The Souls of China

One of the Best Books of the Year: The Economist,The Christian Science Monitor China is in the midst of one of the worldΓÇÖs great spiritual awakenings: some 300 million Chinese currently practice a faithwhile tens of millions more follow personal guruspopulist masters and New Age sages. This astonishing revival began in 1982 when the Communist Party pledged to allow what it thought would be a small-scale practice of religion under government supervision. But the faithful have expanded far beyond the PartyΓÇÖs expectations: TodayChinaΓÇÖs cities and villages are filled with new templeschurchesand mosques as well as cultssects and politicians trying to harness religion for their own ends. Fueling this resurgence is a popular desire to rediscover a moral compass in a society driven by naked capitalism. For six yearsPulitzer PrizeΓÇôwinning writer Ian Johnson lived for extended periods with three religious communities: the underground Early Rain Protestant congregation in Chengduthe Ni familyΓÇÖs Buddhist pilgrimage association in Beijingand yinyang Daoist priests in rural Shanxi. Johnson distills these experiences into a cycle of festivalsbirthsdeathsdetentionsand struggle that reveals the hearts and minds of the Chinese peopleΓÇöa great awakening of faith that is shaping the soul of the worldΓÇÖs newest superpower.