Kin Cheung is an associate professor of East and South Asian religions and chair of the Department of Global Religions and Department of Philosophy. His research investigates how contemporary agents use Buddhist doctrine and ritual practices in Chinese and American contexts as well as transnational networks.Last year, Cheung was invited to join a select group of scholars and leaders from top institutions across the United States and China as a fellow in the National Committee on United States–China Relations Public Intellectuals Program (PIP).

What are the goals of the Public Intellectuals Program?

The Public Intellectuals Program supports the mission of the National Committee on US–China Relations, which is to promote understanding and cooperation between the United States and China, as their relationship is the most significant geopolitical one in the world. It was the National Committee that hosted the Biden-Xi summit in 2023. The program connects American experts on China with policymakers, journalists, and the public, because our knowledge and experience makes a difference.

My cohort includes specialists ranging from a navy captain and military speech writer for the US Secretary of Defense, and a supply chain and environmental law expert working for Apple, to a cofounder of an economic policy research startup. In addition to scholars of political science, economics, security, geography, and urban planning, I am traveling with other scholars of religion, theater, and history, because the program recognizes the need for a broad scope of disciplinary perspectives.

You’ve served nearly a year in the program. Tell us about your experience and contributions to the goals.

We visited Washington, DC, and San Francisco. I knew our group made an impact when we met with officials who started taking notes on the information we provided. These included officials from the US Department of State and US Department of Defense; representatives from the White House; government committees on trade, technology, and human rights; and diplomats/ambassadors from Vietnam, the Philippines, and China.

A key message I wish to share is that the complex relationship between the US and China involves (at times healthy) competition and cooperation. While some of the loudest voices on social media, especially politicians, focus on the former, both nations profit immensely from mutually beneficial exchanges, such as our agricultural trade.

Later in 2024, we will be making a trip to Taiwan and Southeast Asia, then to Washington, DC, again in 2025. Though my cohort is a two-year program, the vice president of the National Committee on US–China Relations, Jan Berris, likes to remind us that we will continue to be members of PIP by contributing to the development of future cohorts and serving public interests.

In what ways can you bring this work with PIP
into your courses at Moravian?

“There are over a million jobs in Washington, DC, that require knowledge of China,” shared one of the state officials we met. No matter if you are an American or Chinese citizen, you will be impacted by how the US and China interact in our increasingly connected globe. In my courses, I stress the importance of studying Asia, not just China, because Asia is more than half the world. Although I research and publish on Chinese Buddhism, Chinese medical arts, and Chinese (American) religions, I am not the typical China specialist. Rather, I am a scholar of religion.

The most common challenge I see in my students is religious illiteracy. Therefore, I begin my courses by assigning an article written by an atheist who argues for the value of studying religion—because the majority of the world has always been, and will likely continue to be, religious. Not understanding religion means having blinders on toward the values that impact people’s lives and their behavior.

The solution is to promote religious literacy at all levels of education and to teach the internal diversity of religions, how religious groups alter history as a force for good and bad, and how various religious practices change over time. The most practical tip is to replace or question any use of “Christianity” or “Buddhism” as monolithic actors (e.g., Buddhism drives voters to XYZ) with specific Christians and Buddhists as active agents in local contexts.

Recently, scholars of Chinese and Chinese-American religions have made the case to reinterpret the role of the family, proposing “familism” as the vital center of Chinese religions. Ancestor worship in the form of offerings to deceased relatives can shed light on new data. For instance, Chinese and American respondents provide opposite answers when surveyed on how an autonomous vehicle should respond when faced with a moral dilemma regarding sacrificing the elderly or the young. Familism provides one possible explanation for their divergent responses. In other words, religion matters.