Issue 4, 2022 (Total Issue 138) | Marxism Research Network

Taking Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as Guidance — Xin Xiangyang
Strengthening the Publicity of Marxist Atheism in a Targeted Manner — Zhu Xiaoming
The Dual Channels Through Which Spinozist Atheism Intervened in the Formative History of Dialectical Materialism — Su Zhenyuan
The Historical Merits and Limitations of Chen Duxiu’s Atheist Thought ^[1] — Cao Jialiang, Li Hong
Investigations into the CPC’s Publicity and Education on Atheism During the New Democratic Revolution Period ^[2] — Yang Mingyan, Zhang Qianyuan
From "Marxism and the Argument over Religion" to the "Japan League of Militant Atheists" — Duan Shilei
The Current Situation of Resisting Foreign Religious Penetration in China's Higher Education Institutions from the Perspective of Holistic Governance — Lu Jianhua, Lin Huaiyi
The Anti-Sorcery Movement and Rural Social Transformation in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region ^[3] — Wu Chengwang
Reflections on the Category of "Shen" (Spirit/Deity) from the Pre-Qin Period to the Wei and Jin Dynasties ^[4] — Yin Haoran
The "Metaphor of the Fuel and the Fire": Zhuangzi’s View of Life and Death and His Atheist Thought ^[5] — Yan Wei
Heaven and Humanity Do Not Interact: An Analysis of Wang Anshi’s Atheist Thought ^[6] — Huang Xi
The Incident of Enshrining Tablets of Japanese Invading Soldiers at Xuanzang Temple in Nanjing Sounds an Alarm ^[7] — Yao Binbin

Back Cover: Choosing Atheism: An Ethnography of Atheism and Irreligion Authors: Ruy Llera Blanes, Member of the Spanish National Research Council; Galina Oustinova-Stjepanovic, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology, University of Edinburgh

Notes

↩ [1] 陈独秀 (Chén Dúxiù): A co-founder of the CPC and its first General Secretary. He was a central figure of the New Culture Movement but was later expelled from the Party for "Trotskyist" deviations. Chinese scholarship often evaluates his contributions through the lens of "historical merits and limitations."

↩ [2] 新民主主义革命时期 (Xīn mínzhǔ zhǔyì gémìng shíqī): The New Democratic Revolution period (1919–1949). In Maoist theory, this refers to a revolution against imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat-capitalism led by the proletariat (via the CPC), aimed at establishing a transition toward socialism rather than a Western-style liberal democracy.

↩ [3] 陕甘宁边区 (Shǎn-Gān-Níng biānqū): The Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region. Centered in Yan'an, this served as the de facto revolutionary headquarters of the CPC from the mid-1930s to the late 1940s and is regarded as the "cradle" of the Chinese revolution.

↩ [4] 神 (shén): A complex term in Chinese philosophy that can mean "gods," "spirits," "the divine," or "mental/vital energy" depending on the school of thought. In atheist discourse, it is often analyzed as the historical antecedent to the concept of the soul or supernatural beings.

↩ [5] 薪火之喻 (xīnhuǒ zhī yù): The metaphor of fuel and fire from the Zhuangzi (specifically the "Direction for Cultivating Life" chapter). It suggests that while the fuel (the body) is consumed, the fire (life or spirit) passes on. Scholarly debate persists over whether this implies the immortality of the soul or a naturalistic process of transformation.

↩ [6] 天人之不相与 (tiānrén zhī bù xiāngyǔ): "Heaven and humanity do not interact." This was a proposition by the Song Dynasty reformer Wang Anshi (1021–1086), who argued against "correlative cosmology" (the idea that natural disasters are warnings from Heaven regarding the Emperor's conduct), thereby promoting a more naturalistic and proto-atheist worldview.

↩ [7] 南京玄奘寺供奉侵华日军牌位事件 (Nánjīng Xuánzàng sì gòngfèng qīnhuá Rìjūn páiwèi shìjiàn): A 2022 controversy where it was discovered that a Buddhist temple in Nanjing had been paid to host memorial tablets for Japanese generals involved in the 1937 Nanjing Massacre. The incident triggered a national outcry regarding historical memory, national dignity, and the regulation of religious venues.