Absurdity, Allegory and China

To be officially an atheistic country does not mean there isn’t religion in China, or within the hearts of some of those who sit in The Great Hall of the People. A religion often has nothing to do with a god. In a nominally communist country with 5,000 years – count ‘em, f-i-v-e t-h-o-u-s-a-n-d y-e-a-r-s – of history, the whole notion of god has been one that has either never been much of a concern or no question at all. Although the Chinese were Buddhist long before the Tibetans, we all know that there’s no god – as in Big One – in that theater of operation. And you won’t find the Big One in Confucianism either. And the Daoists? Well, I’m not really sure just what’s going on there, but I feel it’s safe to say that there isn’t any Abrahamic monotheistic model driving them on.

The post-liberation government has been pretty clear that things is about as deep as it gets. But is there religion? You betcha. Always has been. And money and wealth has been what determines access. Look at the Shang tombs that weren’t looted, and you’ll see that the wealthy, indeed, took it with them. There are always things you need on the other side, the same as there are on this one, and some of those tombs were packed with lots of bronze stuff: essential chariot parts, heads of weapons and lots of ritual vessels, some of which probably weighed more than a Tata Nano. Bronze was what you used to talk to those in the afterlife who had a say in how things were going down in this one. It was all part of the political-religious landscape. And bronze, the stuff of kings, wasn’t cheap to get.

Tomorrow is Qing Ming Jie, tomb sweeping day, when folks visit ancestral grave sites – if they haven’t been lost to development – and pay their respects and homage to those relatives who have moved on into the greater qi. This holiday dates back to the Tang dynasty, 732 CE, when the emperor Xuanzong saw that the wealthy held elaborate and expensive private rituals to keep in touch with those who had gone on ahead, and he made the decision that enough was enough. Give it a single day on the calendar and have it over and done with. I can imagine that it must have been a relief to some of those who were dropping serious cash keeping the lines of communication open. If the emperor said that it was so, then that’s the way it was, and no one on the other side could fault you for following the words of the Son of Heaven and distilling it all into one day a year to clean it up, and do the things you needed to do to keep the world whole.

This year this traditional holiday has morphed into an official holiday, a day-off for those who can afford to take it. I have the feeling that many construction workers who are under Olympic deadlines will still be hammering away tomorrow, building this new country, while those who can take the break will be sweeping the graves clean. As far as holidays go, I think it’s a good one. So tomorrow the burning of fake money and the eating of memorial picnics are part of the official plan.

But this year there’s an additional bonus; the Olympic torch is making the rounds, and perhaps that might have had something to do with the official resurrection of this traditional memorial day. Also, it was not, I think, purely coincidental that the Tian’anmen stage that was the focal point of the private torch lighting event this past Monday was a mock up of Yuanqiutan, the Earthly Mound, the Altar of Heaven, where emperors would visit twice a year to petition Heaven for good harvest as well as good weather, one of which is very much an Olympic concern. There was more than just a little religion in staging of that scene.

If you’ve been paying any attention to the official Chinese media you’ll notice that they are using words charged with religious meaning when referring to the torch and it’s traveling travails. Today Xinhua referred to the shuttling about of the Olympic flame as the sacred torch relay, and the job of at least one particular torchbearer, Feng Jicai of Tianjin as “this holy task.” Yesterday there were also at least a few mentions of religious words in regard to the flame and the tour. Clearly this is more than just a sporting event.

But this evening I just read that due to security concerns India has just shortened the relay route through New Delhi from 9 kilometers to 2.5 clicks. That’s some serious reduction! That’s akin to whacking a limb off god, like downsizing Yao to a midget. Man, this is getting downright profane. Religion can be hell sometimes, whether you have all the money or not.

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