The ideology of political reactionaries

Abstract

shortcomings. First, it lacks the dedication to draw on resources from Chinese academia. In most places, Walsh is satisfied to yield conclusions from textual hermeneutics of constitutions, decrees, official documents, and historical accounts. Considering the language barrier, this approach may be understandable; nevertheless, it gives the impression that the book’s conceptual lens is too narrow to justify its arguments. For instance, the following questions remain inadequately addressed: are there any reflections upon the ‘secular religiosity’ of Chinese nation-statism among the Chinese general public and intellectuals? How does this ‘religion-oriented’ interpretation engage with other interpretations of Chinese nation-state making, especially from a Greater China perspective? Where do the ‘religious-like’ forms of nationalism originate from in China—its history of humiliation, traditional values, the quasi-religiosity of Marxism, or secularity itself? These oversights make the author less persuasive in some of his arguments. Second, some parts of the book lack extended focus and are loosely organized. The most evident example is an arguably redundant section titled ‘Museification’ which appears in chapter three. Walsh writes in relatively elaborate detail about a trip to the Museum of World Religions in Taipei, only to conclude that the answer to the question, ‘what does China mean by religion today?’ cannot be sought in the museum since the ‘objects in the museum are dead culture’ and the museum ‘has little to do with the world’ (p. 69). Sporadic passages about South Africa also divert focus from the central theme of Chinese nation-statehood. Although Walsh maintains that apartheid South Africa can inspire reflections upon China’s situation, I do not see any relevant specificity in the parallels established between these two nations: they are widely different in terms of history, culture, and current conditions. Despite these limitations, this book remains a rich work that provides us with critical insights into the interactions between secularity and religiosity in modern China. Serving as a challenge to the claim that religions are antithetical to secular states, this book is innovative and intriguing, encouraging readers to further investigation.