Religion in China

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"Three laughs at Tiger Brook", Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism are one, a
litang style painting portraying three men laughing by a river stream, 12th century,
Song dynasty.

Public worship ceremony at the Great Temple of Yandi Shennong, in Suizhou, Hubei.

The imposing stupa enshrining the relic of Shakyamuni Buddha's finger bone, at
Famen Temple, a Buddhist complex in Baoji, Shaanxi.

Temple of Fortune and Longevity, at the Heavenly Lake of Tianshan in Fukang,

Changji, Xinjiang. It is an example of Taoist temple which hosts various chapels
dedicated to popular gods.[note 1]

Temple of the Filial Blessing, a place for lineage religion, in Wenzhou, Zhejiang.
China has long been a cradle and host to a variety of the most enduring religiophilosophical traditions of the world. Confucianism and Taoism, and later Buddhism,
constitute the "three teachings", philosophical frameworks which historically have
had a significant impact in shaping Chinese culture,[1][2] each of them finding a
functional role within common (or popular) Chinese religion.[3] Chinese religions are
not mutually exclusive, with the exception of people who enter a priestly or
monastic order. The emperors of China claimed the Mandate of Heaven and
participated in Chinese religious practices. Since 1949, China has been governed by
the Communist Party of China, which, in theory, is an atheist institution and
prohibits party members from practicing religion while in office.[4] During Mao
Zedong's rule, religious movements were oppressed.[5] Under following leaders,
religious organisations have been given more autonomy.[6] At the same time, China
is considered a nation with a long history of humanist and secularist, this-worldly
thought since the time of Confucius,[7][note 2] who stressed shisu (Chinese: ;
pinyin: shs, "being in the world").[9] The Party formally and institutionally
recognises five religions in China: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism, and
Catholicism (though despite historic links, the Party enforces a separation of the

Chinese Catholic Church from the Roman Catholic Church),[10] and there has been
more institutional recognition for Confucianism and the Chinese folk religion.[11]
[12]

Demographically, the largest religious system is "Chinese religion", otherwise called

popular or folk religion, which comprehends Confucianism, Taoism and certain
Buddhist elements but includes a variety of other traditions. These traditions
include respect for the forces of nature, gods of human groups, ancestors and
figures from Chinese mythology and history,[13] as well as organised sects. Among
widespread cults even officially promoted there are those of Mazu (goddess of the
seas),[14] Huangdi (divine patriarch of all the Chinese, "Volksgeist" of the Chinese
nation),[15][16] Guandi (god of war and business), Caishen (god of prosperity and
richness), Pangu and many others. China has many of the world's tallest statues,
including the tallest of all. Most of them represent buddhas and deities and were
built in the 2000s. The world's tallest statue is the Spring Temple Buddha, located in
Henan. Recently built in the country are also the world's tallest pagoda in Tianning
Temple, and the world's tallest stupa in Famen Temple. Chinese Buddhism has
developed since the 1st century, and retains a great influence in modern China.

Scholars have noted that in China there is no clear boundary between religions,
especially Buddhism, Taoism and local popular folk religious practice.[17] According
to the most recent demographic analyses, an average 80% of the population in
China, that is hundreds of millions of people, practice some kinds of Chinese folk
religions and Taoism, 1016% are Buddhists, 24% are Christians, and 12% are
Muslims. In addition to Han people's local religious practices, there are also ethnic
minority groups who maintain religions that can be found nowhere else. Folk
religious sects constitute 23% of the population, while Confucianism as a religious
self-designation is popular among intellectuals.

Significant faiths specifically connected to certain ethnic groups include Tibetan

Buddhism and the Islamic religion of the Hui and Uyghur peoples. Christianity in
China was introduced two times between the 7th and the 15th centuries, but did not
take root until it was reintroduced in the 16th century by Jesuit missionaries.[18]
Protestant missions and later Catholic missionaries expanded the presence of
Christianity, which influenced the Taiping Rebellion of the mid 19th century.[19]
Under Communism, foreign missionaries were expelled, most churches closed and
their schools, hospitals and orphanages seized.[20] During the Cultural Revolution,
many priests were imprisoned.[21] After the late 1970s, religious freedoms for
Christians improved.[22]

Contents [hide]
1

History

1.1

Ancient and prehistoric

1.2

Middle Ages

1.3

Modern history

1.3.1 16th19th century

1.3.2 20th and 21st centuries
2

Geographic distribution

2.1

Statistics

General definition of what in China is religious

3.1

Concepts of religion, tradition and doctrine

3.2

Economy of temples and rituals

3.3

Common idea of God and fundamental theology

Main religions

4.1

Chinese traditional religion

4.1.1 Folk religious sects

4.1.2 Confucianism
4.1.3 Taoism
4.1.4 Ritual mastery traditions
4.1.5 Chinese shamanic traditions
4.2

Buddhism

4.2.1 Chinese Buddhism

4.2.2 Tibetan Buddhism
4.2.3 Theravada Buddhism
4.2.4 Nichiren Buddhism

4.2.5 Vajrayana Buddhism

5

Ethnic minorities' indigenous religions

5.1

Benzhuism (Bai)

5.2

Bimoism (Yi)

5.3

Bon (Tibetans)

5.4

Dongbaism

5.5

Manchu folk religion

5.6

Miao folk religion

5.7

Mongolian folk religion

5.8

Qiang folk religion

5.9

Yao folk religion

5.10

Zhuang folk religion

Abrahamic religions

6.1

Christianity

6.2

Islam

6.3

Judaism

6.4

Bah' Faith

Other religions

7.1

Manichaeism

7.2

Hinduism

7.3

Zoroastrianism

7.4

Shinto

Anti-metaphysical and anti-theistic thoughts

See also

10

Notes

11

References

11.1

Citations

11.2

Sources

12

Further reading

13

External links

History[edit]
Ancient and prehistoric[edit]
Expressions of ancient cultures of China

Jade Chinese dragon (yang principle) from the Hongshan culture.

Xiwangmu, the "Queen Mother of the West". From a Han dynasty mural.

Leishen (the "God of Thunder"), punishing evil-doers on Heaven's behalf (1923).

Further information: Chinese shamanism and Wu (shaman)
Prior to the formation of the Chinese civilisation and the spread of world religions in
the region generally known today as East Asia (which includes the territorial
boundaries of modern-day China), local tribes were united by animistic, shamanic
and totemic worldviews, and mediatory individuals such as shamans were the way
in which prayers, sacrifices or offerings were communicated to the spiritual world.
The ancient spiritual and shamanic heritage is preserved to this day in the forms of
Chinese folk religion, including Taoism.[23][24]

Ancient shamanism exhibits features that are especially connected to ancient

Neolithic cultures such as the Hongshan culture.[25] The Flemish philosopher Ulrich
Libbrecht traces the origins of some features of Taoism to what Jan Jakob Maria de
Groot called "Wuism",[26] or Chinese shamanism.[27]

Libbrecht distinguishes two layers in the development of the Chinese theology and
religion that continues to this day, traditions derived respectively from the Shang
and subsequent Zhou dynasties. The religion of the Shang era conceived God as the
great ancestor of the universe. The main gods from this period are not forces of

nature or concepts in the Indo-European way, but deified virtuous men and
progenitors. They were called di (), "deities", and the greatest of them was
Shangdi (, "Highest Deity"), who is identified with the dragon, symbol of the
universal power (qi) in its yang (engendering) aspect.[27]

The Zhou dynasty, succeeding the Shang, was more rooted in an agricultural
worldview. With them, gods of nature became dominant. The universal God in this
period was conceived as Tian (, the "Great Oneness", "Heaven"). With Di (,
"earth") he forms the whole cosmos in a complementary duality.[27]

Middle Ages[edit]

A variety of Chinese priests and monks seen by Johan Nieuhof between 1655 and
1658.
Buddhism brought a model of afterlife to Chinese people and had a deep influence
on Chinese culture. The story Mulian Rescues His Mother, for instance, adapted an
originally Buddhist fable to show Confucian values of filial piety. In it, a virtuous
monk descends into hell to rescue his mother, who had been condemned for her
transgressions.[28]

Modern history[edit]
16th19th century[edit]
From the 16th century, the Jesuit China missions played a significant role in opening
dialogue between China and the West. The Jesuits brought Western sciences,
becoming advisers to the imperial court on astronomy, taught mathematics and
mechanics, but also adapted Chinese religious ideas such as admiration for
Confucius and ancestor worship into the religious doctrine they taught in China.[29]

Chinese traditional religions were exposed to waves of persecution already in the

19th century, during the rule of the Qing dynasty. Many folk religious and
institutional religious temples were destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion and the
Boxer Rebellion in the late 1800s.[30] The former was organised by Christian
movements which established a separate state against the Qing dynasty, while the
latter rebellion was started by indigenous Chinese movements against the influence
of Western culture and colonialism. In the Christian-inspired Taiping Heavenly

Kingdom, official policies pursued the elimination of Chinese religions to substitute

them with forms of Christianity. In this effort, the libraries of the Buddhist
monasteries were destroyed, almost completely in the Yangtze River Delta.[31]

20th and 21st centuries[edit]

Temple of the Great Buddha in Midong, Urumqi, Xinjiang.

The City God Temple of Pinghu being reconstructed in 2014.

Incense Snow Temple ( Xingxus), a rural Buddhist convent in Ouhai,

Wenzhou, Zhejiang.
China entered the 20th century under the Manchu Qing dynasty, whose rulers
favoured traditional Chinese religions, and participated in public religious
ceremonies, with state pomp, as at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, where prayers
for the harvest were offered. On the empire's fringe, Tibetan Buddhists recognized
the Dalai Lamas as their spiritual and temporal leaders.

Things began to change between 1898 and 1904 the imperial government issued a
measure to "build schools with temples' property" ( miochn xngxu).
[32]:3[33] Various "anti-superstition" campaigns followed. After the Xinhai
Revolution of 1911 "most temples were turned to other uses or were destroyed,
with a few changed into schools".[34]

In the past, popular cults were regulated by imperial government policies,

promoting certain deities while suppressing other ones.[35] In the 20th century,
with the fall of the empire, increasing urbanisation and Western influence, the issue
for the new intellectual class was no longer controlling unauthorised worship of
unregistered gods, but became the delegitimisation of religion, especially folk
religion, as a superstitious obstacle to modernisation.[33]

The Guomindang government of the early republic intensified the suppression of

local religion with the 1928 "Standards for retaining or abolishing gods and shrines";
the policy abolished all cults of gods with the exception of human heroes such as Yu

the Great, Guan Yu and Confucius.[36] Sun Yat-sen, the first president of the
Republic of China, and his successor nationalist leader of China, Chiang Kai-shek,
were both Christians. During the Japanese invasion of China between 1937 and
1945 many temples were used as barracks by soldiers and destroyed in warfare.
[30][37]

These policies were the background of those that were implemented in the People's
Republic of China established in 1949.[36] With the triumph of Mao Zedong's
communists, the Chinese government became formally atheist. The government
viewed religion as emblematic of feudalism and foreign colonialism, and maintained
the secularist policies of separation of state and religion, the latter institutionalised
in a number of official "churches", which were already implemented in the former
republican government.[32]:3 The Cultural Revolution between 1966 and 1976 of
the Maoist period was the last systematic effort to destroy religions in China.[30]
[36] The historian Arthur Waldron suggests, however, that "communism was, in
effect, a religion for its early Chinese converts: more than a sociological analysis, it
was a revelation and a prophecy that engaged their entire beings and was
expounded in sacred texts, many imported from Moscow and often printed in
English".[38]

This policy relaxed considerably in the late 1970s at the end of the Cultural
Revolution and more tolerance of religious expression has been permitted since.
Since 1978, the Constitution of the People's Republic of China guarantees "freedom
of religion". Its article 36 states that:[39][40]

Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief. No state
organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to
believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in,
or do not believe in, any religion. The state protects normal religious activities. No
one may make use of religion to engage in activities that disrupt public order,
impair the health of citizens or interfere with the educational system of the state.
Religious bodies and religious affairs are not subject to any foreign domination.

Since the 1980s and through the 2000s there has been a development of
anthropology of religion in China, accompanying the cultural renaissance especially
of folk religion.[32]:4 Starting with the "cultural fever" ( wnhu r) of the
1990s, that is the intellectual movement looking at "culture" as the keyword for
understanding the social and political past and present of China, but also of the

world, major forms of folk religion began to be supported as "culture" or "cults".

[32]:5-7 A turning point was reached in 2005, when folk religious cults began to be
protected and promoted under the policies of intangible cultural heritage.[32]:9 Not
only traditions interrupted for decades are being resumed, but even ceremonies
forgotten for many centuries are being reinvented, for example the annual worship
of the god Cncng () of Shu religion at a ceremonial complex near the
Sanxingdui archaeological site in Sichuan.[41]

In recent years, the Chinese government has been open especially to traditional
religions such as Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism and folk religion, emphasizing the
role of religion in building a "Harmonious Society" (hexie shehui),[42] a Confucian
idea.[43][44] Starting in the mid-2000s China has hosted a variety of religious
meetings and conferences including the first World Buddhist Forum in 2006 and the
subsequent World Buddhist Fora, a number of international Taoist fora and local
conferences on folk religions. Aligning with anthropologists' discourse about the
importance of "culture", the government considers these religions as integral
expressions of national "Chinese culture".[45]

In late 2013, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China,

expressed hope that "traditional cultures" may fill "moral void" and fight corruption.
[46] Folk religion is especially viewed as the "hardware" of what has been
conceptualised by Mou Zhongjian as a "religious ecology" of China, that is to say
religion as the glue of society as a "living system".[32]:12 This theory has been put
into contrast with that of the "religious market" elaborated by the Chinese American
Christian author Fenggang Yang, which has been severely criticised by Chinese
scholars, especially Lu Yunfeng and Ji Zhe, for its limitations in explaining Chinese
religion and its reduction of religion to a product or tool of society rather than
explaining society as a product of spirit.[32]:14 At the same time, there is a
tendency to contrast this idealized image of harmony among Chinese religions with
the hostility among the monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Intellectuals sometimes blame Christianity for being intolerant and exclusive, even
imperialistic and arrogant.[47] Some intellectuals criticise Christianity for disrupting
the socio-cultural complex and for culture loss.[48]

The Communist Party, which remains an atheist organisation, presently grants

recognition to five "religious doctrines" to be managed at state level: Buddhism,
Taoism, Islam, Protestantism, and Catholicism (though despite historic links, for
political reasons, the Chinese Catholic Church has been separated from the Roman
Catholic Church).[10][49]

Geographic distribution[edit]

Geographic distribution of religions in China.[50][51][52][53]

Chinese folk religion (and Confucianism, Taoism, and groups of Chinese Buddhism)
Buddhism tout court
Islam
Ethnic minorities' indigenous religions
Mongolian folk religion
Northeast China folk religion, Tungus and Manchu shamanism
The varieties of Chinese religion are spread across the map of China in different
degrees. Southern provinces have experienced the most evident revival of Chinese
folk religion,[54][38] although it is present all over China in a great variety of forms,
intertwined with Taoism, fashi orders, Confucianism, Nuo rituals, shamanism and
other religious currents. Quanzhen Taoism is mostly present in the north, while
Sichuan is the area where Tianshi Taoism developed and the early Celestial Masters
had their main seat. Along the southeastern coast, ritual functions of the folk
religion are reportedly dominated by Taoism, both in registered and unregistered
forms (Zhengyi Taoism and unrecognised fashi orders), which since the 1990s has
developed quickly in the area.[55][56]

Vincent Goossaert has recently (2011) published a review of scholarly works which
study "north China folk religion" as a distinct phenomenon.[57] In contrast to the
folk religion of southern and southeastern provinces which is primarily focused on
the lineages and their churches (zngz xihu ) focusing on ancestral gods,
the folk religion of central-northern China (North China Plain) predominantly hinges
on the communal worship of tutelary deities of creation and nature as identity
symbols by villages populated by families of different surnames,[58] structured into
"communities of the god(s)" (shnsh , or hu , "association"),[59] which
organise temple ceremonies (miaohui ), involving processions and pilgrimages,
[60] and led by indigenous ritual masters (fashi) who are often hereditary and linked
to secular authority.[note 3] Northern and southern folk religions also have a
different pantheon, of which the northern one is composed of more ancient gods of
Chinese mythology.[61]

Folk religious sects have historically been more successful in the central plains and
in the northeastern provinces than in southern China, and central-northern folk
religion shares characteristics of some of the sects, such as the heavy importance of
mother goddess worship and shamanism,[62] as well as their scriptural
transmission.[57]:92 Confucian churches as well have historically found much
resonance among the population of the northeast; in the 1930s the Universal
Church of the Way and its Virtue alone aggregated at least 25% of the population of
the state of Manchuria[63] and contemporary Shandong has been analysed as an
area of rapid growth of folk Confucian groups.[64]

Goossaert talks of this distinction, although recognising it as an oversimplification,

of a "Taoist south" and a "village-religion/Confucian centre-north",[57]:47 with the
northern context also characterised by important orders of "folk Taoist" ritual
masters, one of which are the ynyngshng,[65][57]:86 and sectarian
traditions,[57]:92 and also by a low influence of Buddhism and official Taoism.
[57]:90

The folk religion of northeastern China (Manchuria) has unique characteristics

deriving from the interaction of Han religion with Tungus and Manchu shamanisms;
these include chm xin ( "riding (for the) immortal gods") shamanism, the
worship of foxes and other animal deities, and the fox god and goddessHsn
Tiy () and Hsn Tini ()at the head of pantheons.[66]
Otherwise, in the religious context of Inner Mongolia there has been a significant
integration of Han Chinese into the traditional folk religion of the region.

Across China in recent years Han religion has adopted deities from Tibetan folk
religion, especially wealth gods.[67] In Tibet, across broader western China, and in
Inner Mongolia, there has been a growth of the cult of Gesar with the explicit
support of the Chinese government, Gesar being a cross-ethnic Han-Tibetan, Mongol
and Manchu deity (the Han identify him as an aspect of the god of war analogically
with Guandi) and culture hero whose mythology is embodied as a culturally
important epic poem.[68]

The Han Chinese schools of Buddhism are mostly distributed in the eastern part of
the country. On the other hand, Tibetan Buddhism is the dominant religion in Tibet,
and significantly present in other westernmost provinces where ethnic Tibetans
constitute a significant part of the population, and has a strong influence in Inner

Mongolia in the north. The Tibetan tradition is also having a growing influence
among the Han Chinese.[69]

Christians are especially concentrated in the three provinces of Henan, Anhui and
Zhejiang.[70] The latter two provinces were in the area affected by the Taiping
event, and Zhejiang along with Henan were hubs of the intense Protestant
missionary activity in the 19th and early 20th century.

Islam is the majority religion in areas inhabited by the Hui Muslims, particularly the
province of Ningxia, and in the province of Xinjiang which is inhabited by the
Uyghurs. Many ethnic minority groups in China follow their own traditional ethnic
religions: Benzhuism of the Bai, Bimoism of the Yi, Bn of the Tibetans, Dongbaism
of the Nakhi, Miao folk religion, Qiang folk religion, Yao folk religion, Zhuang folk
religion, Mongolian shamanism or Tengerism, and Manchu shamanism among
Manchus.

