This book by Ian Johnson, published in 2017,
Mao thought religions were full of superstition. This has given rise to the belief that religions had disappeared during Mao’s rule. Hence the title of this absorbing book.
In my view, religions never really vanished from China during Mao’s rule.
They just disappeared from public view. They remained practiced by the Chinese behind closed doors.
Religions were part of Chinese culture, history, and literature. The Chinese continued to read books that exposed them to religions.
Temples and churches were not all destroyed by the Red Guards. China is too vast a country.
In my years of travel in China, I visited ancient temples in Lhasa, Shanxi, Wudang Shan, and Wutai Shan, not to mention the Temple of Heaven right smack in Beijing. I also visited churches built during the Qing dynasty. I visited ancient mosques in Kashgar and Xian.
The Chinese Buddhists, Daoists, Christians, and Muslims continued to worship in these places pre-, during-, and post-Mao.