Well not really, as you've probably picked up I've become rather obsessed with a period stretching from 1813 to 1945 and has (arguable) begun once again known as the Great Game. Well that's great but what is it? Glad you asked! The Great Game classically refers to strategic armed rivalry between the Russian and British Empires over the region of Central Asia.
I don't get it either
It was a rivalry over territory, particularly spark by the Russian Empire's continued march into Central Asia towards Afghanistan. England viewed this movement as a direct threat to the power in the area, and more importantly, India. So, in response, England launched the First Anglo-Afghan war (which was a glorious catastrophe) and kicked off one of the world's first cold wars.
What are we doing today Victoria?
The same thing we do ever day Disraeli my dear:
Ruining everything
The Games went on in such a fashion with England and Russia trying to out compete the other (Old Vicki was crowned Empress of India so she'd have the same political footing as the Tsars) and actually caused England to invade Afghanistan not once more, but twice. In fact it went on for so long that it had several books written about it, or used it as a background setting, or as some other sort of plot device, Kim by Rudyard Kipling perhaps being the most definitive and critical of them all.
Its as awesome as it sounds
So what does this have to do with Islam? Well a lot actually. Remember how last week I brought up that Sufism (and Islam in general) has been branded as fundamentalist, extremist, or overly violent by Europeans as a way of defaming and delegitimizating resistance to their rule? And how much of that behavior that Europeans defamed existed because of Colonialism in the first place? Well this is part of that Colonialism which gave rise to much of that resistance.
As I often point out it is important that too the victor goes history, and here is no exception. In many ways Russia lost the great game long before England did (as they had a revolution and everything) and while there was a brief rematch with the USSR, England got to write the history of the game down. Therefore, much of the rhetoric of the game has been critiqued as being a smoke screen for England subduing the native people's of India and Central Asia. Because of this the game provides an overarching context for what I described in my previous post.
Which raises the question of who was playing the Great Game? Was it just England and Russia, or are there more players to be accounted for? I would personally say yes, and it is rather important to include this 3rd side of sorts in an a more accepting way. After all it is a 3rd side made up of those who paid the true cost of the great game, so can you really blame some of those taking up arms, or protesting the game through other means? its an important aspect to consider, especially since the great game has resumed once more between the US, China, Russia, and a few others.
Because as Rudyard Kipling said "When everyone is dead, the Great Game is finished. Not before."
Till next time,
Jacob
sources
Karsh, Efraim. Islamic Imperialism: A History. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 2007.
Meyer, Karl E., and Shareen Blair Brysac. Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia. Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, 1999
Rashid, Ahmed. Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002.
In what seems to becoming a constant theme I feel like I never get to talk about nice things, ever. But then again when studying social justice issues through the lens of religion I'm beginning to feel like that's a given. Anyway on to our topic of doom for today Falun Gong (which I'm sure you've heard of in general), its violent repression (which I'd be shocked if you hadn't heard of), The Art of War (which I'd be weirded out if you hadn't heard of but would understand) and how they're all interconnected (or might be anyway).
So what's this all about? Well sometime in the early history of China, 206 BCE is the age of the oldest known copy, the Art of War was either written or finalized to the current book that it is today. Whether or not it was written by Sun Tzu is unclear (some modern scholars claim he didn't exist), regardless of all of this the modern version of the Art of War was finished by the 6th century BCE at the latest.
A looker ain't he
The book is an in-depth treaties on the best possible way to engage one's enemies in war and how that engagement is a distinct art form unto itself. The book has been an influential part of East Asian Military and Business strategies and was even used in the Invasion of Japan by allied forces. It advocates a strategy of deception, cunning, and strategic outmaneuvering to defeat ones opponents often without having to fight them in a head on confrontation. The book maintains that the greatest victory is one that is won without any bloodshed and posits in the first chapter (remember this now) that all warfare is based on deception and the manipulation of information. So what? What does any of this have to do with Falun Gong...well a lot actually.