Geographic distribution of religions in China, by share of total population by

province

Chinese religion of the lineage[71][note 4]

Taoist Church's strength[72]

Chinese folk religious sects and Confucian churches' strength[note 5]

Buddhist institutions per capita[77][note 6]

Christianity[78]

Islam[79]
Statistics[edit]

Worshipers at the Temple of the City God of Suzhou, Jiangsu. Is it Taoism or folk
religion? To the general Chinese public they are not distinguished, but a lay
practitioner would hardly claim to be a "Taoist", as Taoism is a set of doctrinal and
liturgical functions that work as specialising patterns for the indigenous religion.[80]

Temple of Hebo ("River Lord"), the god (Heshen, "River God") of the sacred Yellow
River, in Hequ, Xinzhou, Shanxi.
Counting the number of religious people anywhere is hard; counting them in China
is even harder. Low response rates, non-random samples, and adverse political and
cultural climates are persistent problems.[81] One scholar concludes that statistics
on religious believers in China "cannot be accurate in a real scientific sense", since
definitions of "religion" exclude people who do not see themselves as members of a
religious organization but are still "religious" in their daily actions and fundamental
beliefs.[82] The concept of "religion" in China is very different from that in the
Western world. The Chinese mindset is characterised by an harmonious holism, that
is a worldview in which all things are part of the whole. There is an organic oneness
in which every aspect reflects and presupposes the other aspects in a constant
process of growing and transforming. For this reason, the forms of Chinese religious
expression tend to be syncretic and following one religion does not necessarily
mean the rejection or denial of others.[83]

Another matter of current debate is whether some important belief systems,

primarily Confucianism, constitute "religions".[84] As Daniel L. Overmeyer writes, in
recent years there has been a "new appreciation... of the religious dimensions of
Confucianism, both in its ritual activities and in the inward search for an ultimate
source of moral order".[85] Many Chinese belief systems have concepts of a sacred
and sometimes spiritual natural world yet do not invoke a concept of personal god.
[86]

Surveys have found very few people who call themselves Taoists. This is because to
most Chinese, Taoism is the same as the Chinese folk religion, while scholars such
as Kristofer Schipper hold that Taoism is more accurately defined as a doctrinal and
liturgical framework of the folk religion.[87] Traditionally, the Chinese language has
not included a term for a lay follower of Taoism. In earlier Western sinological
literature as in Chinese common usage, the term "Taoist" ( dojiot, "disciple
of the teachings about the Tao") means the daoshi (, "masters of the Tao")the
"Taoist priests", the ordained clergymen of a Taoist institution who "represent

Taoist culture on a professional basis".[88] The same discourse applies to the fashi
(, "ritual masters"), the popular non-Taoist specialists of rites.[87] The concept of
"Taoist" as lay member or believer in Taoism, is a neologism that derives from the
Western category of "religion" as membership in a church institution.

Analysing Chinese traditional religions is further complicated by discrepancies

between the terminologies used in Chinese and Western languages. While in the
English current usage "folk religion" means broadly all forms of common cults of
gods and ancestors, in Chinese usage and in academia these cults have not had an
overarching name. By "folk religion" ( mnjin zngjio) or "folk beliefs" (
mnjin xnyng) Chinese scholars have usually meant organised sects
originating from the common religion.[89][90] Furthermore, in the 1990s some of
these organised sects began to register as branches of the official Taoist Association
and therefore to fall under the label of "Taoism".[91] "Folk beliefs" is sometimes
used to define the common cults by contemporary scholars, but it is only an
academic term and it entered into usage at first among Taiwanese scholars from
Japanese language during Japan's occupation (18951945), and later between the
1990s and the early 21st century among mainland Chinese scholars.[92] In order to
address this terminological confusion, some Chinese intellectuals have proposed
recognition and legal management of the indigenous religion by the state and to
adopt the label "Chinese native (or indigenous) religion" ( mns zngjio) or
"Chinese ethnic religion" ( mnz zngjio),[93] or other names.[note 7]

Circle frame.svg
Religion in China (CGSS's average 2012)[95]

Chinese religion (81.1%)

Atheists (6.3%)
Buddhism (6.2%)
Christianity (2.3%)

Salvationist religions (2.2%)

Islam (1.7%)
Other faiths (0.2%)
According to the results of an official census provided in 1995 by the Information
Office of the State Council of China, at that time the Chinese traditional religions
were already popular among nearly 1 billion people.[82]
2005: a survey of the religiosity of urban Chinese from the five cities of Beijing,
Shanghai, Nantong, Wuhan and Baoding, conducted by professor Xinzhong Yao,
found that only 5.3% of the analysed population belonged to religious organisations,
while 51.8% were non religious, in that they did not belong to any religious
association. Nevertheless, 23.8% of the population regularly worshipped gods and
ancestors, 23.1% worshipped Buddha or identified themselves as Buddhists, up to
38.5% had beliefs and practices associated with the folk religions such as feng shui
or belief in celestial powers, and only 32.9% were convinced atheists.[96]
Three surveys conducted respectively in 2005, 2006 and 2007 by the Horizon
Research Consultancy Group on a disproportionately urban and suburban sampling,
found that Buddhists constituted between 11% and 16% of the total population,
Christians were between 2% and 4%, and Muslims approximately 1%.[97] The
surveys also found that ~60% of the population believed in concepts such as fate
and fortune associated to the folk religion.[97]
2007: a survey conducted by the East China Normal University taking into account
people from different regions of China, concluded that there were approximately
300 million religious believers (31% of the total population), of whom the vast
majority ascribable to Buddhism, Taoism and folk religions. Some scholars
considered this number an underestimate, given possible higher numbers for the
Chinese folk religion alone.[98]
2008: a survey conducted in that year by Yu Tao of the University of Oxford with a
survey scheme led and supervised by the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy and
the Peking University, analysing the rural populations of the six provinces of Jiangsu,
Sichuan, Shaanxi, Jilin, Hebei and Fujian, each representing different geographic and
economic regions of China, found that followers of the Chinese folk religions were
31.9% of the analysed population, Buddhists were 10.85%, Christians were 3.93% of
which 3.54% Protestants and 0.39% Catholics, and Taoists were 0.71%.[99] The
remaining 53.41% of the population claimed to be not religious.[99]
2010: the Chinese Spiritual Life Survey directed by the Purdue University's Center
on Religion and Chinese Society concluded that many types of Chinese folk religions
and Taoism are practiced by possibly hundreds of millions of people; 56.2% of the
total population or 754 million people practiced Chinese ancestral religion[note 8],

but only 16% claiming to "believe in the existence" of the ancestor;[note 9] 12.9%
or 173 million practiced Taoism on a level indistinguishable from the folk religion;
0.9% or 12 million people identified exclusively as Taoists; 13.8% or 185 million
identified as Buddhists, of which 1.3% or 17.3 million had received formal initiation;
2.4% or 33 million identified as Christians, of which 2.2% or 30 million as
Protestants (of which only 38% baptised in the official churches) and 0.02% or 3
million as Catholics; and an additional 1.7% or 23 million were Muslims.[101]
2012: the Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS) institute conducted a survey of 25 of
the provinces traditionally with a Han majority, with the exception of Hainan and
Qinghai, and the exclusion of the autonomous regions of Inner Mongolia, Ningxia,
Tibet and Xinjiang, and of Hong Kong and Macau.[102] The survey found only ~10%
of the population belonging to organised religions; specifically, 6.75% were
Buddhists, 2.4% were Christians (of which 1.89% Protestants and 0.41% Catholics),
0.54% were Taoists, 0.46% were Muslims, and 0.40% declared to belong to other
religions.[103] Although ~90% of the population declared to not belong to any
religion, the authors of the survey estimated that only 6.3% were atheists while the
remaining 81% (1 billion people) prayed to or worshipped gods and ancestors in
the manner of the popular religion.[104] The results also provided detailed
demographics of religions in the five selected regions of Shanghai, Liaoning, Henan,
Gansu and Guangdong.[104]
Four surveys conducted respectively in the years 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011 as
part of the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) of the Renmin University of China
found an average 6.2% of the Chinese identifying as Buddhists, 2.3% as Christians
(of which 2% Protestants and 0.3% Catholics), 2.2% as members of folk religious
sects, 1.7% as Muslims, and 0.2% as Taoists.[105]
2012-2014: analyses published in a study of Fenggang Yang and Anning Hu found
that 55.5% of the adult population (15+) of China, or 578 million people in absolute
numbers, believed and practiced folk religions, including a 20% who practiced
ancestor religion or communal worship of deities, and the rest who practiced what
Yang and Hu define "individual" folk religions like devotion to specific gods such as
Caishen. Members of folk religious sects were not taken into account.[106] Around
the same year, Kenneth Dean estimated 680 million people involved in folk religion,
or 51% of the total population.[note 10] In the same years, reports of the Chinese
government claim that the sects have about the same number of followers of the
five state-sanctioned religions counted together (~13% 180 million).[108]
Besides the surveys based on fieldwork, estimates using projections have been
published by the Pew Research Center as part of its study of the Global Religious
Landscape in 2010. This study estimated 21.9% of the population of China believed
in folk religions, 18.2% were Buddhists, 5.1% were Christians, 1.8% were Muslims,
0.8% believed in other religions, while unaffiliated people constituted 52.2% of the
population.[109] According to the surveys of Phil Zuckerman published on

Adherents.com, 59% of the Chinese population was not religious in 1993,[110] and
in 2005 between 8% and 14% was atheist (from over 100 to 180 million).[111] A
survey held in 2012 by WIN/GIA found that in China the atheists comprise 47% of
the population.[112]

Yu Tao's survey of the year 2008 provided a detailed analysis of the social
characteristics of the religious communities.[99] It found that the proportion of male
believers is higher than the average among folk religious people, Taoists, and
Catholics, while it is lower than the average among Protestants. The Buddhist
community shows a greater balance of male and female believers. Concerning the
age of believers, folk religious people and Catholics tend to be younger than the
average, while Protestant and Taoist communities were composed by older people.
The Christian community is more likely than other religions to have members
belonging to the ethnic minorities. The study analysed the proportion of believers
that are at the same time members of the local section of the Communist Party of
China, finding that it is exceptionally high among the Taoists, while the lowest
proportion is found among the Protestants. About education and wealth, the survey
found that the wealthiest populations are those of Buddhists and especially
Catholics, while the poorest is that of the Protestants; Taoists and Catholics are the
better educated, while the Protestants are the less educated among the religious
communities. These findings confirm a description by Francis Ching-Wah Yip that the
Protestant population was predominantly composed of illiterate and semi-illiterate
people, elderly people, and women, already in the 1990s and early 2000s.[70]

The Chinese Family Panel Studies' findings for 2012 show that Buddhists tend to be
younger and better educated, while Christians are older and more likely to be
illiterate.[113] Furthermore, Buddhists are generally wealthy, while Christians most
often belong to the poorest parts of the population.[114] Henan has been found to
be host to the largest percentage of Christians of any province of China, about 6%.
[104] According to Zhe Ji, Chan Buddhism and individual, non-institutional forms of
folk religiosity are particularly successful among the contemporary Chinese youth.
[115]

v t e Tabular complete results of surveys and geographic maps[show]

General definition of what in China is religious[edit]

Worship at the Great Temple of Lord Zhang Hui ( Zhng Hu gng ddin),
the cathedral ancestral shrine of the Zhang lineage corporation, at their ancestral
home in Qinghe, Hebei.

Statue of Confucius at a temple in Chongming, Shanghai.

See also: Chinese ancestral religion
Chinese civilisation claims an unusual continuity of several thousands of years and,
as its habitat, several thousands of square miles.[121] This continuity is possible
through China's religious traditions, understood as systems of knowledge
transmission.[121]

A worthy Chinese is supposed to remember a vast amount of information from the

past, and to draw on this past to form a basis of moral reasoning.[121] The
meticulous remembrance of the past is important equally for urban and rural
people, where local history is entwined with the identities of descent-based groups.
[122] The identity, outlook and behavior, of a person who grows up in a certain
group is molded by the process of learning from their past through a multitude of
oral, written and performative media (mythology).[122]

This is the foundation of the Chinese practice of ancestor veneration or worship (

baizu or jingzu)[122] that dates back to prehistory, and is the focal aspect of
Chinese religion. Defined as "the essential religion of the Chinese",[122] it is the
actual mean of memory and therefore cultural vitality of the entire Chinese
civilisation.[122]

Relying on lineage rhetoric, sacrificial rites, and the updating of genealogies (zupu,
"books of ancestors"), it evokes memory and thus identity of each generation.[122]
Temple festivals and local arts are other displays of group identities.[122] Religious
rituals, symbols, objects and ideas, are the means of the construction, maintaining,
and transmission of these identities.[123]

A practice developed in Chinese folk religion of post-Maoist China, that started in

the 1990s from the Confucian temples managed by the Kong kin (the lineage of the
descendants of Confucius himself), is the representation of ancestors in ancestral
shrines no longer just through tablets with their names, but through statues.

Statuary effigies were previously exclusively used for Buddhist bodhisattva and
Taoist gods.[124]

Besides the lineage worship of the founders of Chinese surnames and kins, virtuous
historical figures that have had an important impact in the history of China are
revered as gods. Notable examples include Confucius, Guandi, or Huangdi,
considered the patriarch of all Han Chinese.

The two major festivals involving ancestor veneration are the Qingming Festival and
the Double Ninth Festival, but veneration of ancestors is conducted in many other
ceremonies, including weddings, funerals, and triad initiations. Worshipers generally
offer prayers in a jingxiang rite, with food, light incense and candles, and burn
offerings of joss paper. These activities are typically conducted at the site of
ancestral graves or tombs, at an ancestral temple, or at a household shrine.

Concepts of religion, tradition and doctrine[edit]

"Chief Star pointing the Dipper" Kuxng din Du
Kui Xing pointing the Big Dipper.svg
Kuixing ("Chief Star"), the god of exams, composed of the characters describing the
four Confucian virtues (Sde ), standing on the head of the ao () turtle (an
expression for coming first in the examinations), and pointing at the Big Dipper
()".[note 11]
Understanding religion primarily as an ancestral tradition and its transmission, the
Chinese have a relationship with the divine that is meaningful and functional
socially, politically as well as spiritually.[126] The Chinese concept of "religion",
zngjio (), draws the divine near to the human world.[126] To the Chinese the
universal God (Tian or Shangdi) is manifested and embodied by the chief gods of
each phenomenon and of each human kin, making the worship of the highest god
possible even in each ancestral temple.[127]

Because "religion" refers to the bond between the human and the divine, there is
always a danger that this bond will be broken.[128] However, the Chinese term
zngjioinstead of separationemphasises communication, correspondence and
mutuality between the ancestor and the descendant, the master and the disciple,
and between the Way (Tao, the way of the divine in nature) and its ways.[128] Zng
( "ancestor", "model", "mode", "master", "pattern", but also "purpose") implies

that the understanding of the ultimate derives from the transformed figure of the
great ancestor or ancestors, who continue to supportand correspondingly rely on
their descendants, in a mutual exchange of benefit.[128] Jio ( "teaching") is
connected to filial piety (xiao), as it implies the transmission of knowledge from the
elders to the youth and of support from the youth to the elders.[128]

The mutual support of elders and youth is needed for the continuity of the ancestral
tradition, that is communicated from generation to generation.[128] With an
understanding of religion as teaching and education, the Chinese have a staunch
confidence in the human capacity of transformation and perfection, enlightenment
or immortality.[129] In the Chinese religions, humans are confirmed and
reconfirmed with the ability to improve themselves, in a positive attitude towards
eternity.[129] Hans Kng has defined Chinese religions as the "religions of wisdom",
thereby distinguishing them from the "religions of prophecy" (Judaism, Christianity
and Islam) and from the "religions of mysticism" (Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism).
[129]

It is important to note that no term described "religion" in Classical Chinese.[130]

The combination of zong () and jiao (), despite being in circulation since the
Tang dynasty in Chan circles to define the Buddhist doctrine,[131] was used to
translate the Western concept of "religion" only by the end of the 19th century.[130]
Chinese intellectuals also likened the concept to the Japanese shky.[132] Under
the influence of Western rationalism and later Marxism, what most of the Chinese
today mean as zngjio are "organised doctrinal teachings", that is "superstructures
consisting of superstitions, dogmas, rituals and institutions".[133][134] The cults of
gods and ancestors, that in recent (originally Western) literature have been
classified as "traditional folk religion(s)", traditionally neither have a common name
nor are considered zngjio ("doctrinal teaching").[135][note 12]

Economy of temples and rituals[edit]

Folk temple on the rooftop of a commercial building in the city of Wenzhou.

The economic dimension of Chinese folk religion is also important.[137] Yang
Mayfair (2007) has studies how rituals and temples interweave a form of grassroots
socio-economic capital for the well-being of local communities, fostering the
circulation of wealth and its investment in the "sacred capital" of temples, gods and
ancestors.[138]

This religious economy already played a role in periods of imperial China, plays a
significant role in modern Taiwan, and is seen as a driving force in the rapid
economic development in parts of rural China, especially the southern and eastern
coasts.[139]

According to Law (2005), in his study about the relationship between the revival of
folk religion and the recostruction of patriarchal civilisation:

Similar to the case in Taiwan, the practice of folk religion in rural southern China,
particularly in the Pearl River Delta, has thrived as the economy has developed. [...]
In contrast to Weberian predictions, these phenomena suggest that drastic
economic development in the Pearl River Delta may not lead to total
disenchantment with beliefs concerning magic in the cosmos. On the contrary, the
revival of folk religions in the Delta region is serving as a countervailing reembedding force from the local cultural context, leading to the coexistence of the
world of enchantments and the modern world.[140]
Yang defines it as an "embedded capitalism", which preserves local identity and
autonomy, and an "ethical capitalism" in which the drive for individual accumulation
of money is tempered by religious and kinship ethics of generosity which foster the
sharing and investment of wealth in the construction of civil society.[141]

Common idea of God and fundamental theology[edit]

Main article: Chinese theology

Tian or Di as the square of the north astral pole.[142]

"Tian is dian ("top"), the highest and unexceeded. It derives from the characters
yi , "one", and da , "big"."[note 13]
Tian ("Heaven" or "Sky", philologically "Great One") is the idea of the absolute
principle or God that is the spring of universal reality, in Chinese common religion
and philosophy.

Various interpretations have been elaborated by Confucians, Taoists, and other

schools of thought.[150] A popular representation is the Jade Deity ( Yd) or

Jade Emperor ( Yhung)[note 14] originally formulated by Taoists.[154] Tian is

defined in many ways, with many names, other well-known being Tid (the
"Great Deity") and Shngd (the "Highest Deity") or simply D ("Deity").[note
15] Tengri is the equivalent of Tian in Altaic shamanic religions.

Confucianism, which inherited scholarship and sacred books from the Shang and
Zhou dynasty, distinguishes Shangdi as the logos (word of order, way, or path; Tao
or li) of Tian,[159] and rites as the logos of Shangdi.[160] In the tradition of New
Text Confucianism, Confucius is regarded as a "throne-less king" of Shangdi and a
savior of the world. Otherwise, the school of the Old Texts persisted that Confucius
is a sage of Shangdi who had given new interpretation to the heritage from previous
great dynasties.[161] Neo-Confucian thinkers such as Zhu Xi developed the idea of
li , the "reason", "order" of Heaven, that develops in the polarity of yin and yang.
[162] In Taoist theology Shangdi is discussed as Yuanshi Tianzun ( "Heavenly
Honourable of the First Beginning"), whereas in Taoist philosophical discourse the
Tao ("Way") denotes in one concept both the impersonal absolute Tian and its
order of manifestation (li).

In Chinese religion Tian is both transcendent and immanent,[163] inherent in the

multiple phenomena of nature (polytheism or cosmotheism, yzhu shnln
).[154] Gods (shen ; "beings that give birth"[164]) and ancestors (zu ) are
interwoven energies or principles that generate phenomena which reveal or
reproduce the order of Heaven.

An elaborate ceremony for the worship of Tian at the Temple of Heaven (in which
Tian is enshrined as Hungtin Shngd, "Highest Deity of the Shining
Heaven" or "Highest Deity the King of Heaven") in Beijing was conducted once a
year by the emperors of China and has been revived in the 2000s by Confucian and
civil religion groups. This cult dates back, according to registered history, to the
Shang dynasty, and lasted until the overthrow of the Qing dynasty. The emperor of
China was known as the "Son of Heaven" (tianzi), invested with the Mandate of
Heaven (tianming), that was the legitimacy as ruler of the Chinese state.

Main religions[edit]
Chinese traditional religion[edit]

Temple of Xuanyuan in Huangling, Yan'an, Shaanxi, dedicated to the worship of

Yellow Emperor, the "Yellow Emperor".[note 16]

Temple of the Great Goddess in Fuding, Ningde, Fujian. The compound has a small
ancient pavilion and a larger modern one behind of it.

