The Cultural Revolution and Catholic Shanghai

The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), especially its radical phase (1966-1969), is still seen as a “dark age” for religious groups in China and little news about religious communities reached the outside world during these years. Because of such campaigns as “Smash the Old Fours" at the height of the radical phase, this period was marked by the systematic suppression and destruction of religion. Documents from this sensitive period remain classified in most Chinese archives. For these reasons, even the most complete works on Christianity in China during these years yield very little information.

In my earlier work (Church Militant, Harvard 2011), I investigated direct Catholic resistance in the 1950s to the religious policies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). There turned out to be plenty of sources to interrogate, such as missionary magazines, letters from missionaries and Shanghai Catholics, and even declassified CCP documents. Yet, at first blush, there is hardly a surfeit of material on the next decade. Even so, it is my contention that while all vestiges of Catholicism’s long and storied 350-year history in the Shanghai region were being systematically erased during the Cultural Revolution, some elements of Catholic life held on tenaciously. Further, despite facing systematic destruction, materials were being produced which can serve as the basis for an historical analysis. For example, there are eyewitness accounts of the Red Guards, letters of Shanghai Catholics that reached the outside world, and testimonials that were publicized once the Cultural Revolution ended. Finally, there are the oral accounts of Shanghai Catholics themselves that keep alive the memories of this period. By systematically investigating these fragmentary materials, I hope to present a rich and thick description of Catholic life in Shanghai during this previously obscure period.