In 1992 Li Hongzhi combined elements of Daoism, Buddhism, and Qigong (a pratice that has grown up in China since 1950 based on breath and controlled bodies movements to obtain spitual clarity, physical fitness, and overall wellness) to create Falun Gong. The religion advocates slow moving, meditation, breath control, a tripartite mindset of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, as well as non-violence to obtain enlightenment. At its height in China the religion claimed a membership over 10 million people that was built up of a huge range of Chinese society. Party members and farmers practiced the religion and sights like this weren't all too uncommon:
notice how non-violent they are
So of course this began to deeply deeply disturb the leadership of the CCP and in 1999 the government declared the religion an illegal organization and began to crackdown. However, as the group was non-violent and peaceful there wasn't a lot the government could do without fear of some sort of reprisal (remember Falun Gong rivals the CCP in size right now), unless, of course, public opinion was swayed in their favor. So while thousands were arrested and detained and a massive propaganda campaign was launched, most of the mainland Chinese thought that the government was acting to harshly against the organization.
"Uphold science, eradicate superstition"
Firmly support the decision of the Central Committee to deal with the illegal organization of 'Falun Gong
But then on January 23rd 2001 everything changed. That evening five people set themselves on fire outside of Tiananmen square in protest of the crackdown.
And just like that suddenly everything the CCP had said about Falun Gong appeared to be true. Only an evil cult that was spreading ideas of superstition and social instability could have pushed five of its practitioners to do such a thing. However, Falun Gong was quick to counter that this behavior was out of character for practitioners of Falun Gong while pointing out a huge number of contradictions in the reporting of the events by the state sponsored news (which can be seen below)
While I am skeptical to jump on the band wagon of a conspiracy theory the video and other materials put forward by the group do seem convincing. However, to be fair, their is convincing evidence on both sides.But for a moment let's entertain the idea that the accusations were true and the protests were staged. With that in mind I began to entertain the idea bringing the Art of War into this conversation. Remember that line I told you to remember about all warfare being based on deception? Well that's exactly what happened here. After this event Chinese, both followers and observers, throughout the country began to doubt Falun Gong. And many of the faithful who were determined to hold on to their beliefs began to be plagued with doubt and drop away and those that did hold on were subjugated to unspeakable forms of torture, abuse, reeducation, and other human rights violations.
Which is just like the Art of War capture who you can and use them against your enemy or in the terms of a battle for public opinion you cause deep seeded doubt and suspicion in the moderates and unconvinced isolating the remaining resistance. By doing so you slowly make the remaining group seem more and more radical to the now opposed public causing the remainder to be further isolated and stigmatized allowing the government to crush resistance effectively without causing public outcry. By using this strategy the Chinese government did have to resort to violence, however, by cutting off Falun Gong from its more moderate supporters and manipulating the flow of information they were able to effectively surround the group and crush its center. While pockets of resistance did spring up (Liu Chengjunan activist hacked a satalite news feed for the city of Changchun and managed to broadcast the False Fire video on loop for fifty minutes, he was arrested and died in prison 21 years later) the group has been effectively silence in China due to the CCP's actions. Even if the protests were real the way the CCP handled the situation was, from the stand point of The Art, in a brilliant manner. Regardless of its validity the information surrounding the protests was disseminated and controlled in such a way that it caused confusion and allow the government to have a greater control over public opinion through its use of deceptive tactics.
While I'm still working on this it is an interesting line to peruse and I'm probably gonna work on it in greater detail in the weeks to come. But in the mean time I'd like to explore more of the details of exactly what happened during 1999 in China and read closer into whatever sources of public opinion at the time exist (although how reliable they will be is completely up in the air). It could also be interesting to investigate how the international community reacted to what happened in China as well as the state of affairs of Falun Gong today, more than ten years after the crack down.
Peace and Love
Jacob
Sources
Chang, Maria Hsia. 2004.Falun gong : The end of days. New Haven [Conn.]: Yale University Press.