Temple of the God of the South Sea in Guangzhou, Guangdong.

Temple of the City God of Xi'an, Shaanxi.

Worship incense at a temple of Mazu in Tianjin.

People forgathering at an ancestral shrine in Hong'an, Hubei.

Main article: Chinese folk religion
Chinese folk or popular religion, or simply "Chinese religion", defines the common
religious tradition of the Chinese, in which government officials and common people
of China share religious practices and beliefs, including veneration of forces of
nature and ancestors, exorcism of harmful forces, and a belief in the rational order
of nature which can be influenced by human beings and their rulers.[167][168]
Worship is devoted to a multiplicity of gods and immortals ( shn), who can be
deities of phenomena, of human behaviour, or progenitors of lineages. Stories
regarding some of these gods are collected into the body of Chinese mythology.

This common religion historically doesn't have a name in Chinese. "Chinese

Universism", not in the sense of "universalism", that is a system of universal
application, but in the original sense of "uni-verse" which is "towards the One", that
is Tian in Chinese thought, is a coinage of Jan Jakob Maria de Groot that refers to the
metaphysical perspective that lies behind the Chinese religious tradition.[169][170]
In more recent times, mainland Chinese scholars have proposed other names to
define the local indigenous cults of China, including "Chinese native religion" or
"Chinese indigenous religion" ( mns zngjio), "Chinese ethnic religion" (
mnz zngjio), or simply "Chinese religion" ( Zhnghujio),
"Shenism" ( Shnjio) and "Shenxianism" ( Shnxinjio, "religion of
deities and immortals"); this is meant to avoid terminological confusion, since "folk

religion" ( mnjin zngjio) or "folk belief" ( mnjin xnyng)

historically defined the folk religious sects and not local indigenous cults, and to
identify a "national Chinese religion" similarly to Hinduism in India and Shinto in
Japan.[136]

Taoism has been defined by scholar and Taoist initiate Kristofer Schipper as a
doctrinal and liturgical framework functional to the development of indigenous
religions.[87] The Zhengyi school is especially intertwined with local cults, with
Zhengyi daoshi (, "masters of the Tao", otherwise commonly translated simply
the "Taoists", as common followers and folk believers who are not part of Taoist
orders are not identified as such) often performing rituals for local temples and
communities. Various orders of ritual ministers often identified as "folk Taoists"
operate in folk religion but are outside the jurisdiction of the state's Taoist Church or
religious schools clearly identified as Taoist. Confucianism advocates worship of
gods and ancestors through appropriate rites.[171][172] Folk temples and ancestral
shrines on special occasions may choose Confucian liturgy ( r or zhngtng,
meaning "orthoprax" ritual style) led by Confucian "sages of rites" ( lshng),
who in many cases are the elders of a local community. Confucian liturgies are
alternated with Taoist liturgies and popular ritual styles.[173] Taoism in its various
currents, either comprehended or not within the Chinese folk religion, has some of
its origins from Chinese shamanism (Wuism).[27]

Despite this great diversity there is a common theological core which can be
summarised as four cosmological and moral concepts:[174]Tian (), Heaven, the
"transcendently immanent" source of moral meaning, who is God; qi (), the breath
or energy that animates the universe; jingzu (), the veneration of ancestors; and
bao ying (), moral reciprocity; together with two traditional concepts of fate and
meaning:[175] ming yun (), the personal destiny or burgeoning; and yuan fen
(), "fateful coincidence",[176] good and bad chances and potential relationships.
[176]

In Chinese religion yin and yang is the polarity that describes the order of the
universe,[162] held in balance by the interaction of principles of growth (shen) and
principles of waning (gui),[177] with act (yang) usually preferred over receptiveness
(yin).[178] Ling (numen or sacred) is the "medium" of the two states and the
inchoate order of creation.[178]

Both the present day government of China and the imperial dynasties of the Ming
and Qing tolerated village popular religious cults if they bolstered social stability but
suppressed or persecuted those that they feared would undermine it.[179] After the
fall of the empire in 1911, governments and elites opposed or attempted to
eradicate folk religion in order to promote "modern" values, and many condemned
"feudal superstition". These conceptions of folk religion began to change in Taiwan
in the late 20th century and in mainland China in the 21st. Many scholars now view
folk religion in a positive light.[180]

In recent times Chinese folk religions are experiencing a revival in both mainland
China and Taiwan. Some forms have received official understanding or recognition
as a preservation of traditional Chinese culture, such as Mazuism and the Sanyi
teaching in Fujian,[14] Huangdi worship,[181] and other forms of local worship, for
example the Longwang, Pangu or Caishen worship.[182] In mid-2015 the
government of Zhejiang began the registration of more than twenty thousand folk
religious associations.[183]

According to the most recent demographic analyses, an average 80% of the

population of China, approximately 1 billion people, practices cults of gods and
ancestors or belongs to folk religious sects. Moreover, according to one survey
approximately 14% of the population claims different levels of affiliation with Taoist
practices.[116] Other figures from the micro-level testify the wide proliferation of
folk religions: in 1989 there were 21,000 male and female shamans (shen han and
wu po respectively, as they are named locally), 60% of them young, in the Pingguo
County of Guangxi alone;[184] and by the mid-1990s the government of the Yulin
Prefecture of Shaanxi counted over 10,000 folk temples on its territory alone,[185]
for a population of 3.1 million, an average of one temple per 315 persons.

According to Wu and Lansdowne:[186]

... numbers for authorised religions are dwarfed by the huge comeback of
traditional folk religion in China. ... these actually may involve the majority of the
population. Chinese officials and scholars now are studying "folk faiths" ... after
decades of suppressing any discussion of this phenomenon. Certain local officials
for some time have had to treat regional folk faiths as de facto legitimate religion,
alongside the five authorized religions.
Chinese religion mirrors the social landscape, and takes on different meanings for
different people.[187] Chinese folk religion is a "diffused religion" rather than

"institutional". It is a meaning system of social solidarity and identity, ranging from

the kinship systems to the community, the state, and the economy, that serves to
integrate Chinese culture.

According to Yiyi Lu, discussing the reconstruction of Chinese civil society:[188]

... the two decades after the reforms have seen the revival of many folk societies
organized around the worshipping of local deities, which had been banned by the
state for decades as "feudal superstition". These societies enjoy wide local support,
as they carry on traditions going back many generations, and cater to popular
beliefs in theism, fatalism and retribution ... Because they build on tradition,
common interest, and common values, these societies enjoy social legitimacy ...
Folk religious sects[edit]

Temple of the Founding Father ( Shzdin) of the principal holy see (

shngd) of the Plum Flower school in Xingtai, Hebei.
Main article: Chinese salvationist religions
China has a long history of sect traditions characterised by a soteriological and
eschatological character, often called "salvationist religions" ( jid
zngjio),[189] which emerged from the common religion but are neither ascribable
to the lineage cult of ancestors and progenitors, nor to the communal deity religion
of village temples, neighbourhood, corporation, or national temples.[190] The 20thcentury expression of this religions has been studied under Prasenjit Duara's
definition of "redemptive societies" ( jish tunt),[191][192] while modern
Chinese scholarship describes them as "folk religious sects" ( mnjin
zngjio, mnjin jiomn or mnjin jiopi),[193] abandoning the
ancient derogatory definition of xijio (), "evil religion".[194]

They are characterised by egalitarianism, a foundation through a charismatic figure

and a direct divine revelation, a millenarian eschatology and voluntary path of
salvation, an embodied experience of the numinous through healing and cultivation,
and an expansive orientation through good deeds, evangelism and philanthropy.
[189] Their practices are focused on improving morality, body cultivation, and
recitation of scriptures.[189]

Many of the redemptive religions of the 20th and 21st century aspire to become the
repository of the entirety of the Chinese tradition in the face of Western modernism
and materialism.[195] This group of religions includes[196] Yiguandao and other
sects belonging to the Xiantiandao ( "Way of Former Heaven"), Jiugongdao (
"Way of the Nine Palaces"), various proliferations of the Luo teaching, the Zaili
teaching, and the more recent De teaching, Weixinist, Xuanyuan and Tiandi
teachings, the latter two focused respectively on the worship of Huangdi and the
universal God. Also, the qigong schools are developments of the same religious
context.[197] These movements were banned in the early Republican China and
later Communist China. Many of them still remain illegal, underground or
unrecognised in China, while othersspecifically the De teaching, Tiandi teachings,
Xuanyuan teaching, Weixinism and Yiguandaohave developed cooperation with
mainland China's academic and non-governmental organisations.[14] The Sanyi
teaching is an organised folk religion founded in the 16th century, present in the
Putian region (Xinghua) of Fujian where it is legally recognised.[14] Some of these
sects began to register as branches of the state Taoist Association since the 1990s.
[91]

Another category that has been sometimes confused with that of the sects of
salvation by scholars, is that of the secret societies ( hudomn,
mm shhu, or mm jish).[198] They are religious communities of
initiatory and secretive character, including rural militias such as the Red Spears (
) and the Big Knives (), and fraternal organisations such as the Green
Gangs () and the Elders' Societies ().[199] They became very popular in
the early republican period, and often labeled as "heretical doctrines" (
zngjio ydun).[199] Recent scholarship has created the label of "secret sects" (
mm jiomn) to distinguish the peasant "secret societies" with a positive
dimension of the Yuan, Ming and Qing periods, from the negatively viewed "secret
societies" of the early republic that became instruments of anti-revolutionary forces
(the Guomindang or Japan).[199]

A further distinctive type of sects of the folk religion, that are possibly the same as
the positive "secret sects", are the martial sects. They combine two aspects: the
wnchng ( "cultural field"), that is the doctrinal aspect characterised by
elborate cosmologies, theologies, initiatory and ritual patterns, and that is usually
kept secretive; and the wchng ( "martial field"), that is the body cultivation
practice and that is usually the "public face" of the sect.[200] They were outlawed
by Ming imperial edicts that continued to be enforced until the fall of the Qing
dynasty in the 20th century.[200] An example of martial sect is Meihuaism (
Mihujio, "Plum Flowers"), that has become very popular throughout northern

China.[200][201] In Taiwan, virtually all of the "redemptive societies" operate freely

since the late 1980s.

Confucianism[edit]

Temple of Confucius of Liuzhou, Guangxi. This is a wnmio (), that is to say a

temple where Confucius is worshiped as Wnd (), "God of Culture".

One of the many modern statues of Confucius that have been erected in China.

Prayer flairs at a Confucian temple.

Main article: Confucianism
See also: Confucian churches and Holy Confucian Church
Confucianism ( Rjio, "teaching of the refined ones"; or Kngjio, "teaching
of Confucius") is a religion[note 17] and broaderly speaking an ethico-political
system, developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius (
Kng Fz, "Master Kong", 551479 BCE). Confucianism originated during the Spring
and Autumn Period and developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the
Han dynasty,[204] becoming the core idea of the Chinese empire.

Confucianism lost its influence in the 20th century, substituted by the "Three
Principles of the People" with the establishment of the Republic of China, and then
Maoism under the People's Republic of China. In the late twentieth century, some
people credited Confucianism with the rise of the East Asian economy and it
enjoyed a rise in popularity both in China and abroad. A contemporary New
Confucian revival continues revitalisation movements of the early 20th century.

Further information: Confucian theology

The core of Confucianism is humanistic,[7] or, according to the Herbert Fingarette's
concept of "the secular as sacred", a religion that deconstructs the sacred-profane
dichotomy regarding the secular real of human action as a manifestation of the
sacred.[205] Confucianism focuses on the order of reality that is given by a thisworldly awareness of the Tian (Heaven, God)[206] and a proper respect of the gods

(shen) through ritual and sacrifice,[207] with particular emphasis on the importance
of family bonds and social harmony between larger groups, rather than on a
soteriology projecting the hopes of humanity in a transcendental future.[208]

By the words of Tu Weiming and other Confucian scholars, who recover the work of
Kang Youwei, Confucianism revolves around the pursuit of the unity of the self and
Heaven (Tian), and the relationship of humankind to the Heaven.[209] The principle
of Heaven (Tian li or Tao), is the order of the creation and divine authority, monistic
in its structure.[209] Individuals can realise their humanity and become one with
Heaven through the contemplation of this order.[209] This transformation of the self
can be extended to the family and society to create a harmonious fiduciary
community.[209] The moral-spiritual ideal of Confucianism conciles both the inner
and outer polarities of self-cultivation and world redemption, synthesised in the
ideal of "sageliness within and kingliness without".[209]

In Confucian thought human beings are teachable, improvable, and perfectible

through personal and communal endeavor especially self-cultivation and selfcreation. Some of the basic Confucian ethical concepts and practices include rn, y,
and l, and zh. Ren is translated as "humaneness" or the essence proper of a human
being, that is characterised by compassionate mind; it is the virtue endowed by
Heaven and at the same time what allows man to achieve oneness with Heavenin
the Datong shu it is defined as "to form one body with all things" and "when the self
and others are not separated ... compassion is aroused".[210] Yi is the upholding of
righteousness and the moral disposition to do good. Li is a system of ritual norms
and propriety that determines how a person should properly act in everyday life. Zhi
is the ability to see what is right and fair, or the converse, in the behaviors exhibited
by others. Confucianism holds one in contempt, either passively or actively, for the
failure of upholding the cardinal moral values of ren and yi.

Confucianism never developed an institutional structure similar to that of Taoism,

and its religious bodies never completely differentiated themselves from Chinese
folk religion. Since the 2000s, Confucianism has been embraced as a religious
identity by a large numbers of intellectuals and students in China.[211] In 2003 the
Confucian intellectual Kang Xiaoguang published a manifesto in which he made four
suggestions: Confucian education should enter official education at any level, from
elementary to high school; the state should establish Confucianism as the state
religion by law; Confucian religion should enter the daily life of ordinary people
through standardization and development of doctrines, rituals, organisations,
churches and activity sites; the Confucian religion should be spread through non-

governmental organisations.[211] Another modern proponent of the

institutionalisation of Confucianism in a state church is Jiang Qing.[212]

In 2005 the Center for the Study of Confucian Religion was established,[211] and
guoxue education started to be implemented in public schools. Being well received
by the population, even Confucian preachers started to appear on television since
2006.[211] The most enthusiast New Confucians proclaim the uniqueness and
superiority of Confucian Chinese culture, and have generated some popular
sentiment against Western cultural influences in China.[211]

The idea of a "Confucian Church" as the state religion of China has roots in the
thought of Kang Youwei, an exponent of the early New Confucian search for a
regeneration of the social relevance of Confucianism, at a time when it was deinstitutionalised with the fall of the Qing dynasty and the Chinese empire.[213]
Kang modeled his ideal "Confucian Church" after European national Christian
churches, as a hierarchical and centralised institution, closely bound to the state,
with local church branches, devoted to the worship and the spread of the teachings
of Confucius.[213]

In contemporary China, the Confucian revival has developed into different, yet
interwoven, directions: the proliferation of Confucian schools or academies
(shuyuan or Kng xutng, "Confucian learning halls"),[212] the
resurgence of Confucian rites (chuantong liyi),[212] and the birth of new forms of
Confucian activity on the popular level, such as the Confucian communities (shequ
ruxue ). Some scholars also consider the reconstruction of lineage churches
and their ancestral temples, as well as cults and temples of natural gods and
national heroes within broader Chinese traditional religion, as part of the revival of
Confucianism.[214]

Other forms of revival are folk religious[215] or salvationist religious[216] groups

with a Confucian focus or Confucian churches, for example the Yidan xuetang (
) based in Beijing,[217] the Mengmutang () of Shanghai,[218] the Way of
the Gods according to the Confucian Tradition or phoenix churches,[219] the
Confucian Fellowship ( Rjio Dotn) in northern Fujian which has spread
rapidly over the years after its foundation,[219] and ancestral temples of the Kong
(Confucius') kin operating as Confucian-teaching churches.[218]

Also, the Hong Kong Confucian Academy has expanded its activities to the
mainland, with the construction of statues of Confucius, Confucian hospitals,
restoration of temples and sponsorship of other activities.[220] In 2009 Zhou
Beichen founded another institution that inherits the idea of Kang Youwei's
Confucian Church, the Holy Hall of Confucius ( Kngshngtng) in Shenzhen
affiliated with the Federation of Confucian Culture of Qufu City,[221] the first of a
nationwide movement of congregations and civil organisations that was unified in
2015 as the Holy Confucian Church ( Kngshnghu). The first spiritual leader
of the Holy Church is the renowned scholar Jiang Qing, the founder and manager of
the Yangming Confucian Abode ( Yngmng jngsh), a Confucian academy in
Guiyang, Guizhou.

Chinese folk religion's temples and kinship ancestral shrines on certain occasions
may choose Confucian liturgy (that is called r, or sometimes zhngtng,
meaning "orthoprax" ritual style) led by Confucian ritual masters ( lshng) to
worship the gods, instead of Taoist or popular ritual.[173] "Confucian businessmen"
( rshngrn, also "refined businessman"), is a recently recovered term that
defines people of the entrepreneurial or economic elite that recognise their social
responsibility and therefore apply Confucian culture to their business.[222]

Taoism[edit]

Priests of the Zhengyi order bowing while officiating a rite at the White Cloud
Temple of Shanghai.

Altar of the Three Pure Ones, the main gods of Taoist theology, at the Wudang Taoist
Temple in Yangzhou, Jiangsu.

Altar to Shangdi ( "Highest Deity") and Doumu ( "Mother of the Great

Chariot"), representing the originating principle of the universe in masculine and
feminine form in some Taoist cosmologies, in the Chengxu Temple of Zhouzhuang,
Jiangxi.
Main article: Taoism
See also: Taoist schools and Chinese Taoist Association

Taoism ( Dojio) refers to a variety of related orders of philosophy and rite that
operate in Chinese religion. They share elements going back to the 4th century BCE
and to the prehistoric culture of China, such as the School of Yin and Yang and the
thought of Laozi and Zhuangzi. Taoism has a distinct scriptural tradition, with the
Dodjng ( "Book of the Way and its Virtue") of Laozi being regarded as its
keystone. Taoism can be precisely described, as does the scholar and Taoist initiate
Kristofer Schipper in The Taoist Body (1986), as a doctrinal and liturgical framework
or structure for the local cults of the indigenous religion.[87] Taoist traditions
emphasise living in harmony with the Tao (also romanized as Dao). The term Tao
means "way", "path" or "principle", and can also be found in Chinese philosophies
and religions other than Taoism. In Taoism, however, Tao denotes something that is
both the source and the driving force behind everything that exists. It is ultimately
ineffable: "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao."[223]

Only by the Han dynasty the various sources of Taoism coalesced into a coherent
tradition of religious organisations and orders of ritualists. In earlier ancient China,
Taoists were thought of a hermits or recluses who did not participate in political life.
Zhuangzi was the best known of these, and it is significant that he lived in the
south, where he was part of local shamanic traditions.[224] Women shamans played
an important role in this tradition, which was particularly strong in the southern
state of Chu. Early Taoist movements developed their own institution in contrast to
shamanism, but absorbed basic shamanic elements. Shamans revealed basic texts
of Taoism from early times down to at least the 20th century.[225]

Institutionalized forms evolved in various strains that in more recent times are
conventionally grouped into two main branches: Quanzhen Taoism and Zhengyi
Taoism.[226] Taoist schools traditionally feature reverence for Laozi, immortals or
ancestors, along with a variety of divination and exorcism rituals, and practices for
achieving ecstasy, longevity or immortality. Taoist propriety and ethics may vary
depending on the particular school, but in general tends to emphasize wu wei
(effortless action), "naturalness", simplicity, spontaneity, and the Three Treasures:
compassion, moderation, and humility.

Taoism has had profound influence on Chinese culture in the course of the centuries,
and clerical "Taoists" (Chinese: ; pinyin: doshi, "masters of the Tao") usually
take care to note distinction between their ritual tradition and those of vernacular
orders which are not recognised as Taoist.

