The Buddha party : how the people's Republic of China works to define and control Tibetan Buddhism / John Powers.

Author
Powers, John, 1957- [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
New York : Oxford University Press, [2017]
Description
xiv, 370 pages : maps ; 25 cm

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks BQ7590 .P69 2017 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Summary note
    The Buddha Party tells the story of how the People's Republic of China employs propaganda to define Tibetan Buddhist belief and sway opinion within the country and abroad. The narrative they create is at odds with historical facts and deliberately misleading but, John Powers argues, it is widely believed by Han Chinese. Most of China's leaders appear to deeply believe the official line regarding Tibet, which resonates with Han notions of themselves as China's most advanced nationality and as a benevolent race that liberates and culturally uplifts minority peoples. This in turn profoundly affects how the leadership interacts with their counterparts in other countries. Powers's study focuses in particular on the government's "patriotic education" campaign-an initiative that forces monks and nuns to participate in propaganda sessions and repeat official dogma. Powers contextualizes this within a larger campaign to transform China's religions into "patriotic" systems that endorse Communist Party policies. This book offers a powerful, comprehensive examination of this ongoing phenomenon, how it works and how Tibetans resist it.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references (pages 257-360) and index.
    Contents
    • Acts of ingratitude
    • The limitations of propaganda
    • Patriotic soul boys and other Chinese myths
    • Tibetology with Chinese characteristics
    • Chinese and Tibetan perspectives on history.
    ISBN
    • 9780199358151 ((cloth ; : alk. paper))
    • 019935815X ((cloth ; : alk. paper))
    LCCN
    2016010003
    OCLC
    947145370
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