RELIGIOUS RESPONSE TO MODERNIZATION IN TAIWAN THE CASE OF I-KUAN TAO
63
for the different developments in Taiwan and the West can be found. In trying to answer this question I shall make a few suggestions which may serve as a framework for future research.
The key to an understanding of the different religious developments may be found by considering the different circumstances of modernization in China and in the West. The temporal priority of Western modernization may be crucial. Not only did modernization in the West start about two centuries earlier than in China, which means that the West had much more time to digest the transformation from a traditional to a modern society; what is more important is the fact that modernization was the outcome of a genuine development of the Western intellectual and social tradition. In China, by contrast, the change from traditional to modern society was provoked by developments from outside the Chinese culture. Modernization began only in the middle of the nineteenth century as a reaction to the impact of Western imperialism. Consequently, modernization did not happen as a “natural” evolution of the Chinese culture but was conceived as something threatening the genuine Chinese tradition. It implied not only change but change after the model of Western societies.
To some extent, modernization in China was forced in that it was the only way to cope with Western aggression. What is more, this forced modernization was from the very beginning accompanied by the experience of Chinese inferiority which led to a crisis of cultural self-confidence. While externally modernization in China had the same structural elements as in the West, i.e., industrialization, urbanization, scientific rationalization, etc., in terms of cultural continuity, modernization in China represented a clear break, whereas in the West, it was a continuation of the genuine tradition. To put it simply, one major aspect of modernization in China was and still is westernization, which means in a way that the modern culture in Taiwan is perceived as "less Chinese" than the traditional culture. This may help to explain some of the differences in the cultural and especially the religious responses to modernization in Taiwan and in the West.
I would suggest that westernization, which is concomitant with modernization in all non-Western societies, represents a factor which in the long run may account for different developments in the process of modernization in the West and elsewhere. This appears to be a paradox but it can easily be understood if we think westernization through to its inevitable consequences. For if modernization implies
RELIGIOUS RESPONSE TO MODERNIZATION IN TAIWAN THE CASE OF I-KUAN TAO
63
for the different developments in Taiwan and the West can be found. In trying to answer this question I shall make a few suggestions which may serve as a framework for future research.
The key to an understanding of the different religious developments may be found by considering the different circumstances of moderni- zation in China and in the West. The temporal priority of Western modernization may be crucial. Not only did modernization in the West start about two centuries earlier than in China, which means that the West had much more time to digest the transformation from a traditional to a modern society; what is more important is the fact that modernization was the outcome of a genuine development of the Western intellectual and social tradition. In China, by contrast, the change from traditional to modern society was provoked by developments from outside the Chinese culture, Modernization began only in the middle of the nineteenth century as a reaction to the impact of Western imperialism. Consequently modernization did not happen as a “natural” evolution of the Chinese culture but was conceived as something threatening the genuine Chinese tradition. It implied not only change but change after the model of Western societies.
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To some extent modernization in China waa forced in that it was the only way to cope with Western aggression. What is more, this forced modernization was from the very beginning accompanied by the experience of Chinese inferiority which led to a crisis of cultural self-confidence. While externally modernization in China had the same structual elements as in the West, i.e. industrialization, urbanization, scientific rationalization etc., in terms of cultural continuity modern- ization in China represented a clear break, whereas in the West it was a continuation of the genuine tradition. To put it simply, one major aspect of modernization in China was and still is westernization, which means in a way that the modern culture in Taiwan is preceived as "less Chinese" than the traditional culture. This may help to explain some of the differences in, the cultural and especially the religious reponses to modernization in Taiwan and in the West.
I would suggest that westernization, which is concomitant with modernization in all non-Western societies, respresents a factor which in the long run may account for different developments in the process of modernization in the West and elsewhere. This appears to be a paradox but it can easily be understood if we think westernization through to its inevitable consequences. For if modernization implies
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