Dejiao, a Chinese Religious Movement in the Age of Globalization

Journal of Chinese Religions 38 (2010) 36 Dejiao, a Chinese Religious Movement in the Age of Globalization BERNARD FORMOSO Paris Ouest University, Nanterre Introduction This article will analyze the motivations underlying the attempt by a Chinese religious movement named “Teaching of virtue” (Dejiao 德教, Teochiu Tekka) to expand globally and to become, according to some of its leaders, “the great religion of the 21st century.” I shall examine its achievements in pursuit of this goal from a practical and symbolic point of view, as well as its ability to reach such an objective with regard to its sociological basis and cultural orientation. The present study is mainly based on primary data, both oral accounts and Dejiao texts that I gathered through fieldwork in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the People’s Republic of China between 2003 and 2005. Most informants used Teochiu language during the inquiry. This is why I have added Teochiu transliteration to the pinyin version of their accounts, the other reason being that Teochiu language is not commonly recognized by foreign and Chinese scholars. According to its followers, Dejiao is ruled by a community of gods, the “society of the great virtue” (dede she 德德社 , Teo. tektek zi), which encompasses, under the supreme authority of the Jade Emperor, an unbounded range of “honourable masters” (shizun 師尊, Teo. saizun,) including Jesus Christ and the Prophet Muhammad. The enactments of these gods are sent to followers through mediums performing spirit-writing (fuji 扶乩, Teo. huki). In practice, however, the executive managers of Dejiao congregations, who are in charge of implementing the gods’ commands, are usually Teochiu businessmen who are open to the world and are sometimes involved in international businesses. The strong correlation between their entrepreneurial orientation and their commitment to Dejiao signals a projection of human interests onto divine concerns. More generally, Dejiao is a prime example of the way in which Chinese religiosity and modernity have become intertwined, and of the ideological tensions that such encounters may generate. This article will provide an introduction to the history of this process, emphasizing successively the spreading of Dejiao in Chaozhou 潮州 and Southeast Asia, its nature, organizational and sociological pattern, and finally its recent attempt to spread back to the Dejiao 37 People’s Republic of China and to expand to the global world. The account of the movement’s main features which is proposed in the core of the text was a necessary step to interpret, in the last section, both its current development and the inner impediments to its universalistic claim. A Brief Historical Sketch The roots of this religious movement date back to 1939, when a group of Teochiu petty traders from a village of the Chaoyang county started communicating through fuji with two Daoist masters of the Tang dynasty, namely Liu Chunfang 柳春芳 (Teo. Liu Chunwong,) and Yang Junsong 楊筠松 (Teo. Iang Hunsong).1 Fuji is a well-known set of techniques by means of which Chinese mediums write poetry, moral texts, protective talismans and oracles produced by gods or spirits, on a table or a tray.2 In this way, the Teochiu traders were looking for divine support to deliver the Chaozhou people from the chaotic situation caused 1 According to Dejiao hagiography, Liu Chunfang was a mandarin who became a Palace councillor during the reign of Zhenyuan 貞元 (785-805). When he was 72 years old, Lü Dongbin invited him to go on a meditation retreat to the “Purple Yang” Mountain (Szechuan). After years of Daoist ascetic life he was said to have finally reached the status of Immortal. Yang Junsong was a famous geomancer of the Xizong 僖宗 reign (879-888). In his old age, he retreated to a remote part of Jiangxi province to increase his magical powers through asceticism. 2 Works from the Song and later periods contain many passages relating to fuji, as noted by Chao, “The Original and Growth of Fuchi”, 10. For general details about its modus operandi see DeGroot, The Religious Systems of China, 1294-1300; Elliott, Chinese Spirit Mediums in Singapore, 47; Jordan and Overmyer, The Flying Phoenix, 78-9; Clart, Moral Mediums, 156-168; Lang and Ragvald, “Spiritwriting and the Development of Chinese Cults”, 313-4. Dejiao mediums in the PRC, Thailand, and Malaysia...