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.
#180815 in Books 2016-10-03Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 6.50 x 1.20 x 9.20l; .0 #File Name: 019935815X392 pages
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Excellent Resource for Those Interested in Tibet; Chinese State Control; and the Application of State PropagandaBy Theo BartusJohn Powers has contributed greatly to deepening our understanding of Tibet and its religion and history for over two decades. The Buddha Party takes us into the topic of how China uses its regulatory and administrative infrastructure to force Tibetan to conform to its wishes and obey its dictates. The book aspires to take a non-polemical and nuanced perspective; something that is rejected outright by Chinese who have been fed a biased interpretation of history. In the same mode of behavior as other hegemons; China treats its Tibetan problem as a nail to be hammered in forcefully; a strategy that that invites resistance and resentment. I have come to admire Powers' writings greatly and his keen sense of irony that comes through even his most scholarly works.