Taoism was suppressed during the Cultural Revolution but its traditions endured in
secrecy and revived in following decades. In 1956 a national organization, the
Chinese Taoist Association, was set up to govern the activity of Taoist orders and
communities. According to demographic analyses approximately 13% of the
population of China claims a loose affiliation with Taoist practices, while selfproclaimed "Taoists" by exclusivity (a title that traditionally is only used for experts
of Taoist doctrines and rites, if not strictly for priests) might be 12 million (~1%).
[116] The definition of "Taoists" is complicated by the fact that many folk sects of
salvation and their members began to be registered as branches of the Taoist
association in the 1990s.[91]

There are two types of Taoists, following the distinction between the Quanzhen and
Zhengyi traditions.[226] Quanzhen daoshi are celibate monks, and therefore the
Taoist temples of the Quanzhen school are monasteries.[226] Contrarywise, the
Zhengyi daoshi, also known as sanju daoshi ("scattered" or "diffused" Taoists) or
huoju daoshi ("Taoists who live at home"), are part-time priests who may marry and
have other jobs, they live among the common people, and perform Taoist rituals
within the field of common Chinese religion, for local temples and communities.
[226]

While the Chinese Taoist Association started as a Quanzhen institution, and remains
based at the White Cloud Temple of Beijing, that is the central temple of the
Quanzhen sect, since the 1990s it started to open to the sanju daoshi of the
Zhengyi branch, who are more numerous than the Quanzhen monks. The Chinese
Taoist Association had already 20.000 registered sanju daoshi in the mid-1990s,
[227] while in the same years the total number of Zhengyi priests including the
unregistered ones was estimated at 200.000.[228] The Zhengyi sanju daoshi are
trained by other priests of the same sect, and historically received formal ordination
by the Celestial Master,[226][229] although the 63rd Celestial Master Zhang Enpu
fled to Taiwan in the 1940s during the Chinese Civil War. Taoism, both in registered
and unregistered forms, has experienced a strong development since the 1990s and
dominates the religious life of coastal provinces.[55]

Ritual mastery traditions[edit]

Main article: Chinese ritual mastery traditions
Chinese ritual masters, also referred to as practitioners of Faism ( fjio, "ritual
traditions"),[230][231] also named Folk Taoism ( Mnjin Dojio), are orders
of priests that operate within the Chinese folk religion, but outside any institution of

official Taoism.[229] The "masters of rites", the fashi (), are known by a variety
of names including the appellation of hongtou daoshi () popular in southeast
China, meaning "redhead" or "redhat" daoshi, in contradistinction with the wutou
daoshi (), "blackhead" or "blackhat" daoshi, as they call the sanju daoshi of
Zhengyi Taoism that were traditionally ordained by the Celestial Master.[229] In
some provinces of north China they are known as ynyngshng ( "sages of
yin and yang"),[65][57]:86 and by a variety of other names.

Although the two types of priests, daoshi and fashi, have the same roles in Chinese
societyin that they can marry and they perform rituals for communities' temples
or private homesZhengyi daoshi emphasize their Taoist tradition, distinguished
from the vernacular tradition of the fashi.[229][232] Popular priests are defined as
"kataphatic" ("filling") in character, while professional Taoists are "kenotic"
("emptying", apophatic).[233]

Fashi are practitioners of tongji possession, healing, exorcism and jiao rituals[234]
(although historically they were excluded from performing the jiao liturgy[229]).
They aren't shamans (wu), with the exception of those of the order of Mount Lu.
[234] The priests of Mount Lu are popular in eastern China.[235]

Chinese shamanic traditions[edit]

A wu master of the Xiangxi area.

Main article: Chinese shamanism
Further information: Shamanism in China
Shamanism was the prevalent modality of pre-Han dynasty Chinese indigenous
religion.[236] The Chinese usage distinguishes the Chinese wu tradition (Wuism:
wjio; properly shamanic, with control over the gods) from the tongji tradition
(; mediumship, without control of the godly movement), and from non-Han
Chinese Altaic shamanisms ( smnjio) that are practiced in northern
provinces.

With the rise of Confucian orthodoxy in the Han period, shamanic traditions found a
more institutionalised and intellectualised state within the esoteric philosophical
discourse of Taoism.[236] According to Chirita (2014), Confucianism itself, with its

emphasis on hierarchy and ancestral rituals, derived from the shamanic discourse of
the Shang dynasty.[236] What Confucianism did was to marginalise the
"dysfunctional" features of old shamanism.[236] However, shamanic traditions
continued uninterrupted within the folk religion and found precise and functional
forms within Taoism.[236]

In the Shang and Zhou dynasty, shamans had a role in the political hierarchy, and
were represented institutionally by the Ministry of Rites (). The emperor was
considered the supreme shaman, intermediating between the three realms of
heaven, earth and man.[236] The mission of a shaman ( wu) is "to repair the disfunctionalities occurred in nature and generated after the sky had been separated
from earth":[236]

The female shamans called wu as well as the male shamans called xi represent the
voice of spirits, repair the natural dis-functions, foretell the future based on dreams
and the art of divination ... "a historical science of the future", whereas shamans are
able to observe the yin and the yang ....
Since the 1980s the practice and study of shamanism has undergone a massive
revival in Chinese religion as a mean to repair the world to a harmonious whole after
industrialisation.[236] Shamanism is viewed by many scholars as the foundation for
the emergence of civilisation, and the shaman as "teacher and spirit" of peoples.
[237] The Chinese Society for Shamanic Studies was founded in Jilin City in 1988.
[237]

Buddhism[edit]

Unwilling-to-Leave Guanyin Temple in Zhoushan, Zhejiang, is dedicated to Guanyin

of the Mount Putuo, one of the Four Sacred Mountains of Chinese Buddhism.

The temple complex with the Ten Directions' Samantabhadra statue at the summit
of Mount Emei, in Sichuan. Emei is another sacred mountain of Buddhism.

Gateway of the Donglin Temple of Shanghai.

See also: Chinese Buddhist Association

In China, Buddhism ( Fjio) is represented by a large number of people

following the Mahayana. This is distinguished in two very different cultural
traditions, the schools of Chinese Buddhism followed by the Han Chinese, and the
schools of Tibetan Buddhism followed by Tibetans and Mongols. The vast majority of
Buddhists in China, counted in the hundreds of millions, are Chinese Buddhists,
while Tibetan Buddhists are in the number of the tens of millions. Small
communities of the Theravada exist among minority ethnic groups who live in
southwestern provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi which border Burma, Thailand and
Laos, and the Li people of Hainan.

With the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 Buddhism was
suppressed and temples closed or destroyed. The Buddhist Association of China was
founded in 1953. Restrictions lasted until the reforms of the 1980s, when Buddhism
began to recover popularity and its place as the largest organised faith in the
country. While estimates of the number of Buddhists in China range widely, the
most recent surveys have found that an average 1016% of the population of China
claims a Buddhist affiliation, with even higher percentages in urban agglomerations.

Chinese Buddhism[edit]
Main article: Chinese Buddhism
See also: East Asian Buddhism
Buddhism was introduced into China from its western neighbouring peoples during
the Han dynasty, traditionally in the 1st century. It became very popular among
Chinese of all walks of life, admired by commoners, and sponsored by emperors in
certain dynasties. The expansion of Buddhism reached its peak during the Tang
dynasty, in the 9th century, when Buddhist monasteries had become very rich and
powerful.

The wealth of Buddhist institutions was among the practical reasons (the ideal
reason was that Buddhism was a "foreign religion") why the Tang emperors decided
to enact a wave of persecutions of the religion, starting with the Great Anti-Buddhist
Persecution by Emperor Wuzong of Tang, through which many monasteries were
destroyed and the religion's influence in China was greatly reduced. Buddhism
survived and regained a place in the Chinese society over the following centuries.

The entry of Buddhism into China was marked by interaction with Taoism in
particular,[238] from which a set of uniquely Chinese Buddhist schools emerged (
Hnchun Fjio, "Han Buddhism" or "Chinese Buddhism"). Originally seen as
a kind of "foreign Taoism", Buddhism's scriptures were translated into Chinese using
the Taoist vocabulary.[239] Chan Buddhism in particular was shaped by Taoism,
integrating distrust of scripture, text and even language, as well as the Taoist views
of embracing "this life", dedicated practice and the "every-moment".[240] In the
Tang dynasty Taoism itself absorbed Buddhist influences such as monasticism,
vegetarianism, prohibition of alcohol, and the doctrine of emptiness. During the
same period, Chan Buddhism grew to become the largest sect in Chinese Buddhism.
[241]

Buddhism was not universally welcomed, particularly among the gentry. The
Buddha's teaching seemed alien and amoral to conservative and Confucian
sensibilities.[242] Confucianism promoted social stability, order, strong families, and
practical living, and Chinese officials questioned how a monk's monasticism and
personal attainment of Nirvana benefited the empire.[239] However, Buddhism and
Confucianism eventually reconciled after centuries of conflict and assimilation.[243]

Today the most popular forms of Chinese Buddhism are the Pure Land and Chn
schools. In the 2000s and 2010s the influence of Chinese Buddhism has been
expressed through the construction of large-scale statues, pagodas and temples,
including the Guan Yin of the South Sea of Sanya inaugurated in 2005, and the
Spring Temple Buddha, the highest statue in the world. Many temples in China also
claim to host relics of the original Gautama Buddha.

The revival of Chinese Buddhism in the 21st century has seen the introduction or
reintroduction of the Humanistic Buddhist movement from Taiwan and the Chinese
overseas, with organisations such as the Cj (), which has been working in
mainland China since 1991[244] and has opened its mainland headquarters in the
2010s in Suzhou.

Tibetan Buddhism[edit]

Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Srtar, Garz, Sichuan. Founded in the 1980s, it is
now the largest monastic institution in the world, with about 40,000 members of
which 1/10 Han.

Main article: Tibetan Buddhism

See also: Religion in Tibet
The Buddhist schools that emerged in the cultural sphere of Tibet (
Zngchun Fjio or Lmajio, "Lamaism") also have an influence throughout
China that dates back to historical interactions of the Han Chinese with Tibetans
and Mongols. Tibetan Buddhism is the dominant religion in Tibet, among Tibetans in
Qinghai, and has a historical and significant presence in Inner Mongolia (where its
traditional name is Burkhany Shashin, "Buddha's religion", or Shira-in Shashin, the
"Yellow religion" Hungjio in Chinese[note 18]). However, there are many
Tibetan Buddhist temples as far east as northeast China. The Yonghe Temple in
Beijing is one example.

There are controversies around the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy, specifically the
succession of Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama, who was not only the spiritual
leader of Gelug, the major branch of Tibetan Buddhism, but also the reputed
traditional political ruler of Tibet and was exiled with the establishment of the
modern People's Republic of China. The Panchen Lama, the Tibetan hierarch in
charge of the designation of the future successor of the Dalai Lama, is a matter of
controversy between the Chinese government and Tenzin Gyatso. The government
of China asserts that the present (11th) incarnation of the Panchen Lama is
Gyancain Norbu, while the 14th Dalai Lama asserted in 1995 that it was Gedhun
Choekyi Nyima, who has not been seen in public since being detained by Chinese
authorities in that year.

Since the liberalisation of religions in China in the 1980s, there has been a growing
movement of adoption of the Gelug sect, and other Tibetan-originated Buddhist
schools, by the Han Chinese.[245] This movement has been favoured by the
proselytic activity of Chinese-speaking Tibetan lamas.[245]

Theravada Buddhism[edit]

A Dai people's Theravada temple in Jinghong, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan.

Main article: Theravada Buddhism
Theravada Buddhism is a major form of Buddhism, practiced mostly in Southeast
Asia but also among some minority ethnic groups in southwest China. Theravada
Buddhism spread from Myanmar to present day Xishuangbanna, Dehong, Simao,

Lincang, and Baoshan areas in Yunnan during sixth and seventh centuries.[246] This
school of Buddhism is today popular among the ethnic minority Dai, and also the
Palaung, Blang, Achang, and Jingpo ethnic groups.[247]

The first Buddhist temple in Yunnan province, the Wabajie Temple in

Xishuangbanna, was erected in 615. After the 12th century, Theravada Buddhist
influence into the region began to come from Thailand. Thais began to bring copies
of the Pali canon to Yunnan, to translate the scriptures and to construct new
temples. The people living in areas in Yunnan where Theravada Buddhism is a
popular religion follow similar norms as the Buddhists in Thailand and it is often
intermixed with local folk beliefs.[248] Theravada Buddhism suffered from
persecution in the region during the Cultural Revolution, but since the 1980s has
seen some revival.[247]

Nichiren Buddhism[edit]
Main article: Nichiren Buddhism
Further information: Soka Gakkai
Nichiren Buddhism, a denomination of the Buddhist religion which was founded in
Japan, has been spreading in China in the last decades in the form of the Soka
Gakkai (in Chinese: Chungji xuhu). This society has engaged in
missionary efforts in China partially aided by the good relationship it has interlaced
with the Chinese government. Delegations from the Japanese Soka Gakkai and the
Chinese government and intellectual class have made visits to each other, so that
the society has been called an "intimate friend of the Chinese government".
[249]:127 Soka Gakkai members in China are organised in the form of the house
church, as they "meet quietly in small groups in the homes of other members", with
little interference from the government.[250]:118-119

Vajrayana Buddhism[edit]

Cund at Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Cundi is the Tang Mysteries' version
of Guanyin.
Main article: Vajrayana
Further information: Tangmi and Azhaliism

Besides Tibetan Buddhism and the Vajrayana streams found within Chinese
Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism is practiced in China in some independent forms.
For instance, Azhaliism (Chinese: zhljio) is a Vajrayana Buddhist religion
practiced among the Bai people.[251]

The Vajrayana current of Chinese Buddhism is known as Tangmi ( "Tang

Mysteries"), as they flourished in China during the Tang dynasty just before the
great suppression of Buddhism by imperial decision. Another name for this body of
traditions is "Han Chinese Transmission of the Esoteric (or Mystery) Tradition" (
Hnchun Mzng, where Mizong is the Chinese name of all Vajrayana). Tangmi,
togerther with the broader religious tradition of Tantrism (in Chinese: Dtlu
or Dtlu mjio; which may include Hindu forms of religion)[32]:3 has
undergone a revitalisation in recent times togerther with the revival of Buddhism
overall.

The Gateway of the Hidden Flower ( Hucng Zngmn) and the True
Awakening Tradition ( Zhnf Zng) are two new Han Chinese movements
within the Vajrayana, and are among the Buddhist sects officially proscribed by the
government.[252]

Ethnic minorities' indigenous religions[edit]

Various Chinese non-Han minority populations practice unique indigenous religions.
The government of China promotes and protects the indigenous religions of minority
nations as the focus of their culture and ethnic identity.[253]

Benzhuism (Bai)[edit]

The pan-Chinese Sanxing (Three Star Gods) represented in Bai iconographic style at
a Benzhu temple on Jinsuo Island, in Dali, Yunnan.
Main article: Benzhuism
Benzhuism ( Bnzhjio, "religion of the patrons") is the indigenous religion of
the Bai people, an ethnic group of Yunnan. It consists in the worship of the ngel zex,
Bai word for "patrons" or "source lords", rendered as benzhu () in Chinese, that
are local gods and deified ancestors of the Bai nation. It is very similar to Han
Chinese religion.

Bimoism (Yi)[edit]
Main article: Bimoism
Bimoism ( Bmjio) is the indigenous religion of the Yi people(s), the largest
ethnic group in Yunnan after the Han Chinese. This faith is represented by three
types of religious specialists: the bimo (, "ritual masters", "priests"), the sunyi
(male shamans) and the monyi (female shamans).[254]

What distinguishes the bimo and the shamans is the way they derive their authority.
[255] While both are regarded as the "mediators between men and the divine", the
shamans are initiated through a "spirit-possessed inspiration" (comprising illness or
vision)[255] whereas the bimowho are always males with few exceptions[256]
are literates, who can read and write traditional Yi script, have a tradition of
theological and ritual scriptures, and are initiated through a tough edicational
system.[257]

Since the 1980s, Bimoism has undergone a comprehensive revitalisation,[254] both

on the grassroots level and on the scholarly level,[254] with the bimo now
celebrated as an "intellectual class"[258] whose role is that of creators, preservers
and transmitters of Yi high culture.[259] Since the 1990s, Bimoism has undergone
an institutionalisation, starting with the foundation of the Bimo Culture Research
Center in Meigu County in 1996.[260] The founding of the centre received
substantial support from local authorities, especially those whose families were
directly affiliated with one of the many bimo hereditary families.[260] Since then,
large temples and ceremonial complexes for Bimoist practices have been
constructed.

Bon (Tibetans)[edit]

The Narshi Gompa, a Bonpo monastery in Aba, Sichuan.

Main article: Bon
"Bon" (Tibetan: ; Chinese: Bnjio) is the post-Buddhist name of the preBuddhist folk religion of Tibet.[261] Buddhism spread into Tibet starting in the 7th
and 8th centuries,[262] and the name "Bon" was adopted as the name of the
indigenous religion in Buddhist historiography.[261] Originally, bon was the title of

the shamans-priests of that indigenous religion.[261] This is in analogy with the

names of the priests of the folk religions of peoples related to the Tibetans,[263]
such as the dong ba of the Nakhi or the b of Mongolians and other Siberian
peoples.[264] Bonpo ("believers of Bon") claim that the word bon means "truth" and
"reality".[261]

The spiritual source of Bon is the mythical figure of Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche.[262]
Since the late 10th century, the religion then designated as "Bon" started to
organise adopting the style of Tibetan Buddhism, including a monastic structure and
a Bon Canon (Kangyur) that made it a codified religion.[262] The Chinese sage
Confucius is worshipped in Bon as a holy king, master of magic and divination.[265]

Dongbaism[edit]

Dongba priest writing oracles with calam in Dongba script, at a Dongba temple near
Lijiang.
Main article: Dongbaism
Dongbaism ( Dngbajio, "religion of the eastern Ba") is the main religion of
the Nakhi people. The "dongba" ("eastern Ba") are masters of the culture, literature
and the script of the Nakhi. They originated as masters of the Tibetan Bon religion
("Ba" in Nakhi language), many of whom, in times of persecution when Buddhism
became the dominant religion in Tibet, were expelled and dispersed to the eastern
marches settling among Nakhi and other eastern peoples.[266]

Dongbaism historically formed as beliefs brought by Bon masters commingled with

older indigenous Nakhi beliefs. Dongba followers believe in a celestial shaman
called Shi-lo-mi-wu, with little doubt the same as the Tibetan Shenrab Miwo.[266]
They worship nature and generation, in the form of many heavenly gods and spirits,
chthonic Shu (spirits of the earth represented in the form of chimera-dragon-serpent
beings), and ancestors.[267]

Manchu folk religion[edit]

Main article: Manchu folk religion

Manchu folk religion is the ethnic religion practiced by most of the Manchu people,
the major of the Tungusic peoples, in China. It can also be called "Manchu
Shamanism" ( Mnz smnjio) by virtue of the word "shaman" being
originally from Tungusic amn ("man of knowledge"),[268]:235 later applied by
Western scholars to similar religious practices in other cultures.

