Page 283 - Islam and Far Eastern Religions

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hinese civilization is one of the oldest on earth.
The country is the size of all of Europe, has a
population of 1.2 billion and is one of the most
important countries of the world with a dy-
namic and rapidly growing economy. China,
was until the end of the 18th century, an isolat-
ed country far removed from Western culture. For this reason Chinese
society managed to preserve its traditional superstitious religions and

culture over the centuries, but with the arrival of British trade in the 19th
Century, social life began to change. In 1949, the communist party came
to power and China was changed forever. The militants of Mao Zedong
had fought a guerrilla war for years setting up “freed zones” as they
went along. They staged the second biggest communist revolution in
history and took over the government. China became a feared country
under Mao’s rule. His arrival brought genocide, torture, destitution and
famine to the Chinese people. Nonetheless, communism has been
China's identity, and it's people’s ideology since Mao came to power in
1949, though successive leaders, such as Deng Xiaoping ultimately in-
troduced badly needed economic reforms, and have subsequently im-
proved the overall socioeconomic climate dramatically.
Chinese culture has been influenced by Buddhism, Confucianism
and Taoism besides communism.

CHINA’S ANCIENT AND PERVERSE

RELIGION: SHAMANISM
Shamanism is considered perhaps the oldest superstitious religion
in China. This pagan religion is founded on the erroneous belief that the
“Kam”, the Shaman priest, communicates directly with the spirit world
and that with the imaginary power he thus derives from there he can