Graft And Coexistence Of Multinational Culture

As an organization for religious communication, Catholicism can also beconsidered as a medium system. It is widely connected with other sub-systems, reactingand influencing mutually in an organic social system. Catholic communication inChinese villages is, essentially, a kind of cross-cultural communication, which has beeninevitably affected by such multiple social factors as traditional culture, old customsand conventions, strong clan power in rural areas and the like. Meanwhile, it has beenexerting invisible impact on rural life and government, as a noticeable communicationphenomenon, during its disseminating process of more than one hundred years inChinese villages; Catholicism has gradually mastered its own strategies to coexistentand enlarges its share in Chinese cultural space. By grafting Chinese cultures into itstheories and ceremonies, it has been a combination of oriental and western cultures,with a strong Chinese rural flavor and local distinctions, with such features aspoor-educated receivers, indirect disseminating ways, long propagating time, localizedtheories and ceremonies, long-term communication effects, and so on.Based on angles of communication science and culture study, this thesis is a casestudy of Catholic disseminating activities in X village of a province in the south ofChina. There is one of the headquarters of Chinese Catholicism in X village; and itsvillager Mr. Z is one of Diocesan Bishops in China, who enjoys high prestige andinfluence. It adopts a comprehensive research method of combining depth interviews,field observations and a literature review all together. This case study engages inanalyzing the activities of the Catholicism in Chinese rural areas theoretically，in orderto provide theoretical consultation and advice for policy making of Chinese harmoniousvillages’ and society’s constructions.The conclusion from this thesis is that dissemination of Chinese Catholicism inrural areas is a composite model, in which, several sub-models, such as ceremonialcommunication one, personal-persuasion one, family-influence one, as well as symbol-diffusion one, work together to form a macro information-radiating field, inwhich, invisible impacts are put on individuals, organizations and local governmentsaround it. It’s proved by the case that the Catholicism in X village has achieved someeffects in the three aspects of developing adherents, enlarging social influence andgaining the acceptance of mainstream culture, which suggests that its communicatingthree-step strategies of “adapting”-“developing”-“maintaining” are effective. Inaddition, the western religion can exist in Chinese rural culture, essentially becauseour religious-freedom policy is open and tolerant. Conversely, the localization way ofChinese rural Catholic groups exerts some good impacts in rural production and life,which are beneficial to the construction and development of harmonious villages andChinese society. It indicates that only by obtaining the law of grafting local culturesand customs can an alien culture exist and be disseminated, in a society with strongtraditional cultures.