It is a patheistic system, believing in a universal God called Apka Enduri ("God of

Heaven") which is the omnipotent and omnipresent source of all life and creation.
[269] Deities (enduri) enliven every aspect of nature, and the worship of these gods
is believed to bring favour, health and prosperity.[268]:236 Many of the deities are
original Manchu kins' ancestors, and people with the same surname are generated
by the same god.[270]

Miao folk religion[edit]

Main article: Miao folk religion
Most of the Miao people (or Hmong) in China have retained their traditional folk
religion. It is pantheistic and deeply influenced by Chinese religion, sharing the
concept of yeeb ceeb and yaj ceeb representing respectively the realm of the gods
in potentiality and the manifested or actual world of living things as a
complementary duality.[271]:59

Miao believe in a supreme universal God, Saub, who is somewhat a deus otiosus
who created reality and left it to develop according to its ways, but nonetheless can
be appealed in times of need. He entrusted a human, Siv Yis, with his healing
powers and he became the first shaman.[271]:60 On his death he ascended to
heaven, but he left behind his instruments which became the equipment of the
shaman class. They (txiv neeb) regard Siv Yis as their archetype and identify as him
when they are imbued by the gods.[271]:60-61

Various gods (dab or neeb, the latter defining those who work with shamans)
enliven the world. Among them the most revered are the water god Dragon King
(Zaj Laug), the Thunder God (Xob), the gods of life and death (Ntxwj Nyug and Nyuj
Vaj Tuam Teem), Lady Sun (Nkauj Hnub) and Lord Moon (Nraug Hli), and various
deified human ancestors.[271]:60-62

Mongolian folk religion[edit]

Temple of the White Sulde of Genghis Khan in the town of Uxin in Inner Mongolia, in
the Mu Us Desert. The worship of Genghis is shared by Chinese and Mongolian folk
religion.[note 19]

A woman worships at an aobao in Baotou, Inner Mongolia.

Main article: Mongolian shamanism
Mongolian folk religion, that is Mongolian shamanism ( Mnggz
smnjio), alternatively named Tengerism ( Tnggljio),[272] is the native
and major religion among the Mongols of China, mostly residing in the region of
Inner Mongolia.

It is centered on the worship of the tngri (gods) and the highest Tenger (Heaven,
God of Heaven, God) or Qormusta Tengri. In the Mongolian native religion, Genghis
Khan is considered one of the embodiments, if not the main embodoment, of the
Tenger.[273] In worship, communities of lay believers are led by shamans (called
bge if males, iduan if females), who are intermediaries of the divine.

Since the 1980s there has been an unprecedented development of Mongolian

religion in Inner Mongolia, including bge, the cult of Genghis Khan and the Heaven
in special temples (many of which yurt-style),[274][275] and the cult of aobao as
ancestral shrines. There has been a significant integration of the Han Chinese of
Inner Mongolia into the traditional Mongolian spiritual heritage of the region.[245]
The cult of Genghis is also shared by the Han, claiming his spirit as the founding
principle of the Yuan dynasty.[276]

Aobaoes ( obo) are sacrificial altars of the shape of a mound that are
traditionally used for worship by Mongols and related ethnic groups.[277] Every
aobao is thought as the representation of a god. There are aobaoes dedicated to
heavenly gods, mountain gods, other gods of nature, and also to gods of human
lineages and agglomerations.

The aobaoes for worship of ancestral gods can be private shrines of an extended
family or kin (people sharing the same surname), otherwise they are common to

villages (dedicated to the god of a village), banners or leagues. Sacrifices to the

aobaoes are made offering slaughtered animals, joss sticks, and libations.[277]

Qiang folk religion[edit]

Silver Turtle Temple ( Yngushnmio) is a major centre of Qiang folk

religion on Qiangshan, in Mao, Ngawa, Sichuan.[note 20]
Main article: Qiang folk religion
Qiang people are mostly followers of a native Qiang folk religion.[278]:14 It is
pantheistic, involving the worship of a variety of gods of nature and of human
affairs, including Qiang progenitors. White stones are worshipped as it is believed
they can be invested with the power of some gods through rituals.[278]:14 They
believe in an overarching God, called Mubyasei ("God of Heaven"), which is
connected to the Chinese concept of Tian and clearly identified by the Qiang with
the Taoist-originated Jade Deity.[279]:140-144

Religious ceremonies and rituals are directed by priests called dungng in Chinese.
They are shamans who acquire their position through years of training with a
teacher. Dungng are the custodians of Qiang theology, history and mythology.
They also administer the coming of age ceremony for 18 years-old boys, called the
"sitting on top of the mountain", which involves the boy's entire family going to
mountain tops to sacrifice a ship or cow and to plant three cypress trees.[278]:1415

Two of the most important religious holidays are the Qiang New Year, falling on the
24th day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar (though now it is fixed on October
1st), and the Mountain Sacrifice Festival, held between the second and the sixth
month of the lunar calendar. The former festival is to give sacrifice to the God of
Heaven, while the latter is dedicated to the god of mountains.[278]:14

Yao folk religion[edit]

Main article: Yao folk religion
The Yao people, who reside in Guangxi and Hunan and surrounding provinces, follow
a folk religion that is deeply integrated with Taoism since the 13th century, so much

that it is frequently defined as "Yao Taoism".[280] Yao folk religion was described by
a Chinese scholar of the half of the 20th century as an example of deep "Taoisation"
( Dojiohu). In the 1980s it was found that the Yao clearly identified with the
Chinese-language Taoist theological literature, seen as a prestigious statute of
culture ( wnhu).[281]:290

The reason of this tight identification of Yao religion and identity with Taoism is that
in Yao society every male adult is initiated as a Taoist, and Yao Taoism is therefore a
communal religion; this is in sharp contrast to Chinese Taoism, which is an order of
priests disembedded from the common Chinese folk relgion. A shared sense of Yao
identity is based additionally on tracing their descent from the mythical ancestor
Panhu.[281]:48-49

Zhuang folk religion[edit]

Main article: Mo (religion)
Zhuang folk religion, sometimes called Moism ( Mjio) or Shigongism (
Shgngjio, "religion of the [Zhuang] ancestral father"), after two of its forms, is
practiced by most of the Zhuang people, the largest ethnic minority of China, who
inhabit the province of Guangxi.[282] It is a polytheistic-monistic and shamanic
religion centered on the creator god usually expressed as Buluotuo, the mythical
primordial ancestor of the Zhuang. Its beliefs are codified into a mythology and a
sacred scripture, the "Buluotuo Epic". A very similar religion of the same name is
that of the Buyei people, kindred to the Zhuang.

The Zhuang religion is intertwined with Taoism.[283] In facts, Chinese scholars

divide the Zhuang religion into several categories according to the type of ritual
specialists who conduct the rites; these categories include Shigongism, Moism,
Daogongism ( Dogngjio) and shamanism ( Wjio).[284]

"Shigongism" refers to the dimension led by the shgng () ritual specialists, a

term that can be translated variously as "ancestral father" or "teaching master",
and which refers to the generating principle and the men who can represent it.
Shgng specialists practice masked dancing and worship the Three Primordials, the
generals Tang, Ge and Zhou.[284] "Moism" refers to the dimension led by mgng
(), who are vernacular ritual specialists able to transcribe and read texts written
in Zhuang characters and worship Buluotuo and the goddess Muliujia.[285]
"Daogongism" is Zhuang Taoism, that is the indigenous religion directed by Zhuang

Taoist priests, known as dogng ( "lords of the Tao") in the Zhuang language,
according to Taoist doctrines and rites.[286] Zhuang shamanism entails the
practices of mediums who provide direct communication between the material and
the spiritual worlds, known as momoed if female and gemoed if male.[286]

Since the 1980s and the 1990s there has been a revival of this religion that has
taken place in two directions. The first is a grassroots revival of cults to local deities
and ancestors led by shamans; the second way is a promotion of the religion on the
official institutional level, through a standardisation of Moism elaborated by Zhuang
officials and intellectuals.[287]

Abrahamic religions[edit]
Christianity[edit]

Puqian Church (Protestant) in Fuzhou, Fujian.

Church of the Holy Family (Catholic) in Wuhan, Hubei.

The Lord's Prayer in Classical Chinese (1889).

Saint Sophia Cathedral (Russian Orthodox) in Harbin, Heilongjiang.

Main article: Christianity in China
See also: Protestantism in China, Roman Catholicism in China, Chinese house
church, and Chinese Orthodox Church
Christianity ( Jdjio, "religion of Christ") in China comprises Protestantism (
Jdjio xnjio, "New-Christianity"), Roman Catholicism ( Tinzhjio,
"religion of the Lord of Heaven"), and a small number of Orthodox Christians (
Zhng jio). Also Mormonism ( M'rmnjio) has a tiny presence.[288] The
Orthodox Church, which has believers among the Russian minority and some
Chinese in the far northeast and far northwest, is officially recognised only in
Heilongjiang.[289] There are also a number of heterodox sects of Christian
inspiration, including Zhushenism, Linglingism, Fuhuodao, Mentuhui and Eastern
Lightning or the Church of Almighty God.[290]

Christianity had existed in China as early as the 7th century AD, having multiple
cycles of strong presence for hundreds of years at a time, disappearing for hundreds
of years, and then being re-introduced. The arrival of the Persian missionary Alopen
in 635, during the early part of the Tang dynasty, is considered by some to be the
first entry of the Christian religion into China. What Westerners referred to as
Nestorian Christianity flourished for hundreds of years, until Emperor Wuzong of the
Tang dynasty adopted anti-religious measures in 845, expelling Buddhism,
Christianity, and Zoroastrianism and confiscating their considerable assets.
Christianity again came to China in the 13th century during the Mongol-established
Yuan dynasty, when the Mongols brought Nestorianism back to the region, and
contacts began with the Papacy, such as Franciscan missionaries in 1294. When the
native Chinese Ming dynasty overthrew the Yuan dynasty in the 14th century,
Christians were again expelled from China.

At the end of the Ming dynasty in the 16th century, Jesuits arrived in Beijing via
Guangzhou. The most famous of the Jesuit missionaries was Matteo Ricci, an Italian
mathematician who came to China in 1588 and lived in Beijing in 1600. Ricci was
welcomed at the imperial court and introduced Western learning into China. The
Jesuits followed a policy of accommodation to the traditional Chinese practice of
ancestor worship, but this doctrine was eventually condemned by the Pope. Roman
Catholic missions struggled in obscurity for decades afterwards.

Christianity began to take root in a significant way in the late imperial period, during
the Qing dynasty, and although it has remained a minority religion in China, it has
had significant recent historical impact. Further waves of missionaries came to
China in the Qing period as a result of contact with foreign powers. Russian
Orthodoxy was introduced in 1715 and Protestants began entering China in 1807.
The pace of missionary activity increased considerably after the First Opium War in
1842. Christian missionaries and their schools, under the protection of the Western
powers, went on to play a major role in the Westernization of China in the 19th and
20th centuries.

The Taiping Rebellion was influenced to some degree by Christian teachings, and
the Boxer Rebellion was in part a reaction against Christianity in China. Christians in
China established the first modern clinics and hospitals,[291] and provided the first
modern training for nurses. Both Roman Catholics and Protestants founded
numerous educational institutions in China from the primary to the university level.
Some of the most prominent Chinese universities began as religious-founded

institutions. Missionaries worked to abolish practices such as foot binding,[292] and

the unjust treatment of maidservants, as well as launching charitable work and
distributing food to the poor. They also opposed the opium trade[293] and brought
treatment to many who were addicted. Some of the early leaders of the Chinese
Republic, such as Sun Yat-sen were converts to Christianity and were influenced by
its teachings. By 1921, Harbin, Manchuria's largest city, had a Russian population of
around 100,000, constituting a large part of Christianity in the city.[294]

Christianity, especially in its Protestant form, gained momentum in China between

the 1980s and the 1990s.[295] In more recent times it has been curbed by the rapid
regeneration of indigenous beliefs.[296][297] Protestants today, including both
official and unofficial churches, have between 25 and 35 million adherents.[298]
[299] Catholics are not more than 10 million.[298][299] Various recent demographic
analyses have found that an average 24% of the population of China claims a
Christian affiliation.

Christians have an uneven geographic distribution, but a more even social

composition. The only provinces in which they constitute a population significantly
larger than 1 million persons are Henan, Anhui and Zhejiang. The social composition
of Christianity in China is characterised by a prevalence of women, illiterate, and
elderly people.[70]

A significant amount of the members of the networks of churches unregistered with

the government, and of their pastors, belong to the Koreans of China.[300]
Christianity has a strong presence in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, in
Jilin.[301] The Christianity of Yanbian Koreans has a patriarchal character; Korean
churches are usually led by men, in contrast to Chinese churches which more often
have female leadership. For instance, of the 28 registered churches of Yanji, only
three of which are Chinese congregations, all the Korean churches have a male
pastor while all the Chinese churches have a female pastor.[302] Also, Korean
church buildings are stylistically very similar to South Korean churches, with big
spires surmounted by large red crosses.[302] Yanbian Korean churches have been a
matter of controversy for the Chinese government because of their links to South
Korean churches.[303]

In recent decades the Communist Party of China has become more tolerant of
Christian churches outside party control, despite looking with distrust on
organizations with international ties. The government and Chinese intellectuals tend

to associate Christianity with subversive Western values, and many churches have
been closed or destroyed. Since the 2010s policies against Christianity have been
extended also to Hong Kong.[304]

Islam[edit]

Machang Mosque in Linxia City, Gansu, is a mosque of the Xidaotang sect.

The gongbei (shrine) of the Sufi master Yu Baba in Linxia City, Gansu.

Taizi Mosque in Yinchuan, Ningxia.

Main articles: Islam in China and History of Islam in China
Islam ( Yslnjio or Hujio) traditionally dates back to a diplomatic
mission in 651, eighteen years after Muhammad's death, led by Sa`d ibn Abi
Waqqas. Emperor Gaozong is said to have shown esteem for Islam and established
the Huaisheng Mosque, or Memorial Mosque, in memory of the Prophet.[305]

Muslims went to China to trade and virtually dominated the import and export
industry by the time of the Song dynasty, with the office of Director General of
Shipping consistently being held by a Muslim. Immigration increased when
hundreds of thousands of Muslims were relocated to help administer China during
the Yuan dynasty. A Muslim, Yeheidie'erding, led the construction of the Yuan capital
of Khanbaliq, in present-day Beijing.[306]

During the Ming dynasty, Muslims continued to have an influence among the high
classes. Zhu Yuanzhang's most trusted generals were Muslim, including Lan Yu, who
led a decisive victory over the Mongols, effectively ending the Mongol dream to reconquer China. Zheng He led seven expeditions to the Indian Ocean. The Hongwu
Emperor composed The Hundred-word Eulogy in praise of Muhammad. Muslims who
were descended from earlier immigrants began to assimilate by speaking Chinese
dialects and by adopting Chinese names and culture. They developed their own
cuisine, architecture, martial arts and calligraphy. This era, sometimes considered
the Golden Age of Islam in China, also saw Nanjing become an important center of
Islamic study.

The rise of the Qing dynasty (16441911) saw numerous rebellions including the
Panthay Rebellion, which occurred in Yunnan province from 1855 to 1873, and the
Dungan revolt, which occurred mostly in Xinjiang, Shaanxi and Gansu, from 1862 to
1877. The Manchu government ordered the execution of all rebels killing a million
people in the Panthay Rebellion,[306] several million in the Dungan revolt.[306]
However, many Muslims like Ma Zhan'ao, Ma Anliang, Dong Fuxiang, Ma Qianling,
and Ma Julung defected to the Qing dynasty side, and helped the Qing general Zuo
Zongtang exterminate the Muslim rebels. These Muslim generals belonged to the
Khafiya sect, and they helped Qing defeat Jahariyya rebels. In 1895, another
Dungan Revolt (1895) broke out, and loyalist Muslims like Dong Fuxiang, Ma
Anliang, Ma Guoliang, Ma Fulu, and Ma Fuxiang suppressed and massacred the rebel
Muslims led by Ma Dahan, Ma Yonglin, and Ma Wanfu. A Muslim army called the
Kansu Braves led by General Dong Fuxiang fought for the Qing dynasty against the
foreigners during the Boxer Rebellion.

After the fall of the Qing, Sun Yat-sen, proclaimed that the country belonged equally
to the Han, Manchu, Mongol, Tibetan and Hui people. In the 1920s the provinces of
Qinhai, Gansu and Ningxia came under the control of Muslim Governors/Warlords
known as the Ma clique, who served as generals in the National Revolutionary Army.
During Maoist rule, in the Cultural Revolution, mosques were often defaced,
destroyed or closed and copies of the Quran were destroyed by the Red Guards.
[307]

Today Islam is experiencing a revival. There is an upsurge in Islamic expression and

many nationwide Islamic associations have organized to co-ordinate inter-ethnic
activities among Muslims. Muslims are found in every province in China, but they
constitute a majority only in Xinjiang, and a large amount of the population in
Ningxia and Qinghai. Of China's recognised ethnic minorities, ten groups are
predominantly Muslim. Accurate statistics on China's current Muslim population are
hard to find; various surveys have found that they constitute 12% of the population
of China, or between 20 and 30 million people. They are served by 35.000 to 45.000
mosques, 40.000 to 50.000 imams (ahong), and 10 Quranic institutions.[116]

Judaism[edit]

Synagogue of Harbin, Heilongjiang.

Main article: Judaism in China

Judaism ( Yutijio) was introduced during the Tang dynasty or earlier, by
small groups of Jews settled in China. The most prominent early community was at
Kaifeng, in Henan province (Kaifeng Jews). In the 20th century many Jews arrived in
Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Harbin during those cities' periods of economic
expansion in the first decades of the century, as well as for the purpose of seeking
refuge from anti-Semitic pogroms in the Russian Empire (the early 1900s), the
communist revolution and civic war in Russia (19171918), and anti-Semitic Nazi
policy in Central Europe, chiefly in Germany and Austria (19371940), and the last
wave from Poland and other Eastern European countries (the early 1940s).[308]

Shanghai was particularly notable for its numerous Jewish refugees (Shanghai
Ghetto), most of whom left after the war, the rest relocating prior to or immediately
after the establishment of the People's Republic. Today, the Kaifeng Jewish
community is functionally extinct. Many descendants of the Kaifeng community still
live among the Chinese population, mostly unaware of their Jewish ancestry.
Meanwhile, remnants of the later arrivals maintain communities in Shanghai and
Hong Kong. In recent years a community has also developed in Beijing, especially
by Chabad-Lubavitch.

More recently, since the late 20th century, along with the study of religion in
general, the study of Judaism and Jews in China as an academic subject has begun
to blossom (i.e. Institute of Jewish Studies (Nanjing), China Judaic Studies
Association).[309]

Bah' Faith[edit]
Main article: Bah' Faith in China
The Bah' Faith ( Bhy xnyng, Bhy jio, or, in old
translations, Dtng jio) has a presence in China[288] since the 19th
century.

Other religions[edit]
Manichaeism[edit]

The Awakened One of Light (Mani) carved from the living rock at Cao'an, in Jinjiang,
Fujian.

A Manichaean inscription, dated 1445, at Cao'an (modern replica).[310]

Main article: Chinese Manichaeism
Manichaeism ( Mnjio), an Iranian religion, entered China between the 6th
and 8th centuries through interactions between the Tang dynasty and states of
Central Asia, Daxia (Bactria).[311] In 731, a Manichaean priest was asked by the
Chinese emperor to make a summary of the religion's teachings. He wrote the
Compendium of the Teachings of Mani the Buddha of Light. The Tang emperors
approved Manichaeism to be practiced by foreigners but prohibited preaching
among Chinese people.[311]

A turning point occurred in 762 with the conversion of Bogu Khan of the Uyghurs.
[311] Since 755, the Chinese Empire had been weakened by the An Shi Rebellion,
and the Uyghurs had become the only fighting force serving the Tang dynasty. Bogu
Khan encouraged the spread of Manichaeism into China. Manichaean temples were
established in the two capitals, Chang'an and Luoyang, as well as in several other
cities in northern and central China.[311]

The decline of Uyghur power in 840 brought an end to the prosperity of

Manichaeism.[311] Emperor Wuzong of Tang started the Great Anti-Buddhist
Persecution, which was not exclusively against Buddhism but extended to all foreign
religions. Manichaeism was suppressed but didn't disappear. During the period of
the Five Dynasties, it re-emerged as an underground phenomenon, particularly in
southern China.[311]

In 1120, a rebellion led by Fang Xi was believed to be caused by adherents of secret

religious communities, whose meeting places were said to host political dissidents.
This event brought crackdowns of unauthorized religious congregations and
destruction of scriptures. In 1280, the rule of the Mongol Yuan dynasty gave a
century of freedom to Manichaeism.[311] Subsequently, since 1368 the Ming
dynasty started a new policy of extermination of the religion, which eventually
disappeared.[311]

Small Manichaean communities are still active in modern China.[312] Besides,

Manichaeism has had a profound influence in the tradition of the popular sects and
Xiantiandao.

