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can be ended by suppressing desi re;
that desi re can be suppressed by
following the "Noble Eightfold
Path." That Path consists of right
views, right as pirations , ri gh t
speech, right conduct, right liveli–
hood, right endeavor, right thinking
and right meditation.
The gods were of Little value to
Buddha a nd his disciples. ln Bud–
dhism, sa lva tion could be achieved
solely by one's own efforts. The final
goal in Buddhism is to escape the
seemingly endless cycle of continua)
rebirth (rei ncarnation) by achieving
nirvana- a
state of blissful selfless–
ness and indescribable peace.
lnterestingly, in his early pre-Com–
munist years, Mao Tse-tung had been
a devout Buddhist, as well as a student
of the Confucian classics.
Mlng led Falths
Wr iters on China customarily speak
of the Chinese as having three major
religions: Confucianism, Taoism and
Buddhism. This, however, can be
misleading. In actuality, most Chi–
nese have not adhered exclusively to
any one of those faiths, but to a
mix tureo fthe
three.
Confucianism, Taoism and Bud–
dhism carne into frequent conflict
over the centur ies, and In the pro–
cess sorne of the teachings of each
one were gradua lly absorbed by the
others. The Chinese more or less
took what they wanted from each
faith. They say that each of thei r
traditiona l faiths has its own specia l
value in different ci rcumstances.
E lements of each religion thus
found thei r way into popula r belief
and practice.
Chrl st and Mohammed
In addit ion to the
san chiao
(three
..great traditions" ) of China, two
other faiths were later introduced
into China, both from foreign
sources.
Christianity was long in coming
to China.
It
was not unti l the 7th
century
A.D.
that Nestorian Chris–
tianity penetrated the country, then
under the rule of the T'ang dynasty
(618- 906). But no significant foot–
hold was established. During the
Yuan d ynasty (1279-1368)- a time
when Mongol invaders controlled
February 1980
NEW SPELLING FOR CHINESE
P
fain Truth
readers may have noticed the appearance of strange
Chinese cities and names in contemporary journalism. The Chinese
government is attempting to streamline and condense the written
language. More than 70,000 separate characters comprise the Chinese
printed language, contributing to the appearance of many dialects.
Unfortunately, in a population as large as China's, the dialects make it
difficult for a native of one city to understand someone from another.
Accordingly, the Chinese government has adopted Pinyin. a new spelling
system developed by Chinese linguists.
As the spelling system begins to appear 1n press articles, readers
may become confused, as the spelling of previously familiar cities and
persons only vaguely resemble their prior renderings. For example, Peking
has become Beijing (pronounced Bay-Jing), Mao Tse-tung has become
Mao Zedong, Hong Kong has become Xianggang and even China itself
has undergone the transformation to Zhongguo. Chinese government
leaders Hua Kuo-feng and Teng Hsiao-ping are now known as Hua
Guofeng and Deng Xiaoping, respectively.
Even though it may initially appear a bit confusing, the new phonetic
spellíng system could improve Westerners' pronunciations of perplexing
Chinese names. We are generally retaining the old spelling in this edition of
The Plain Truth
magazine, but will change to the new spelling in future
issues. The new spellings will appear in parenthesis.
China from Peki ng- European trad–
ers opened routes to China, often
accompanied by missionaries. The
famed Venetian explorer Ma rco Polo
met with Kublai Kha n, the most
illustrious of the Yuan emperors,
during this period. But for the most
part, China's doors remained closed
to foreigners and their religious ideas
for centur ies to come.
During the 1800s Catholic and
Protestant missionaries finally be–
gan to make sorne headway in Chi–
na. But then carne the Boxer Rebel–
lion of 1900- an all-out effort to
expel foreigners, especially mission–
aries, from China. Scores of mis–
sionaries, both Catholic and Protes–
tant , along with tens of thousands of
Chinese Christians were massacred.
But many congregations continued
to meet in secret, and their numbers
grew, albeit slowly.
With the overthrow of the Man–
chu dynasty and establishment of
the Chinese Republic in 1912 by
Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Christian church–
es were again able to practice open–
ly. But even in the best of times,
Catholicism and Protestantism have
never really flourished in China.
The lslamic faith, founded in
Arabia ear ly in the 7th century
A.D.
by the prophet Mohammed, was
introduced into the western portions
of China in the wake of early Mos–
lem invasions through Cenrral Asia.
Today t he Uighurs of Sinkiang
province in western China are pre–
dominantly Moslem. Small Moslem
groups are found in various other
parts of China as well. All told,
there are reportedly we ll over ten
million adherents to Islam in China
today.
The People ' s Repub lic
The coming to power of the Chinese
Communists in 1949 under Mao
Tse-tung wrought vast changes in
religion in China. After the Com–
muni st Pa rt y carne to power ,
churches and religious groups of a ll
faiths were reorganized into state–
controlled bodies . Believers split
into two groups: those who cooper–
ated openly with the Communists,
and those who worshiped privately
behind closed doors. Churches and
temples in major cities became the
government 's showcase ta foreign
(Continued on page 28)
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