THE RELIGIOUS SITES DURING THE CHINESE CULTURAL REVOLUTION, 1966-1976

Abstract

This study presents a thought-provoking picture of statistical data regarding the growth patterns of the religious sites for five main Chinese religions during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. Applying comparative and quantitative lenses, this paper addresses the di˙erent growth rates of religious sites during the four di˙erent periods from 1949 to 2004 to test the relative growth pace of religious sites during the Cultural Revolution. To understand the patterns of growing religious sites from 1966 to 1976, this study also compares the di˙erent growth rates of religious sites between the first phase (1966 to 1970) and the second phase (1971-1976) of the Cultural Revolution. Furthermore, it provides detailed information concerning the year of building new religious sites for all five major religions that hold more than 2,500 new religious sites during the Cultural Revolution. In addition, the study shows the top five provinces which built the most new religious sites while denoting their respective rural and urban locations in an e˙ort to demonstrate their geographical expansion during the period. Finally, this study addresses the growth rates of the national population and per capita GDP as compared to the growth of the religious sites during the period of national disaster (1966-1976).