Communism and the Rise of the Anti-Christian Movement in Republican China

Scholars have acknowledged that much of the early support for the anti-Christian movement in Shanghai and Beijing in 1922 came from radical individuals and organizations with ties to the Communists, anarchists, and the Guomindang left, but little attention has been given to the overlapping linkages between the Soviet-supported radical activists and the anti-Christian student groups in the Chinese historiography. This article fills this gap in the literature by highlighting the Communist-dominated Socialist Youth League in Shanghai as a key initiating force in managing the anti-Christian movement of early 1922. It shows how the Communists blended their anti-religious and anti-imperialist discourses with Leninist–Marxist ideology to win the hearts and minds of the Chinese youth.