own and simply follow the crowd. It is undeniable that those progressive patriots have contributed to social harmony, stability, and healthy development, leaving behind many celebrated stories in both history and daily life, and creating spiritual wealth indispensable to the people's lives. However, those reactionary elements, instigated by anti-China forces at home and abroad, have also brought great disasters to society. Repeated social riots involving ethnic and religious issues are clear examples of this, such as the "March 14" incident in 2008 [7] and the "July 5" incident in 2009 [8].
1.3 Religious Activities Monasteries, temples, and various religious sites 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 these activities, the food and clothing of monks and priests, the burning of large quantities of incense, paper, and candles, and the use of various ritual props and offerings all consume many resources.
Religious consumption is a non-productive 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, at a given level of belief, more frequent church attendance is more detrimental to economic development because excessive resources are invested in religious activities while the output—the degree of piety—remains unchanged, thereby restricting economic investment [9].
While fulfilling religious needs, these activities often require believers to participate in various fundraising efforts to achieve the religion's own expansion. The fundraising and economic accumulation of religion allow religious sites and organizations to possess vast wealth; however, the income and wealth of believers and the masses are simultaneously greatly reduced. The most direct impact of religion on the economy lies precisely in the fact that religious consumption diverts a large amount of wealth from the production process to 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 illustration of this. Among some ethnic minorities with backward productive forces, religious consumption seriously hinders productive accumulation, the expansion of reproduction, and even the development of productive forces. This is not only a historical summary but an economic law: when social wealth congregates in religious groups rather than being used for social expanded reproduction, if it reaches a level that the socio-economy cannot bear, it will gravely damage the capacity for economic and social construction, leading to the generalized impoverishment of a region's society. This directly results in the poverty of the believers and the lagging development of local economic and social undertakings.
2. The Unreasonable Occupation of Land Resources by Religious Sites Religious sites occupy a large amount of fertile farmland, reducing the available land for cultivation and the space for economic and social development. At the same time, this creates irrationality and chaos in construction planning, leading to many thorny conflicts and disputes in society.
As mentioned above, the construction of several thousand monasteries, Taoist temples, and churches in Gansu occupies a vast amount of land, and some monasteries are in a state of continuous expansion. In Gannan and Linxia, as you walk along certain streets or fields, you will find a temple or church every few steps; religious architecture is ubiquitous. Due to the mysticism of religion, the construction of religious sites pays close attention to feng shui and geographical location, so the vast majority are built on relatively prime plots. Furthermore, as the crowds visiting these sites increase, the demand for roads rises sharply. Consequently, many roads of varying scales that are difficult to integrate into overall planning take up even more land. This results in a significant reduction of land for production, living, and social development, posing a threat to the livelihoods and development of local people.
The large-scale construction of religious sites also causes extreme irrationality and chaos in the use of space. Due to the sanctity of religion, moving a religious site meets with great resistance. Consequently, many localities encounter immense difficulties when performing overall construction planning and will try their best to avoid monasteries. This creates chaos in construction space, affecting the overall development of the region. In Gannan and Linxia, there are situations where civilian courtyards exist within monasteries and temples exist within courtyards, leading to irreconcilable conflicts and disputes between religious sites and the populace. This poses extreme difficulties for local government work, and improper handling of such issues may even lead to social instability.
3. The Massive Consumption of Time and Energy by Religious Activities
Gansu Province has approximately 3.44 million religious believers of various faiths, accounting for 13.15% of the province's total population [10]. In Gannan and Linxia, the Tibetan and Muslim populations essentially practice universal religious adherence. Religious sites such as temples, monasteries, and mosques frequently hold religious activities of varying scales, all of which require the attendance and participation of the faithful. Moreover, some of these activities persist for extended periods, during which all individual and family affairs must be subordinated to religious functions and temporarily suspended. Beyond these collective religious activities, the daily devotional practices of believers at home or in places of worship constitute a compulsory course in their lives. In many Buddhist monasteries in Gannan, many devout believers can be seen every day carrying offerings, spending vast amounts of time and energy performing prostrations [11], chanting sutras, and engaging in ritual worship. In Linxia, no matter where one goes, the call to prayer from the mosques can be heard from time to time; the local people have habitually adopted this as their own schedule for work and rest, while the mosques are frequently filled with the sound of Imams chanting and the sight of Muslims in prayer. This strikes the observer with the realization of how much time and energy they expend for the sake of religious belief.
Consequently, the time and energy they devote to improving living standards and developing economic and social undertakings is greatly diminished. While one is moved by their piety, a look at the backward living conditions and social reality of the local people inevitably brings to mind how people in large cities race against the clock to improve their standard of living, thereby achieving advanced economic and social development. In contrast, the masses in these religious districts invest massive amounts of time and energy into religious activities, which must inevitably affect the improvement of local living standards and the overall development of the region.
IV. The Shackle of Religion on Human Thought
In essence, any religion rejects the pursuit of material interests, considering the blind pursuit of wealth to be shameful and immoral. Religions either advocate for the purification of the heart and the reduction of desires to seek longevity and immortality, or they exhort people to distance themselves from desire, fame, and fortune in this life to achieve a beautiful afterlife or to ascend to heaven and enter the Western Paradise [12] after death. For example, the traditional pursuit of Buddhism is the trans-historical and supernatural; it does not take the pursuit of worldly interests as its objective. Traditional Christianity likewise does not pursue quick success and instant benefits [13], but rather views wealth as illusory and dangerous, something to be discarded. Taoism even more so promotes a worldview and value system of "leaving the world" [14].
This traditional "interest-avoidance" characteristic of religion is detrimental to the development of the market economy. Consequently, in Gannan, many believers choose to lay down their work every day to bring offerings to the temples, spending the entire day prostrating, chanting, and worshiping; in the mosques of Linxia, the figures of Muslims in prayer are visible at all times. The center of life for people in these religious districts is not the conduct of productive or economic activities, but rather revolves closely around religion. Their daily lives—even their entire existence—are lived for the sake of religious belief, for the pursuit of a void-like afterlife and immortality. Influenced and shackled by the conservative concepts of these religious rules and doctrines, the believing masses remain satisfied with the status quo or place their hopes in the afterlife. This inevitably leads to a loss of momentum for enterprise and development, lowers the enthusiasm of the people for engaging in legitimate economic activities and social undertakings, and results in overall social poverty.
V. Conclusion
From the above analysis, we can see that the inhibitory effect of religion on a region's economic and social development is multifaceted. From the consumption of wealth and goods to the occupation of land, and from the expenditure 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 one of the causes of the low living standards and lagging social development among the people of these districts.
In today's Chinese society, where the international situation is complex and volatile and where domestic and foreign ethnic reactionaries and religious extremists are itching to stir up trouble [15], our common endeavor—shared by the state, the government, religious personages, and all sectors of society—must be to better guide religion under the guidance of the Scientific Outlook on Development [16]. We must minimize the negative social effects of religion and enable religion to develop rationally so that it may better adapt to contemporary Chinese society and play a role in social harmony and sustainable development.