Christian Conversion and the Re-imagining of Illness and Healthcare in Rural China

Abstract

Faced by disparities in the fast-growing economy and the institutional weaknesses of public healthcare, poorer people in rural China have struggled to obtain effective health treatment. Christianity has played an important role in identifying and redefining the nature of this problem. The fieldwork for this article was conducted in and around a village church in eastern Henan in central China during 2012–13. The article argues that when poorer villagers' expectations of treatment encountered the special features of Christianity and its localisation in China, a mixture of cultural idioms was created through the process of Christian conversion that furnished the rural poor with new models for treatment. The spread of Christianity as related to illness treatment in rural China thus cannot be reduced to utilitarian logic for it entails the re-imagination of illness and of the nature of the healthcare system.

Keywords:

• Christian Conversion
• China
• Illness
• Healthcare
• Efficacy

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Stephan Feuchtwang, Yongjia Liang, and Xudong Zhao for their constructive comments on the structure of this paper. Concrete suggestions from Xiaoqian Liu, Philip Taylor, Diana Glazebrook, and two anonymous reviewers were greatly appreciated. The research was supported by the Chinese Universities Scientific Fund.

Notes

[1] Yang (2010) estimates there are around three million Catholics and thirty million Protestants among the Chinese adult population.

[2] On this latter type, Nanlai Cao (2010) argues that conversion to Christianity in Wenzhou is connected to the prestige of Christian transnational business people and the perception of Protestant Christianity as a prosperity religion, showing that the symbolisation of business and Protestant Christianity in Wenzhou are now deeply intertwined.

[3] In accordance with academic norms, all names of places and people in this article are pseudonyms.

[4] In Li village church, deacons had not received any specialised theological education or training, whereas the archdeacon had received three months’ theological training. A deacon's understanding of The Bible is based on their notes and feelings in Sunday services, Bible study, revival meetings and other religious activities.

[5] 1 CNY = 0.161054 USD as at 19 July 2014.

[6] According to the rules developed by village cadres, if villagers do not participate in the NRCMS scheme they will not be entitled to receive agricultural subsidies or other welfare provisions.

[7] ‘Exorcism therapy’ is a key research area for anthropologists and ethnologists. The ‘spiritual triangle’ structure in this article is adopted from the report ‘Field Research Methods and the Nation’ delivered by Professor Xudong Zhao of Renmin University of China at the East Campus of China Agricultural University on 21 January 2013.

[8] Ordinary villagers interact with widespread mystical experiences and beliefs, a world full of diffuse religion (Yang 1961). They hang portraits of the door-god, burn incense and bow to worship ancestors.

[9] Psalms 103:3.