Party Spirit: Producing a Communist Civil Religion in Contemporary China

The Chinese Communist Party is confronted with a growing gap that separates the rhetoric about socialism and party rule from the individualism and materialism caused by capitalism and opening up to the outside world. In response, the Party has developed strategies that draw on an understanding of the dedication to the Party that is specifically religious, yet does not require belief, conviction or faith in a doctrine. These strategies revolve around the Leninist concept of ‘Party spirit’ that, paradoxically, has been turned into a commodity that can be produced, supplied and consumed. Drawing on insights from the anthropology of pilgrimage, tourism and religion, these strategies will be discussed in the context of party cadre education and so-called ‘red tourism.’ The article concludes that the Party is shaping its evolution from an infallible bearer of ideological dogma to a sacred object of worship as part of a new ‘communist civil religion.’