Hinduism[edit]

Relief of the Hindu god Narasimha shown at the museum of Quanzhou.

Main article: Hinduism in China
A small Hindu ( Yndjio) community of traders from India had existed in past
centuries in coastal Fujian. A bilingual Tamil-Chinese inscription dated from the 13th
century has been found within the remains of a Shiva temple in Quanzhou. This was
one of possibly two Hindu temples of southern Indian architecture that were built in
the southeastern area of the old port, where the foreign traders' enclave was
located. Various influences from Hindu thought penetrated China through the
spread of Buddhism in the country. Many victims in 2015 Bangkok bombing visiting
a Hindu god temple are Chinese with different nationalities.

Zoroastrianism[edit]
Zoroastrianism ( Suluysdjio or Xinjio) expanded in northern
China during the 6th century through the Silk Road. It gained the status of an
officially authorised religion in some Chinese regions. Remains of Zoroastrian fire
temples have been found in Kaifeng and Zhenjiang. According to some scholars,
they were active until the 12th century, when the religion disappeared from China.

Shinto[edit]

Shinto shrine of Jilin city, Jilin province.

Between 1931 and 1945, with the establishment of the Japanese-controlled
Manchukuo ("Manchu Country") in northeast China (Manchuria), many shrines of
State Shinto (, Chinese: shnsh, Japanese: jinja) were established in the area.

They were part of the project of cultural assimilation of Manchuria into Japan, or
Japanisation. The same was happening in Taiwan. With the end of World War II and

the Manchu Country (Manchukuo) in 1945, and the return of Manchuria and Taiwan
to China under the Guomindang, Shinto was abolished and the shrines destroyed.

During the same period also many Japanese new religions, or independent Shinto
sects, proselytised in Manchuria establishing hundreds of congregations. Most of the
missions belonged to the Omoto teaching, the Tenri teaching and the Konko
teaching of Shinto.[313]

Anti-metaphysical and anti-theistic thoughts[edit]

China has a history of schools of thought not relying on conceptions of an absolute,
or putting absolutes into question. It is worth remembering that Confucianism itself
is primarily pragmatic and humanist, in it the "thisworldliness" being the priority.[7]
Given the differences between Western and Chinese concepts of "religion", Hu Shih
stated in the 1920s what has been translated in Western terminology as "China is a
country without religion and the Chinese are a people who are not bound by
religious superstitions".[9]

The Classic of Poetry contains several catechistic poems in the Decade of Dang
questioning the authority or existence of the God of Heaven. Later philosophers
such as Xun Zi, Fan Zhen, Han Fei, Zhang Zai, and Wang Fuzhi also criticized
religious practices prevalent during their times. During the efflorescence of
Buddhism in the Southern and Northern dynasties, Fan Zhen wrote "On the
Extinction of the Soul" ( Shnmiln) to criticise Buddhist ideas pf body-soul
dualism, samsara and karma. He wrote that the soul is merely an effect or function
of the body, and that there is no soul without the body (i.e., after the destruction
and death of the body).[314] Further, he considered that cause-and-effect
relationships claimed to be evidence of karma were merely the result of coincidence
and bias. For this, he was exiled by Emperor Wu of Liang.

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Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ The main axis of the Taoist Temple of Fortune and Longevity (
Fshugun) has a Temple of the Three Patrons ( Snhungdin) and a Temple

of the Three Purities ( Snqngdin, the orthodox gods of Taoist theology). Side
chapels include a Temple of the God of Wealth ( Cishndin), a Temple of the
Lady ( Ningningdin), a Temple of the Eight Immortals ( Bxindin),
and a Temple of the (God of) Thriving Culture ( Wnchngdin). The Fushou
Temple belongs to the Taoist Church and was built in 2005 on the site of a former
Buddhist temple, the Iron Tiles Temple, which stood there until it was destituted and
destroyed in 1950. Part of the roof tiles of the new temples are from the ruins of the
former temple excavated in 2002.
Jump up ^ Some scholars consider Confucianism as humanist and secularist.
Rather, Herbert Fingarette has described it as a religion that "sacralises the
secular".[8]
Jump up ^ Overmyer (2009, p. 73), says that from the late 19th to the 20th century
few professional priests (i.e. licensed Taoists) were involved in local religion in the
central and northern provinces of China, and discusses various types of folk ritual
specialists including: the yuehu , the zhuli (p. 74), the shenjia ("godly
families", hereditary specialists of gods and their rites; p. 77), then (p. 179) the
yinyang or fengshui masters (as "[...] folk Zhengyi Daoists of the Lingbao scriptural
tradition, living as ordinary peasants. They earn their living both as a group from
performing public rituals, and individually [...] by doing geomancy and calendrical
consultations for fengshui and auspicious days"; quoting: S. Jones (2007), Ritual and
Music of North China: Shawm Bands in Shanxi). He also describes shamans or media
known by different names: mapi , wupo , shen momo or shen han
(p. 87); xingdao de ("practitioners of the incense way"; p. 85); village
xiangtou ("incense heads"; p. 86); matong (the same as southern jitong),
either wushen (possessed by gods) or shenguan (possessed by immortals;
pp. 88-89); or "godly sages" (shensheng ; p. 91). Further (p. 76), he discusses
for example the sai , ceremonies of thanksgiving to the gods in Shanxi with roots
in the Song era, which leaders very often corresponded to local political authorities.
This pattern continues today with former village Communist Party secretaries
elected as temple association bosses (p. 83). He concludes (p. 92): "In sum, since at
least the early twentieth century the majority of local ritual leaders in north China
have been products of their own or nearby communities. They have special skills in
organization, ritual performance or interaction with the gods, but none are full-time
ritual specialists; they have all kept their day jobs! As such they are exemplars of
ordinary people organizing and carrying out their own cultural traditions, persistent
traditions with their own structure, functions and logic that deserve to be
understood as such."
Jump up ^ Chinese ancestral or lineage religion is the worship of a family or kin's
godly ancestors in the system of lineage churches and ancestral shrines. Note it
well that this does not include other forms of Chinese religion, such as the worship
of national ancestral gods or the gods of nature (which in northern China is more
typical than ancestor worship), Taoism and Confucianism.

Jump up ^ The map attempts to represent the geographic diffusion of the tradition
of folk religious sects, Confucian churches and jiaohua (transformative teachings),
based on historical data and contemporary fieldwork. Due to incomplete data and
ambiguous identity of many of these traditions the map may not be completely
accurate. Sources include a World Religion Map from Harvard University, based on
data from the World Religion Database, showing highly unprecise ranges of Chinese
folk religions' membership by province. Another source, the studies of China's
Regional Religious System, find "very high activity of popular religion and secret
societies and low Buddhist presence in northern regions, while very high Buddhist
presence in the southeast".[73] Historical record and contemporary scholarly
fieldwork testify certain central and northern provinces of China as hotbeds of folk
religious sects and Confucian religious groups.
Hebei: Fieldwork by Thomas David Dubois[74] testifies the dominance of folk
religious sects, specifically the Church of the Heaven and the Earth and the Church
of the Highest Supreme, since their "energetic revival since the 1970s" (p. 13), in
the religious life of the counties of Hebei. Religious life in rural Hebei is also
characterised by a type of organisation called the benevolent churches and the folk
sect known as Zailiism has returned active since the 1990s.
Henan: According to Heberer and Jakobi (2000)[75] Henan has been for centuries a
hub of folk religious sects (p. 7) which constitute significant focuses of the religious
life of the province. Sects present in the region include the Baguadao or Tianli
("Order of Heaven") sect, the Dadaohui, the Tianxianmiaodao, the Yiguandao, and
many others. Henan also has a strong popular Confucian orientation (p. 5).
Northeast China: According to official records by the then-government the Universal
Church of the Way and its Virtue or Morality Society had 8 million members in
Manchuria, or northeast China, making up about 25% of the total population of the
area (note that the state of Manchuria also included the eastern end of modern-day
Inner Mongolia).[63] Folk religious sects of a Confucian nature, or Confucian
churches, were in fact very successful in the northeast, gathering large slices of the
population.
Shandong: The province is traditionally a stronghold of Confucianism and is the area
of origin of many folk religious sects and Confucian churches of the modern period,
including the Universal Church of the Way and its Virtue, the Way of the Return to
the One ( Guydo), the Way of Unity ( Ygundo), and others. Alex
Payette (2016) testifies the rapid growth of Confucian groups in the province in the
2010s.[64]
According to the Chinese General Social Survey of 2012,[76] about 2.2% of the total
population of China (around 30 million people) claims membership in the folk
religious sects, which have likely maintained their historical dominance in centralnorthern and northeastern China.

Jump up ^ Percentage of Buddhist temples and monasteries per capita by province

of China according to incomplete data from 2006, reported in Ji Zhe's Three
Decades of Revival: Basic Data on Contemporary Chinese Buddhism (
, 2011). The analysts say that despite being based on
incomplete data, being Buddhist temples and other institutions far more numerous
than those registered in 2006, the density projected on the total population of each
province is quite accurate.
Jump up ^ Other names that have been proposed are:[94]
Simply "Chinese religion" ( Zhnghujio), viewed as comparable to the usage
of "Hinduism";
"Shenxianism" ( Shnxinjio), "religion of gods and immortals", partly
inspired to Allan J. A. Elliott's "Shenism".
Jump up ^ These numerical results for practitioners of the folk religions exclude
those who identified with one of the institutional religions, even the 173 million folk
Taoists. p. 34 of Wenzel-Teuber (2011): The CSLS questioned people on popular
religious beliefs and practices as well, and came to the following estimates
(excluding those who identified themselves with an institutional religion).[100]
Jump up ^ However, there is considerable discrepancy between what Chinese and
Western cultures intend with the concepts of "belief", "existence" and "practice".
The Chinese folk religion is often considered one of "belonging" rather than
"believing" (see: Fan, Chen 2013. p. 5.)
Jump up ^ Scholar Kenneth Dean estimates 680 million people involved in folk
temples and rituals. Quote: "According to Dean, "in the rural sector... if one takes a
rough figure of 1000 people per village living in 680,000 administrative villages and
assume an average of two or three temples per village, one arrives at a figure of
over 680 million villagers involved in some way with well over a million temples and
their rituals"."[107]
Jump up ^ The image is a good synthesis of the basic virtues of Chinese religion and
Confucian ethics, that is to say "to move and act according to the harmony of
Heaven". The Big Dipper or Great Chariot in Chinese culture (as in other traditional
cultures) is a symbol of the axis mundi, the source of the universe (God, Tian) in its
way of manifestation, order of creation (li or Tao). The symbol, also called the Gate
of Heaven ( Tinmn), is widely used in esoteric and mystical literature. For
example, an excerpt from Shangqing Taoism's texts:
"Life and death, separation and convergence, all derive from the seven stars. Thus
when the Big Dipper impinges on someone, he dies, and when it moves, he lives.
That is why the seven stars are Heaven's chancellor, the yamen where the gate is
opened to give life."[125]

Jump up ^ The lack of an overarching name conceptualising the Chinese local

indigenous cults has led to some confusion in the terminology employed in scholarly
literature. In Chinese, with the terms usually translated in English as "folk religion"
(i.e. mnjin zngjio) or "folk faith" (i.e. mnjin xnyng) they
generally refer to the folk religious sects, and not to the local indigenous cults of
gods and ancestors. To resolve this issue some Chinese intellectuals have proposed
to formally adopt "Chinese native religion" / "Chinese indigenous religion" (i.e.
mns zngjio) or "Chinese ethnic religion" (i.e. mnz zngjio), or
also "Chinese religion" ( Zhnghujio) and "Shenxianism" (
Shnxinjio), as single names for the local indigenous cults of China.[136]
Jump up ^ The graphical etymology of Tian as "Great One" (D y ), and the
phonetical etymology as din , were first recorded by Xu Shen.[143] John C. Didier
in In and Outside the Square (2009) for the Sino-Platonic Papers discusses different
etymologies which trace the character Tian to the astral square or its ellipted
forms, dng , representing the north celestial pole (pole star and Big Dipper
revolving around it; historically a symbol of the absolute source of the universal
reality in many cultures), which is the archaic (Shang) form of dng ("square").
[144] Gao Hongjin and other scholars trace the modern word Tian to the Shang
pronunciation of dng (that is *tee).[144] This was also the origin of Shang's D
("Deity"), and later words meaning something "on high" or "top", including
dng.[144] The modern graph for Tian would derive from a Zhou version of the
Shang archaic form of D (from Shang oracle bone script[145] Shang archaic
form of Di.svg, which represents a fish entering the astral square); this Zhou version
represents a being with a human-like body and a head-mind informed by the astral
pole ( Zhou archaic form of Tian.svg).[144] Didier furtherly links the Chinese astral
square and Tian or Di characters to other well-known symbols of God or divinity as
the northern pole in key ancient cultural centres: the Harappan and Vedic-Aryan
spoked wheels,[146] crosses and hooked crosses (Chinese wn /),[147] and the
Mesopotamian Dingir Cuneiform sumer dingir.svg.[148] Jixu Zhou (2005), also in the
Sino-Platonic Papers, connects the etymology of D , Old Chinese *Tees, to the
Indo-European Deus, God.[149]
Jump up ^ The characters yu (jade), huang (emperor, sovereign, august), wang
(king), as well as others pertaining to the same semantic field, have a common
denominator in the concept of gong (work, art, craft, artisan, bladed weapon,
square and compass; gnomon, "interpreter") and wu (shaman, medium)[151] in
its archaic form -bronze.svg, with the same meaning of wan (swastika, ten
thousand things, all being, universe).[152] A king is a man or an entity who is able
to merge himself with the axis mundi, the centre of the universe, bringing its order
into reality. The ancient kings or emperors of the Chinese civilisation were shamans
or priests, that is to say mediators of the divine rule.[153] The same Western terms
"king" and "emperor" traditionally meant an entity capable to embody the divine

rule: king etymologically means "gnomon", "generator", while emperor means

"interpreter", "one who makes from within".
Jump up ^ Tian, besides Taidi ("Great Deity") and Shangdi ("Highest Deity"), Yudi
("Jade Deity"), simply Shen ("God"), and Taiyi ("Great Oneness") as identified as
the ladle of the Tinmn ("Gate of Heaven", the Big Dipper),[155] is defined by
many other names attested in the Chinese literary, philosophical and religious
tradition:[156]
Tinshn , the "God of Heaven", interpreted in the Shuowen jiezi () as
"the being that gives birth to all things";
Shnhung , "God the King", attested in Taihong ("The Origin of Vital Breath");
Tind , the "Deity of Heaven" or "Emperor of Heaven".
A popular Chinese term is Lotiny (), "Old Heavenly Father".
Tian is both transcendent and immanent, manifesting in the three forms of
dominance, destiny and nature. In the Wujing yiyi (, "Different Meanings in
the Five Classics"), Xu Shen explains that the designation of Heaven is quintuple:
[157]
Hung Tin "Yellow Heaven" or "Shining Heaven", when it is venerated as the
lord of creation;
Ho Tin "Vast Heaven", with regard to the vastness of its vital breath (qi);
Mn Tin "Compassionate Heaven" for it hears and corresponds with justice to
the all-under-heaven;
Shng Tin "Highest Heaven" or "First Heaven", for it is the primordial being
supervising all-under-heaven;
Cng Tin "Deep-Green Heaven", for it being unfathomably deep.
Di is rendered as "deity" or "emperor" and describes a divine principle that exerts
a fatherly dominance over what it produces.[158]
Jump up ^ Huangdi ( "Yellow Emperor"; or Huangshen, "Yellow God"), also
known as Xuanyuan shi ( "Venerable Regulator") and Zhongyuedadi (
"God of the Central Peak"), is the creator of Huaxia, the beginning of the civilization
of China. He represents the man who embodies or grasps the axis mundi (Kunlun
Mountain in Chinese myth), the hub of creation, identifying with the unfathomable
source of the universe (Tian), bringing the divine order into physical reality and thus
opening the gateways to immortality.[165] The character hung, for the color
"yellow", also means, by homophony and shared etymology with hung,

"august", "creator" and "radiant", identifying the Yellow Emperor with Shangdi (the
"Shining Deity") or his human form.[165] As a human, Xuanyuan, myth tells that he
was the fruit of virginal birth; his mother Fubao conceived him after seeing the great
lightning around the Big Dipper (swastika).[166]
Jump up ^ There is no consensus on whether Confucianism is a religion or not. Yong
Chen opens his book on this very topic thus: "The question of whether Confucianism
is a religion is probably one of the most controversial issues in both Confucian
scholarship and the discipline of religious studies."[202] In another work on this
topic the authors observe that "There have been, and are still, those scholars who
have understood Confucianism as a religion; others have argued that Confucianism
is not a religion but something else, often, a philosophy."[203]
Jump up ^ "Yellow religion", a synecdoche from the Yellow Hat sect, may also refer
to yellow shamanism, that is a type of Mongolian shamanism which uses a
Buddhist-like expressive style.
Jump up ^ The White Sulde (White Spirit) is one of the two spirits of Genghis Khan
(the other being the Black Sulde), represented either as his white or yellow horse or
as a fierce warrior riding this horse. In its interior, the temple enshrines a statue of
Genghis Khan (at the center) and four of his men on each side (the total making
nine, a symbolic number in Mongolian culture), there is an altar where offerings to
the godly men are made, and three white suldes made with white horse hair. From
the central sulde there are strings which hold tied light blue pieces of cloth with a
few white ones. The wall is covered with all the names of the Mongol kins. The
Chinese worship Genghis as the ancestral god of the Yuan dynasty.
Jump up ^ The Silver Turtle Temple ( Yngushnmio) of Qiang folk religion
was consecrated in 2014. It is a complex of temples dedicated to various gods: it
hosts a Great Temple of Yandi ( Ynd ddin), a Great Temple of Dayu (
Dy ddin) and a Great Temple of Li Yuanhao ( Lyunho ddin),
considered the most important deities of the Qiang people.
References[edit]
Citations[edit]
Jump up ^ Yao, 2011. p. 11
Jump up ^ Miller, 2006. p. 57
Jump up ^ Tam Wai Lun, "Local Religion in Contemporary China", in Xie, ed., 2006.
p. 73
Jump up ^ Kuhn (2011), p. 373.
Jump up ^ Kuhn (2011), p. 362.

Jump up ^ Kuhn (2011), p. 368.