Forney, Matthew. 2001. How china beat down falun gong.Time157, no. 26: 32.
Well I know I've been saying for the past few posts that I'd be talking about Daosim this time but it seems that I've run into a bit of a quandary. You see in South Korea, which is my current area of focus, Daoism, which is my current religious focus, never really came to party. Or for that matter they never really got the invitation. So now you see my quandary, how I am to talk about my focus religion in an area where it doesn't have to strong a sway? Well I simply re-framed my question into finding out why Daoism wasn't in Korea and while I was digging about I came across Muism also known as Korean Shamanism. So I my next hunch was that the popular religion of Korea repelled attempts at the implantation of Daosim into Korea but then I did a bit more research and saw that was flat out wrong.
You see throughout much of its history the nations inhabiting the Korean peninsula have been influenced by their neighbors in China. From tribute to their governing system to Korea's faithful payment of tribute for several hundred years a great deal of cultural exchange occurred including the importation of Confucianism and, later, Buddhism. But strangely Daoism never arrived on the scene. But, then again, on closer examination it might not be so strange. You see while Daosim did enjoy a brief time as an organized religion that was favored by the Imperial Chinese Court it was, has and always shall be, a much more populist tradition. Which is important for two reasons, the first is that it never became attached to the Court and second there was no easy way for Daoists to spread their beliefs.
To flesh those out a bit because of its structure and doctrine Confucianism was used to help support much of the later Chinese Dynasties bureaucratic system. Meaning that Confucian ideals were exported to countries closely under the sphere of Chinese influence, like Korea.
Poor man
Additionally Daoism isn't exactly the kind of religion which is bent on spreading itself to all corners of the globe and when combined with their lack of a position to even attempt to do so on a large scale it didn't really happen (unless it went through Mahayana Buddhism which was a syncretism of Buddhism and Daosim).
So with that out of the way what about Muism? Well I still don't know a lot about it yet but i am still investigating. Within Muism there is a group of people know as mudang who serve as the 'shamans' (whether or not Muism is shamanism at all is up for debate) and act as intermediaries, interpreters, and vessels for interaction between humans, spirits, gods, and a host of others.
However, there are two very interesting things about the mudang the first they almost all female and second it is not something you choose it choose you. At a certain point in someone's life they will become horrifically ill, struck down with a divine illness. This illness could go on for some time before the person begins to feel a sort of calling that must be answered or they will be drawn further and further into the sickness. And often times they have to answer the call in potentially the most epic ways.
One guy was bed ridden for days until he got up and
climbed to the top of anearby mountain in the middle of blizzard.
Eventually the mudang is possessed by the first time by the deity that had been calling to them. After this they set out establishing themselves in their communities.
While the idea of a vocation is something I have encountered in my studies I have never run into something like this before. True I have heard that epileptics are more likely to have intense religious experiences and callings akin to these but there is no way that such a condition could be concentrated in Korea to such a degree that an entire popular religion was built to accommodate it. Or else every culture would have more classes of spiritually torn people who either literally have to make peace with a hast other worldly power or potentially die from the illness that comes with this calling and while I know many a person with a religious calling I have never seen them collapse in the street because of the intensity of its nature.
So I guess my next steps are to dive further down this rabbit hole and try and figure out why the mudang are this way? Why is it a mostly female class? Why are the visions so intense in nature? What are the gods like? And can you ever know you are going to be a mudang before it happens?
Till next time
Sources:
Grayson, James Huntley. Korea: A Religious History. New York: Routledge, 2002.
Walraven, B. C. A. 1983. Korean shamanism.Numen30, no. 2: 240-264.
Walraven, Boudewijn. 2009. National pantheon, regional deities, personal spirits? mushindo, songsu, and the nature of korean shamanism. Asian Ethnology 68, no. 1: 55-80.
Wong, Eva. The Shambhala Guide to Taoism. Boston: Shambhala, 1997.
