In China power and religion are intertwined, argues journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao and you cannot understand China without knowing its religion. At the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy, he explains how religion moved from apparently irrelevant to crucial in today’s China. Why religion is not going away, as many intellectuals have thought.Read More →

The less-than straightforward relation between China’s communist rulers and religion is one of the complicated concepts author Ian Johnson of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao tries to explain. From repression, to tolerance and now moving to a idea to use religion to restore some order, that relationship has changed profoundly, he tells The Politic, although it varies depending on what religion you look at.Read More →

Journalist Ian Johnson’s latest book The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao is not short of positive reviews. But Jeremiah Jenne gives in the World of Chinese his review an extra twist. The Return of religion in China is not limited to the country’s search of new values, but might be part of a worldwide search of values, Jenne writes.Read More →

China started – after initial suppression – to tolerate religion under Deng Xiaoping, as the communist rulers of the country expected religion was something for the older generation and would die out. Journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao explains in a Q&A to JWT Intelligence why they were wrong. And the implications for business.Read More →

Mao Zedong and his followers have tried to eradicate cultural icon Confucius, from China’s history. But with some help from current president Xi Jinping, Confucius is making a comeback, reports journalist Ian Johnson, author or The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao for the New York Times.Read More →