Religious leaders and a Confucian scholar

A group of religious leaders from China visited the US recently. It by itself is an interesting news already, to see how the Chinese government is 'reaching out' to the international community in religious affairs. I had recently translated an article that discusses the impact of globalization on religion in contemporary China. It states that politics and religions is always intertwined throughout the history in China with politics situated above religion and have the power to control over how religious should be in society. In a sense, religion and politics are not separated because politics controlled religion. And if we understand Confucianism as a religion, that even reinforced the point because it is the state official ideology. The understanding of whether Confucianism is a religion is crucial in the understanding of the relationship between state and religion in China.

So, when I found out that there is a Confucian scholars among the religious leaders visiting China, I found that is pretty interesting. I see that as a statement of the government position in how they understand whether Confucianism is a religion or not .... it is a semi-religion! Definitely, the 'Confucian scholar' was singled out and does not belong to the 'religious leaders' category. Of course, officially, there are only five religions in China and Confucianism does not belong in it. However, the fact that they need a Confucian scholar to tag along with the visit of religious leaders also implies that 1) the special role of Confucianism in Chinese religious landscape; 2) we cannot talk about Chinese religion without talking about Confucianism; 3) Confucianism is an important 'spiritual ideology' for the government yet it is not officially religion.

http://www.religionandpolicy.org/show.php?p=1.1.2085
http://stories.globalatlanta.com/2008stories/016287.html
http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/sep/15/religious-leaders-end-10-day-trip-to-america/