^ Jump up to: a b c Mark Juergensmeyer. Religion in Global Civil Society. Oxford
University Press, 2005. p. 70, quote: [...] humanist philosophies such as
Confucianism, which do not share a belief in divine law and do not exalt faithfulness
to a higher law as a manifestation of divine will [...].
Jump up ^ Herbert Fingarette. Confucius: The Secular As Sacred. Waveland, 1998.
ISBN 1577660102
^ Jump up to: a b Chen (2012), p. 127.
^ Jump up to: a b Rowan Callick. Party Time: Who Runs China and How. Black Inc,
2013. p. 112
Jump up ^ Lalibert (2011), p. 7-8.
Jump up ^ Wang (2011).
Jump up ^ Steven F. Teiser. What is Popular Religion?. Part of: Living in the Chinese
Cosmos, Asia for Educators, Columbia University. Extracts from: Stephen F. Teiser.
The Spirits of Chinese Religion. In: Religions of China in Practice. Princeton
University Press, 1996.
^ Jump up to: a b c d China Zentrum: Religions & Christianity in Today's China. Vol.
IV, 2014, No. 1. ISSN 2192-9289. pp. 22-23
Jump up ^ Lalibert (2011), p. 7.
Jump up ^ Sautman, 1997. pp. 80-81
Jump up ^ Yao, 2011. pp. 9-10
Jump up ^ Bays (2012), p. 7-15, 18-21.
Jump up ^ Bays (2012), p. 48-52 ff.
Jump up ^ Geoffrey Blainey. A Short History of Christianity. Viking, 2011. p. 508
Jump up ^ Geoffrey Blainey. A Short History of Christianity. Viking, 2011. p. 531
Jump up ^ Geoffrey Blainey. A Short History of Christianity. Viking, 2011. p. 532
Jump up ^ Wang, 2004. pp. 60-61
Jump up ^ Fenggang Yang. Social Scientific Studies of Religion in China:
Methodologies, Theories, and Findings . BRILL, 2011. ISBN 9004182462. p. 112

Jump up ^ Sarah M. Nelson, Rachel A. Matson, Rachel M. Roberts, Chris Rock, Robert
E. Stencel. Archaeoastronomical Evidence for Wuism at the Hongshan Site of
Niuheliang. 2006.
Jump up ^ De Groot (1892), pp. passim vol. 6.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Libbrecht, 2007. p. 43.
Jump up ^ Teiser (1988), p. 8-9.
Jump up ^ Geoffrey Blainey. A Short History of Christianity. Viking, 2011. p. 384
^ Jump up to: a b c Fan, Chen 2013. p. 9
Jump up ^ Tarocco, Francesca (2007), The Cultural Practices of Modern Chinese
Buddhism: Attuning the Dharma, London: Routledge, p. 48
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Liang, Yongjia (2016). "The Anthropological Study of
Religion in China: Contexts, Collaborations, Debates and Trends" (PDF). Asia
Research Institute Working Paper Series (250): 25.
^ Jump up to: a b Overmyer (2009), p. 50.
Jump up ^ Overmyer (2009), p. 43.
Jump up ^ Overmyer (2009), p. 46.
^ Jump up to: a b c Overmyer (2009), p. 51.
Jump up ^ Overmyer (2009), p. 45.
^ Jump up to: a b Waldron (1998), p. 325.
Jump up ^ "China's Policy on Religion". English.people.com.cn. Retrieved 17 October
2011.
Jump up ^ Constitution of the People's Republic of China (1982), English translation
(page visited on 17 December 2015).
Jump up ^ Te Winkle, Kimberley S. (2005). "A Sacred Trinity: God, Mountain and
Bird. Cultic Practices of the Bronze Age Chengdu Plain" (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers.
Victor H. Mair (149). ISSN 2157-9687.
Jump up ^ Christopher Marsh. Religion and the State in Russia and China:
Suppression, Survival, and Revival. Continuum, 2011. ISBN 1441112472. p. 239
Jump up ^ Jess Sol-Farrs. New Confucianism in Twenty-First Century China: The
Construction of a Discourse. Routledge, 2013. p. 56

Jump up ^ Daniel A. Bell. China's New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a
Changing Society. Princeton University Press, 2010. ASIN: B004R1Q79Q. p. 14
Jump up ^ Karrie J. Koesel. Religion and Authoritarianism: Cooperation, Conflict, and
the Consequences. Cambridge University Press, 2014. ISBN 1139867792. p. 8
Jump up ^ China Digital Times: Xi Jinping Hopes Traditional Faiths Can Fill Moral
Void.
Jump up ^ Lai Pan-chiu, "Christian Discourses on Religious Diversity in
Contemporary China," in Perry Schmidt-Leukel, Joachim Gentz. Religious Diversity in
Chinese Thought. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. p. 218
Jump up ^ Clart, 2014. pp. 407-408
Jump up ^ "White Paper-Freedom of Religious Belief in China". China-embassy.org.
23 October 2003. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
Jump up ^ Source map #1. Dumortier, Brigitte, 2002, Atlas des religions,
Autrement, collection Atlas, Paris, p. 32.
Jump up ^ Source map #2. Narody Vostochnoi Asii ("Ethnic Groups of East Asia"
(1965)), Zhongguo Minsu Dili ("Folklore Geography of China" (1999)), Zhongguo Dili
("Geography of China" (2002)).
Jump up ^ Source map #3. ...
1995.
Jump up ^ Source map #4. ;,,
... 1991.
Jump up ^ Zhao Litao, Tan Soon Heng. Religious Revival in China. On: EAI
Background Brief No. 368, 2008. Quote pp. i-ii: Their revival is most evident in
South-east China, where annual festivals for local and regional gods often mobilize
the entire village population for elaborate rites and rituals. The deep and rich ritual
traditions share close similarities with those of Taiwan and overseas Chinese and
financial help from these connections make coastal Fujian a frontrunner in reviving
local communal religion.
^ Jump up to: a b Chan, 2005. p. 93. Quote: "By the early 1990s Daoist activities
had become popular especially in rural areas, and began to get out of control as the
line between legitimate Daoist activities and popular folk religious activities officially regarded as feudal superstition - became blurred. [...] Unregulated
activities can range from orthodox Daoist liturgy to shamanistic rites. The popularity
of these Daoist activities underscores the fact that Chinese rural society has a long
tradition of religiosity and has preserved and perpetuated Daoism regardless of
official policy and religious institutions. With the growth of economic prosperity in

rural areas, especially in the coastal provinces where Daoist activities are
concentrated, with a more liberal policy on religion, and with the revival of local
cultural identity, Daoism - be it the officially sanctioned variety or Daoist activities
which are beyond the edge of the official Daoist body - seems to be enjoying a
strong comeback, at least for the time being."
Jump up ^ Overmyer, 2009. p. 185 about Taoism in southeastern China:
"Ethnographic research into the temple festivals and communal rituals celebrated
within these god cults has revealed the widespread distribution of Daoist ritual
traditions in this area, including especially Zhengyi (Celestial Master Daoism) and
variants of Lushan Daoist ritual traditions. Various Buddhist ritual traditions
(Puanjiao, Xianghua married monks and so on) are practiced throughout this
region, particularly for requiem services". (quoting K. Dean (2003) Local Communal
Religion in Contemporary Southeast China, in D.L. Overmyer (ed.) Religion in China
Today. China Quarterly Special Issues, New Series, No. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, pp. 3234.)
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Goossaert, Vincent (2011). "Is There a North China
Religion? A Review Essay". Journal of Chinese Religions. Routledge. 39 (1): 8393.
doi:10.1179/073776911806153907. ISSN 0737-769X.
Jump up ^ Overmyer, 2009. pp. 12-13: As for the physical and social structure of
villages on this vast flat expanse; they consist of close groups of houses built on a
raised area, surrounded by their fields, with a multi-surnamed population of families
who own and cultivate their own land, though usually not much more than twenty
mou or about three acres. [...] Families of different surnames living in one small
community meant that lineages were not strong enough to maintain lineage shrines
and cross-village organizations, so, at best, they owned small burial plots and took
part only in intra-village activities. The old imperial government encouraged villages
to manage themselves and collect and hand over their own taxes. [...] leaders were
responsible for settling disputes, dealing with local government, organizing crop
protection and planning for collective ceremonies. All these factors tended to
strengthen the local protective deities and their temples as focal points of village
identity and activity. This social context defines North China local religion, and keeps
us from wandering off into vague discussions of popular and elite and
relationships with Daoism and Buddhism.
Jump up ^ Overmyer (2009), p. xii.
Jump up ^ Overmyer, 2009. p. 10: "There were and are many such pilgrimages to
regional and national temples in China, and of course such pilgrimages cannot
always be clearly distinguished from festivals for the gods or saints of local
communities, because such festivals can involve participants from surrounding
villages and home communities celebrating the birthdays or death days of their
patron gods or saints, whatever their appeal to those from other areas. People

worship and petition at both pilgrimages and local festivals for similar reasons. The
chief differences between the two are the central role of a journey in pilgrimages,
the size of the area from which participants are attracted, and the role of pilgrimage
societies in organizing the long trips that may be involved. [...] pilgrimage in China
is also characterized by extensive planning and organization both by the host
temples and those visiting them."
Jump up ^ Overmyer, 2009. p. 3: "[...] there are significant differences between
aspects of local religion in the south and north, one of which is the gods who are
worshiped."; p. 33: "[...] the veneration in the north of ancient deities attested to in
pre-Han sources, deities such as Nwa, Fuxi and Shennong, the legendary founder
of agriculture and herbal medicine. In some instances these gods were worshiped at
places believed to be where they originated, with indications of grottoes, temples
and festivals for them, some of which continue to exist or have been revived. Of
course, these gods were worshiped elsewhere in China as well, though perhaps not
with the same sense of original geographical location."
Jump up ^ Overmyer, 2009. p. 15: [...] Popular religious sects with their own forms
of organization, leaders, deities, rituals, beliefs and scripture texts were active
throughout the Ming and Qing periods, particularly in north China. Individuals and
families who joined them were promised special divine protection in this life and the
next by leaders who functioned both as ritual masters and missionaries. These sects
were more active in some communities than in others, but in principle were open to
all who responded to these leaders and believed in their efficacy and teachings, so
some of these groups spread to wide areas of the country. [...] significant for us here
though is evidence for the residual influence of sectarian beliefs and practices on
non-sectarian community religion where the sects no longer exist, particularly the
feminization of deities by adding to their names the characters mu or Laomu,
Mother or Venerable Mother, as in Guanyin Laomu, Puxianmu, Dizangmu, etc.,
based on the name of the chief sectarian deity, Wusheng Laomu, the Eternal
Venerable Mother. Puxian and Dizang are bodhisattvas normally considered male,
though in Buddhist theory such gender categories dont really apply. This practice of
adding mu to the names of deities, found already in Ming period sectarian scriptures
called baojuan precious volumes from the north, does not occur in the names of
southern deities.
^ Jump up to: a b Ownby (2008).
^ Jump up to: a b Payette (2016).
^ Jump up to: a b Jones, Stephen (2011). "Yinyang: Household Daoists of North
China and Their Rituals". Daoism: Religion, History & Society. 3 (1): 83-114.
Jump up ^ Claire Qiuju Deng. Action-Taking Gods: Animal Spirit Shamanism in
Liaoning, China. Department of East Asian Studies, McGill University, Montreal,
2014.

Jump up ^ Mark Juergensmeyer, Wade Clark Roof. Encyclopedia of Global Religion.

SAGE Publications, 2011. ISBN 1452266565. p. 202
Jump up ^ Benjamin Penny. Religion and Biography in China and Tibet. Routledge,
2013. ISBN 1136113940. pp. 185-187
Jump up ^ A. D. Jones. Contemporary Han Chinese Involvement in Tibetan
Buddhism: A Case Study from Nanjing, Social Compass. 2011: 58 (4): 540-553.
^ Jump up to: a b c Francis Ching-Wah Yip, in Miller, 2006. p. 186
Jump up ^ Chinese Spiritual Life Survey (CSLS) 2007. Report in Xiuhua Wang's
Explaining Christianity in China: Why a Foreign Religion has Taken Root in Unfertile
Ground, Baylor University (2015), p. 15.
Jump up ^ Mapping of the diffusion of influence of the Taoist religion, i.e. local
religion led by Taoist specialists, forms and institutions.
Jump up ^ Jiang Wu, Daoqin Tong. Spatial Analysis and GIS Modeling of Regional
Religious Systems in China. University of Arizona.
Jump up ^ Dubois (2005).
Jump up ^ Thomas Heberer, Sabine Jakobi. Henan - The Model: From Hegemonism
to Fragmentism. Portrait of the Political Culture of China's Most Populated Province.
Duisburg Working Papers on East Asian Studies, May 2000, n. 32.
^ Jump up to: a b Chinese Family Panel Studies's survey of 2012. Published on: The
World Religious Cultures issue 2014:
CFPS2012. p. 13, reporting the results of the Renmin University's
Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) for the years 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011.
Jump up ^ Ji Zhe's "Three Decades of Revival: Basic Data on Contemporary Chinese
Buddhism / " (2011).
Jump up ^ Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) 2009. Report in Xiuhua Wang's
Explaining Christianity in China: Why a Foreign Religion has Taken Root in Unfertile
Ground, Baylor University (2015), p. 15. Data for Gansu, Guangdong, Henan,
Liaoning and Shanghai updated according to the Chinese Family Panel Studies
(CFPS) 2012.
Jump up ^ Min Junqing. The Present Situation and Characteristics of Contemporary
Islam in China. JISMOR, 8. 2010 Islam by province, page 29. Data from: Yang
Zongde, Study on Current Muslim Population in China, Jinan Muslim, 2, 2010.
Jump up ^ Pregadio, 2008. Vol. 2, p. xv

Jump up ^ Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Numbers and Patterns". In

Martin, Michael "The Cambridge Companion to Atheism". (New York: Cambridge
University Press) 2006. pg. 47
^ Jump up to: a b Yao, 2011. p. 9
Jump up ^ Yao, 2011. p. 10
Jump up ^ Sun, Anna. Confucianism as a World Religion: Contested Histories and
Contemporary Realities. Princeton University Press, 2013. ISBN 1400846080. p. 86
Jump up ^ Overmeyer, Daniel L. et al. "Introduction" of The Journal of Asian Studies,
Vol. 54, No. 2. May, 1995. pp. 314321
Jump up ^ Ethel R. Nelson, Richard E. Broadberry, Ginger Tong Chock. God's Promise
to the Chinese. ISBN 0937869015. p. 8
^ Jump up to: a b c d Nengchang Wu. Religion and Society. A Summary of French
Studies on Chinese Religion. On: Review of Religion and Chinese Society 1 (2014),
104-127. pp. 105-106
Jump up ^ Pregadio, 2008. Vol. 1, p. 326, Daoshi.
Jump up ^ Palmer, 2011. p. 12: Chinese sectarianism, millennialism and
heterodoxy, called "popular religious sects" (minjian zongjiao , minjian
jiaomen , minjian jiaopai ) in the Chinese scholarship, often
inextricable from debates on the exact nature of the so-called "White Lotus"
tradition.; p. 14: The local and anthropological focus of these studies, and their
undermining of rigid distinctions between "sectarian" groups and other forms of
local religiosity, tends to draw them into the category of "popular religion"
.
Jump up ^ Clart, 2014. p. 393. Quote: [...] The problem started when the
Taiwanese translator of my paper chose to render "popular religion" literally as
minjian zongjiao . The immediate association this term caused in the minds
of many Taiwanese and practically all mainland Chinese participants in the
conference was of popular sects (minjian jiaopai ), rather than the local and
communal religious life that was the main focus of my paper.
^ Jump up to: a b c Goossaert, Palmer. 2011. p. 347, quote: [Since the 1990s] [...]
a number of [...] lay salvationist groups (such as Xiantiandao in southern China and
Hongyangism [ Hngyng jio] in Hebei) also successfully registered with the
Taoist association, thus gaining legitimacy.
Jump up ^ Wang (2011), p. 3.
Jump up ^ Clart, 2014. pp. 402-406

Jump up ^ Clart, 2014. p. 409

Jump up ^ Chinese Family Panel Studies's survey of 2012. Published in The World
Religious Cultures issue 2014: CFPS2012
. p. 13, reporting the results of the Renmin University's Chinese General Social
Survey (CGSS) for the years 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011, and their average. Note:
although ~90% of the Chinese declare to be not affiliated to any religion (a term
which in Chinese only defines "organised religions"), according to the researchers of
CFPS, only 6.3% of the Chinese are not religious in the sense of atheism; the others
are not religious in the sense that they do not belong to an organised religion, while
they pray to or worship gods and ancestors in the manner of the traditional popular
religion.
^ Jump up to: a b Yao, Xinzhong. Religious Belief and Practice in Urban China 19952005. On: Journal of Contemporary Religion, Volume 22, Number 2, May 2007. pp.
169-185 (17)
^ Jump up to: a b c Pew Research Center's Religion and Public Life Project: Religion
in China on the Eve of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, publishing the results of the 2005,
2006 and 2007 surveys of the Horizon Research Consultancy Group.
Jump up ^ Kuhn (2011), p. note 11.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Yu Tao, University of Oxford. A Solo, a Duet, or an Ensemble?
Analysing the Recent Development of Religious Communities in Contemporary Rural
China. ECRAN - Europe-China Research and Advice Network. University of
Nottingham, 2012.
Jump up ^ Katharina Wenzel-Teuber, David Strait. Peoples Republic of China:
Religions and Churches Statistical Overview 2011. On: Religions & Christianity in
Today's China, Vol. II, 2012, No. 3, pp. 29-54, ISSN 2192-9289.
Jump up ^ 2010 Chinese Spiritual Life Survey conducted by the Purdue University's
Center on Religion and Chinese Society. Statistics published in: Katharina WenzelTeuber, David Strait. Peoples Republic of China: Religions and Churches Statistical
Overview 2011. On: Religions & Christianity in Today's China, Vol. II, 2012, No. 3, pp.
29-54, ISSN 2192-9289.
Jump up ^ Chinese Family Panel Studies's survey of 2012. Published on: The World
Religious Cultures issue 2014: CFPS2012
.
Jump up ^ Chinese Family Panel Studies's survey of 2012. Published on: The World
Religious Cultures issue 2014: CFPS2012
. p. 12

^ Jump up to: a b c d Chinese Family Panel Studies's survey of 2012. Published on:
The World Religious Cultures issue 2014:
CFPS2012. p. 13
Jump up ^ Chinese Family Panel Studies's survey of 2012. Published on: The World
Religious Cultures issue 2014: CFPS2012
. p. 13, reporting the results of the Renmin University's Chinese General Social
Survey (CGSS) for the years 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011.
Jump up ^ Yang & Hu (2012), p. 514.
Jump up ^ Fan, Chen 2013. p. 8. Citing: Dean, Kenneth. Local Ritual Traditions of
Southeast China: A Challenge to Definitions of Religion and Theories of Ritual. In
China: Methodology, Theories, and Findings, eds. Fenggang Yang and Graeme Lang,
133-165, Leiden: Brill, 2011. p. 134
Jump up ^ Management change in the situation of mainland
folk religion. Phoenix Weekly, July 2014, n. 500. Pu Shi Institute for Social Science:
full text of the article.
Jump up ^ "The Global Religious Landscape" (PDF). Pew Research Center. December
2012. p. 46.
Jump up ^ According to Johnstone (1993), 59% of those in China are nonreligious.
Quote: Johnstone, Patrick. Operation World. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing
House, 1993. From: Zuckerman, Phil. Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns,
chapter in: The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin,
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Jump up ^ Adherents.com - Top 20 Countries With Largest Numbers of Atheists /
Agnostics (Zuckerman, 2005). From: Zuckerman, Phil. Atheism: Contemporary Rates
and Patterns, chapter in: The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael
Martin, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Jump up ^ Win-Gallup International: Global Index of Religion and Atheism 2012.
Jump up ^ Chinese Family Panel Studies's survey of 2012. Published on: The World
Religious Cultures issue 2014: CFPS2012
. pp. 17-18
Jump up ^ Chinese Family Panel Studies's survey of 2012. Published on: The World
Religious Cultures issue 2014: CFPS2012
. pp. 20-21
Jump up ^ Zhe Ji. Non-institutional Religious Re-composition among the Chinese
Youth. On: Social Compass, SAGE Publications (UK and US), 2006, 53 (4), 535-549.

^ Jump up to: a b c d 2010 Chinese Spiritual Life Survey (CSLS) conducted by the
Purdue University's Center on Religion and Chinese Society. Statistics published in:
Katharina Wenzel-Teuber, David Strait. Peoples Republic of China: Religions and
Churches Statistical Overview 2011. On: Religions & Christianity in Today's China,
Vol. II, 2012, No. 3, pp. 29-54, ISSN: 2192-9289.
^ Jump up to: a b Chinese Family Panel Studies's survey of 2012. Published on: The
World Religious Cultures issue 2014:
CFPS2012. pp. 12-13
Jump up ^ Chinese Family Panel Studies's survey of 2012. Published on: The World
Religious Cultures issue 2014: CFPS2012
. p. 17
Jump up ^ Sun Shangyang, Li Ding. Chinese Traditional Culture Study Fever,
Scarcity of Meaning and the Trend of University Students' Attitudes towards
Religions: A Survey in Beijing. On: Journal of Sino-Western Studies, issue 2011, pp.
53-68.
Jump up ^ Fenggang Yang, Joseph Tamney. Confucianism and Spiritual Traditions in
Modern China and Beyond. Brill, 2011. ISBN 9004212396. p. 67.
^ Jump up to: a b c Jing, 1996. p. 17
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Jing, 1996. p. 18
Jump up ^ Jing, 1996. pp. 144-153
Jump up ^ Jing, 1996. pp. 152-153
Jump up ^ Bai Bin, "Daoism in Graves". In Pierre Marsone, John Lagerwey, eds.,
Modern Chinese Religion I: Song-Liao-Jin-Yuan (960-1368 AD), Brill, 2014. ISBN
9004271643. p. 579
^ Jump up to: a b Yao, 2011. p. 39
Jump up ^ Yao, 2011. p. 39: celestial gods [Shangdi and the Tian] [...] far removed
from the normal spheres of human activities, undoubtedly had the more familiar
ancestral spirits equated to them so that they could qualify for worship within the
ancestral temple. (Quoting Blisky, 1975).
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Yao, 2011. p. 40
^ Jump up to: a b c Yao, 2011. p. 41
^ Jump up to: a b Yao, 2011. p. 25
Jump up ^ Chen (2012), pp. 14-15.

