Christianity and Islam in China

March 10, 2010

There is evidence that Christian and Islamic influence goes back to the third century A.D.

Even so, China has never had an organized religion dominate the culture as religions have in Western and Middle Eastern countries. 

During the Tang Dynasty in 878 A.D., a rebel leader named Huang Chao burned and pillaged Guangzhou (better known in the West as Canton) killing tens of thousands of Muslims, Jews, and Christians.  

Taiping Rebellion

There were two Opium Wars during the middle of the nineteenth century where France and England forced opium and Christian missionaries on China.

The result was the Taiping Rebellion, which was led by a Christian convert, Hong Xiuquan, known as God’s Chinese son. Hong claimed to be Jesus Christ’s younger brother.

Estimates say twenty to thirty million Chinese may have died during this religious war, far more than all the Crusades combined.

See Ignorance is Bliss and Phone Sex is a Sin

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar. 

Leave a Comment » | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, Christianity, Islam, religion | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Morality in China

March 10, 2010

I find it interesting when the Western media talks about how Communist China prevents or represses freedom of religion as if that were unique to today’s China. The truth is, China has a history of intolerance toward God based religions that tend, by their nature, to interfere with Chinese culture and family based morality. 

Religions like Buddhism and Taoism, which are similar, are not as aggressive as Christianity or Islam. That explains why Buddhism is the dominant religion in China today. Maybe that is why China’s top political advisor Jia Qinglin recently called on the country’s Buddhists to contribute to ethnic unity, social stability and national unification.

Reclining Buddha In Shanghai

Buddhist and Taoist influence on art and poetry have been a powerful influence on Chinese culture and entered mainstream Chinese tradition more than two thousand years ago.

Estimates say that about one hundred million Chinese follow Buddhism while the second largest religion is Taoism. A few million followers of Islam live in the northwest. Christians claim to be the fastest growing religion, but there are no facts to support this.

On the other hand, a recent survey found that eight hundred million Chinese say they belong to no religion. That does not mean that these Chinese have no morality since Confucianism is not a religion but is a lifestyle.

Discover Barbarians – a Matter of Opinion

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

2 Comments | Chinese Culture, Chinese history, Chinese minorities, Christianity, family values, Islam, parenting, religion, Taoism | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Ignorance is Bliss and Phone Sex is a Sin

March 10, 2010

When I first wrote about the foundation of morality in China at Open Salon.com, Middle Age Woman Blogging responded with, “I can’t even begin to comment… all those old married men and young single women walking around Beijing? You’re kidding right? And how about the phone calls in the middle of the night men receive while traveling throughout China? ‘Ah, Missa Wandall, I unastan you wan company?'”

What Middle Age Woman Blogging says is true about the middle of the night phone calls in China.

While my wife and I were on our honeymoon in Beijing, a late night call came to our hotel room. “Do you want a massage,” a sexy accented voice said in English.

Warning, the next link leads to an x-rated site. Do not click on that link if you are a moral person. Then in America, there’s phone sex where a man or woman calls and pays with a credit card to listen to hot, sexy talk.

My reply to Middle Age Woman Blogging is, “Morality in America comes from Christianity and Judaism. Moral behavior is measured from this. That doesn’t mean everyone is a moral person. If so, there would be no divorce, few would go to prison, and there would be no phone sex since it would be a sin.”

Men and women in China are human too.

How serious do the Chinese consider Morality?

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

3 Comments | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, family values, religion, tourism | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Health Care Without Drugs

March 9, 2010

I had acupuncture a few times.  When I was still teaching, I saw a chiropractor once a week during the school year. Both of these techniques worked for me without the need to take dangerous drugs. Have you ever read the warnings on prescribed drugs? Those descriptions are scary and have stopped me from taking what the American doctor prescribed more than once.

acupuncture treatment

The history of acupuncture goes back over 8,000 years. One would think if it didn’t work, this medical practice would have ended long ago. Even stingy American health insurance companies pay for acupuncture treatments. Here’s a list. (http://www.msingler.com/insco.html)

The warnings on muscle relaxants scared me enough to try a chiropractor. I’m glad I did. The history of Chiropractic Care has been traced back to China (2700 BC) and Greece (1500 BC). The dates show that this practice started in China. My health insurance paid for Chiropractic and many other plans do too.

Discover Attitudes Toward Health Care in China

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe toiLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

2 Comments | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, health care | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Health Care, Urban Real Estate and Renewable Energy Update

March 9, 2010

Rural citizens of China have been protesting the lack of quality health care outside the cities where eight hundred million Chinese live. This topic was also a subject for debate in China’s legislature, known as the National People’s Congress. (see Basic Health Care in China (http://wp.me/pN4pY-bO)

Another complaint China’s government wants to deal with is the shocking price increases to buy a home in one of China’s cities. Housing costs in seventy Chinese cities jumped 9.5% from a year earlier. The government wants to bring those prices down to make housing more affordable.

During the Copenhagen Climate Summit, China was criticized for not signing a pledge to reduce carbon emissions. China recently announced that it is planning to reduce its carbon footprint by 40-45% (from 2005 levels) and generate 15% of its electricity from renewable technologies by 2020. Over the next ten years, we should see these changes taking place. Since most of China’s leaders are engineers, they often set long-term goals.

Chinese Wind Farms

By comparison, President Obama said at Copenhagen that the United States intended to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions “in the range of” 17% by 2020.  Since the Chinese government doesn’t have to deal with American conservatives, who do not believe carbon emissions are causing global warming and block legislation and spew confusion at every chance, I’d place my bet on China achieving their goals first.

1 Comment | business, China, economy, environment, government, health care, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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