Jump up ^ Chen (2012), p. 14.

Jump up ^ Yao, 2011. p. 28
Jump up ^ Clart, 2014. pp. 394-395. Quote: The term "religion" (zongjiao) as
employed by most PRC academics implies a socio-cultural structure with a high
degree of institutional differentiation, clearly stated beliefs, a clergy, and sacred
texts. By contrast, most Western Religious Studies scholars tend to employ
minimalist definitions of religion along the line of Melford Spiros "institution
consisting of culturally patterned interaction with culturally postulated superhuman
beings."
Jump up ^ Shahar, Weller. 1996. p. 1
^ Jump up to: a b Clart, 2014. pp. 393-409
Jump up ^ Graeme Lang, Selina Ching Chan, Lars Ragvald. Folk Temples and the
Chinese Religious Economy. Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, 2005,
Volume 1, Article 4.
Jump up ^ Yang (2007), p. 226.
Jump up ^ Yang (2007), pp. 226-230.
Jump up ^ Law (2005), p. 90.
Jump up ^ Yang (2007), p. 223.
Jump up ^ Didier, 2009. Represented in vol. III, discussed throughout vols. I, II, and
III.
Jump up ^ Didier, 2009. Vol. III, p. 1
^ Jump up to: a b c d Didier, 2009. Vol. III, pp. 3-6
Jump up ^ Didier, 2009. Vol. II, p. 100
Jump up ^ Didier, 2009. Vol. III, p. 7
Jump up ^ Didier, 2009. Vol. III, p. 256
Jump up ^ Didier, 2009. Vol. III, p. 261
Jump up ^ Zhou, 2005. passim
Jump up ^ Adler (2011), pp. 4-5.
Jump up ^ Mark Lewis. Writing and Authority in Early China. SUNY Press, 1999. ISBN
0791441148. pp. 205-206.

Jump up ^ Didier, 2009. Vol. III, p. 268

Jump up ^ Joseph Needham. Science and Civilisation in China. Vol. III. p. 23
^ Jump up to: a b Lu, Gong. 2014. p. 71
Jump up ^ John Lagerwey, Marc Kalinowski. Early Chinese Religion I: Shang Through
Han (1250 BC-220 AD). Two volumes. Brill, 2008. ISBN 9004168354. p. 240
Jump up ^ Lu, Gong. 2014. pp. 63-66
Jump up ^ Lu, Gong. 2014. p. 65
Jump up ^ Lu, Gong. 2014. p. 64
Jump up ^ ;;
Jump up ^ ': "".
Jump up ^ Ch'u Chai and Winberg Chai, 1965, The Sacred Books of Confucius and
Other Confucian Classics.
^ Jump up to: a b Adler (2011), p. 13.
Jump up ^ Adler (2011), p. 5.
Jump up ^ Lu, Gong. 2014. p. 63
^ Jump up to: a b Fowler, 2005. pp. 200-201
Jump up ^ Yves Bonnefoy, Wendy Doniger. Asian Mythologies. University of Chicago
Press, 1993. ISBN 0226064565. p. 246: His mother, Fubao, went to take a walk in
the country (ye), and saw great lightning around the Big Dipper. She was aroused,
and she conceived. Twenty-four months later, she delivered Huangdi on the mount
of Shou (longevity) or on the mount of Xuanyuan, after which he was named.
Jump up ^ Teiser (1995), p. 378.
Jump up ^ Fan and Chen, 2013. p. 4.
Jump up ^ J. J. M. de Groot. Religion in China: Universism a Key to the Study of
Taoism and Confucianism. Kessinger Publishing, 2004. ISBN 141794658X
Jump up ^ P. Koslowski. Philosophy Bridging the World Religions. Book 5 in: A
Discourse of the World Religions. Springer, 2003. ISBN 1402006489. p. 110, quote:
J. J. M. de Groot calls "Chinese Universism" the ancient metaphysical view that
serves as the basis of all classical Chinese thought. [...] In Universism, the three
components of integrated universe understood epistemologically, "heaven, earth

and man", and understood ontologically, "Taiji (the great beginning, the highest
ultimate), yin and yang" are formed.
Jump up ^ Littlejohn, 2010. pp. 35-37
Jump up ^ Qingsong Shen, Kwong-loi Shun, 2007. pp. 278-279
^ Jump up to: a b Clart, 2003. pp. 3-5
Jump up ^ Fan, Chen. 2013. p. 5-6
Jump up ^ Fan, Chen. 2013. p. 21
^ Jump up to: a b Fan, Chen. 2013. p. 23
Jump up ^ Teiser (1996).
^ Jump up to: a b Thien Do, 2003, pp. 10-11
Jump up ^ Richard Madsen. The Upsurge of Religion in China. Journal of Democracy,
Volume 21, Number 4. October 2010. pp. 64-65
Jump up ^ Gaenssbauer (2015), p. 28-37.
Jump up ^ Sautman, 1997. pp. 80-81
Jump up ^ Adam Yuet Chau. The Policy of Legitimation and the Revival of Popular
Religion in Shaanbei, North-Central China.Modern China. 31.2, 2005. pp. 236-278
Jump up ^ Zhejiang Online: Zhejiang started yesterday to award registration
certificates to folk religious activities. 2015-04-16
Jump up ^ Jing, 1996. p. 175
Jump up ^ Chau (2005), p. 49.
Jump up ^ Guoguang Wu, Helen Lansdowne. Socialist China, Capitalist China: Social
tension and political adaptation under economic globalization. China Policy Series.
Routledge, 2009. ISBN 0415482267. p. 92
Jump up ^ Wolf, Arthur P. "Gods, Ghosts, and Ancestors." Religion and Ritual in
Chinese Society. Ed. Arthur O. Wolf. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974. pg.
131-182.
Jump up ^ Yiyi Lu. Non-Governmental Organisations in China. China Policy Series.
Routledge, 2008. ISBN 0415458587. p. 21
^ Jump up to: a b c Palmer, 2011. p. 19
Jump up ^ Palmer, 2011. pp. 19-20

Jump up ^ Palmer, 2011. p. 17

Jump up ^ Clart (2014), p. 395.
Jump up ^ Palmer, 2011. p. 12
Jump up ^ Palmer, 2011. p. 23
Jump up ^ Palmer, 2011. p. 29
Jump up ^ Palmer, 2011. pp. 4-6
Jump up ^ Palmer, 2011. p. 11
Jump up ^ Palmer, 2011. pp. 12-13
^ Jump up to: a b c Palmer, 2011. p. 13
^ Jump up to: a b c Raymond Ambrosi. Towards the City! Towards the Country! Old
Martial Art Strengthens Social Cohesion in Chinese Rural Areas. Goethe-Institut
China, 2013.
Jump up ^ Ambrosi, Raymond P. (2015). "Interconnections amongst Folk Religions,
Civil Society and Community Development: Meihua Boxers as Constructors of Social
Trust and the Agrarian Public Sphere". Modern China. Sage Publishing.
Jump up ^ Chen (2012), p. 9.
Jump up ^ Steven Engler, Gregory Price Grieve. Historicizing "Tradition" in the Study
of Religion. Walter de Gruyter, 2005. ISBN 9783110901405. p. 23
Jump up ^ Craig 1998, p. 550.
Jump up ^ Adler (2014), p. 12: [...] Confucianism deconstructs the sacred-profane
dichotomy; it asserts that sacredness is to be found in, not behind or beyond, the
ordinary activities of human life and especially in human relationships. Human
relationships are sacred in Confucianism because they are the expression of our
moral nature (xing ), which has a transcendent anchorage in Heaven (tian ).
Herbert Fingarette captured this essential feature of Confucianism in the title of his
1972 book, Confucius: The Secular as Sacred. To assume a dualistic relationship
between sacred and profane and to use this as a criterion of religion is to beg the
question of whether Confucian can count as a religious tradition. I therefore
conclude that Confucianism is a non-theistic, diffused religious tradition that regards
the secular realm of human relations as sacred. Being non-theistic it is like
Buddhism. As diffused religion it is like Chinese popular religion. In regarding certain
aspects of the mundane world as sacred it is like Tibetan Bn, Japanese Shinto, and
other indigenous religious traditions. All of these points are part of the unique

character of Confucianism and cannot be used a priori to exclude Confucianism

from the general category of religion.
Jump up ^ Adler (2014), p. 10: [...] Confucianism is basically non-theistic. While
Heaven (tian) has some characteristics that overlap the category of deity, it is
primarily an impersonal absolute, like dao and Brahman. "Deity" (theos, deus), on
the other hand connotes something personal (he or she, not it).
Jump up ^ Littlejohn, 2010. pp. 34-36
Jump up ^ Herbert Fingarette, Confucius: The Secular as Sacred (New York: Harper,
1972).
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^ Jump up to: a b c Chen (2012), p. 175.
^ Jump up to: a b Chen (2012), p. 174.
Jump up ^ Fan, Chen. 2015. (a). p. 7
Jump up ^ Billioud, 2010. p. 203
Jump up ^ Billioud, 2010. p. 214
Jump up ^ Billioud, 2010. p. 219
^ Jump up to: a b Fan, Chen. 2015. p. 29
^ Jump up to: a b Fan, Chen. 2015. p. 34
Jump up ^ Billioud (2015), p. 148.
Jump up ^ Billioud (2015), p. 152-156.
Jump up ^ Billioud, 2010. p. 204
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Daoism Handbook. Leiden: Brill. pp. 403-404

^ Jump up to: a b c d e Chan, 2005. p. 93

Jump up ^ Overmyer, 2003. p. 118
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Folklore in Modern China. On: Annals of Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University, issue
1, 2014.
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Last Decade. On: Shaman, vol. 1, nos. 1-2. Ohio State University, 1993, updated in
2006. pp. 104-106
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^ Jump up to: a b Prebish, Charles. Buddhism: A Modern Perspective. p. 192. Penn
State Press, 1975. ISBN 0-271-01195-5.
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History (India and China). pp. 68, 7073, 167168. World Wisdom, Inc, 2005. ISBN 0941532-89-5.
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History (India and China). pp. 166167, 169172. World Wisdom, Inc, 2005. ISBN 0941532-89-5.
Jump up ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich, Heisig, James W. & Knitter, Paul. Zen Buddhism: A
History (India and China). pp. 189190, 268269. World Wisdom, Inc, 2005. ISBN 0941532-89-5.

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Philosophy and Culture. pp. 133, 147. University of Hawaii Press. 1967. ISBN 0-82480075-3.
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in China: Soft power and institutional learning". China Information. 0 (0).
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^ Jump up to: a b c Goossaert, Palmer. 2011. p. 369
Jump up ^ Haicheng Ling, Buddhism in China
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Jump up ^ The Indigenous Religion and Theravada Buddhism in Ban Da Tiu: A Dai
Lue Village in Yunnan, China Reviewed by Anthony R. Walker, Asian Folklore Studies,
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Press of America. ISBN 0819197335.
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Buddist Movement: The Internationalization of a Japanese Religion. Edwin Mellen
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Buddhist Azhali Religion Since the 20th Century". Journal of Dali University.
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^ Jump up to: a b c Olivia Kraef. Of Canons and Commodities: The Cultural
Predicaments of Nuosu-Yi "Bimo Culture". On: Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 43,
2, 145179. 2014. pp. 146-147
^ Jump up to: a b Olivia Kraef. Of Canons and Commodities: The Cultural
Predicaments of Nuosu-Yi "Bimo Culture". On: Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 43,
2, 145179. 2014. p. 148
Jump up ^ Olivia Kraef. Of Canons and Commodities: The Cultural Predicaments of
Nuosu-Yi "Bimo Culture". On: Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 43, 2, 145179.
2014. p. 149
Jump up ^ Olivia Kraef. Of Canons and Commodities: The Cultural Predicaments of
Nuosu-Yi "Bimo Culture". On: Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 43, 2, 145179.
2014. p. 150

Jump up ^ Olivia Kraef. Of Canons and Commodities: The Cultural Predicaments of

Nuosu-Yi "Bimo Culture". On: Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 43, 2, 145179.
2014. p. 158
Jump up ^ Olivia Kraef. Of Canons and Commodities: The Cultural Predicaments of
Nuosu-Yi "Bimo Culture". On: Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 43, 2, 145179.
2014. pp. 158-159
^ Jump up to: a b Olivia Kraef. Of Canons and Commodities: The Cultural
Predicaments of Nuosu-Yi "Bimo Culture". On: Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 43,
2, 145179. 2014. p. 164
^ Jump up to: a b c d Per Kvrne. Bon. In: Joseph Kitagawa, The Religious Traditions
of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture. Routledge, 2013. ISBN 1136875972. pp. 217218
^ Jump up to: a b c Per Kvrne. The Bon Religion of Tibet. Chapter 10 in: Gray
Tuttle, Kurtis R. Schaeffer, The Tibetan History Reader. Columbia University Press,
2013. ISBN 0231513542
Jump up ^ Giuseppe Tucci. Religions of Tibet. Routledge, 2012. ISBN 1136179526. p.
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Tibet in Their Relation to the Teachings of a Central Asian Buddha. Vajra
Publications, 2008. ISBN 9937506115
Jump up ^ Shen-yu Lin. The Tibetan Image of Confucius. On: Revue d'Etudes
Tibetaines, 12: 105-129. 2005.
^ Jump up to: a b Anthony Jackson. Na-khi Religion: An Analytical Appraisal of the
Na-khi Ritual Texts. Walter de Gruyter, 1979. ISBN 3110804115. p. 63
Jump up ^ Anthony Jackson. Na-khi Religion: An Analytical Appraisal of the Na-khi
Ritual Texts. Walter de Gruyter, 1979. ISBN 3110804115. p. 86
^ Jump up to: a b Elliott, Mark C. (2001). The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and
Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China. Religious Studies in Contemporary China
Collection. 1. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804746842.
Jump up ^ Shirokogorov, Serge Mikhalovich (1929). Social organization of the
Northern Tungus. Garland. ISBN 0824096207. p. 204
Jump up ^ Ma, Xisha; Meng, Huiying (2011). Popular Religion and Shamanism.
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^ Jump up to: a b c d Tapp, Nicholas (1989). "Hmong Religion". Asian Folklore

Studies. 48: 5994.
Jump up ^ Michael Stausberg. Religion and Tourism: Crossroads, Destinations and
Encounters. Routledge, 2010. ISBN 0415549329. p. 162, quote: Julie Steward, alias
Sarangerel Odigon (1963-2006), a woman with a Mongolian (Buryat) mother and a
German father, born in the United States, started to practice shamanism (or what
she would refer to as "Tengerism") as an adult; she then moved to Mongolia where
she strived to restore and reconstruct the "ancient and original" religion of the
Mongolians. Among her major moves was the founding of a Mongolian Shamans'
Association (Golomt Tuv) which gave Mongolian shamans a common platform and
brought them into touch with shamans in other parts of the world, with the prospect
of starting a shamanic world organization. Through some books Sarangerel also
spread her Mongolian message to Western audiences. She traveled widely, giving
lectures and holding workshops on Mongolian shamanism. Moreover, she started a
Mongolian shamanic association of America (the Circle of Tengerism).
Jump up ^ John Man. Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Resurrection. Bantam Press,
London, 2004. ISBN 9780553814989. pp. 402-404
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Jump up ^ John Man. Genghis Khan. Bantam, 2005. ISBN 0553814982. p. 23
^ Jump up to: a b Xing Li. Festivals of China's Ethnic Minorities. China
Intercontinental Press, 2006. ISBN 7508509994. pp. 58-59
^ Jump up to: a b c d LaPolla, Randy; Huang, Chenglong (2003). A Grammar of
Qiang: With Annotated Texts and Glossary. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 311017829X..
Chapter 1.3.6 "Religion".
Jump up ^ Wang, Mingke (2002). "Searching for Qiang Culture in the First Half of the
Twentieth Century". Inner Asia. The White Horse Press for the Mongolia and Inner
Asia Studies Unit at the University of Cambridge. 4 (1-2): 134148. See excerpts.
Jump up ^ Alberts, Eli. A History of Daoism and the Yao People of South China.
Cambria Press, 2006. ISBN 1934043141. pp. 1-3
^ Jump up to: a b Litzinger, Ralph A. Other Chinas: The Yao and the Politics of
National Belonging. Duke University Press, 2000. ISBN 0822325497
Jump up ^ Ya-ning Kao, Religious Revival among the Zhuang People in China:
Practising "Superstition" and Standardizing a Zhuang Religion. On: Journal of Current
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(print).

Jump up ^ Ya-ning Kao, Religious Revival among the Zhuang People in China:
Practising "Superstition" and Standardizing a Zhuang Religion. On: Journal of Current
Chinese Affairs, 43, 2, 107144. 2014. ISSN 1868-4874 (online), ISSN 1868-1026
(print). p. 108

^ Jump up to: a b Ya-ning Kao, Religious Revival among the Zhuang People in China:
Practising "Superstition" and Standardizing a Zhuang Religion. On: Journal of Current
Chinese Affairs, 43, 2, 107144. 2014. ISSN 1868-4874 (online), ISSN 1868-1026
(print). p. 116
Jump up ^ Ya-ning Kao, Religious Revival among the Zhuang People in China:
Practising "Superstition" and Standardizing a Zhuang Religion. On: Journal of Current
Chinese Affairs, 43, 2, 107144. 2014. ISSN 1868-4874 (online), ISSN 1868-1026
(print). pp. 116-117
^ Jump up to: a b Ya-ning Kao, Religious Revival among the Zhuang People in China:
Practising "Superstition" and Standardizing a Zhuang Religion Journal of Current
Chinese Affairs, 43, 2, 107144. 2014. ISSN 1868-4874 (online), ISSN 1868-1026
(print). p. 117
Jump up ^ Ya-ning Kao, Religious Revival among the Zhuang People in China:
Practising "Superstition" and Standardizing a Zhuang Religion. On: Journal of Current
Chinese Affairs, 43, 2, 107144. 2014. ISSN 1868-4874 (online), ISSN 1868-1026
(print). p. 107

^ Jump up to: a b Goossaert, Palmer. 2011. p. 349

Jump up ^ Goossaert, Palmer. 2011. p. 348
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inspirierte, spirituell-religise Gruppierungen seit 1978. On: China Analysis, N. 8.
October 2001. Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, Trier University.
Jump up ^ Edward V. Gulick. Peter Parker and the Opening of China. On: Journal of
the American Oriental Society, Vol. 95, No. 3. 1975. pp. 561562
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Jump up ^ Alvyn Austin. China's Millions: The China Inland Mission and Late Qing
Society, 1832-1905. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2007. ISBN 0802829759
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Jump up ^ Overmyer, 2003. p. 182

Jump up ^ Ruokanen, Huang. 2011. p. 171, quote: Since the 1980s, with the
gradual opening of society, folk religion has begun to recover. Especially in the rural
areas, the speed and scale of its development are much faster and larger than is
the case with Buddhism and Christianity [...] in Zhejiang province, where
Christianity is better established than elsewhere, temples of folk religion are usually
twenty or even a hundred times as numerous as Christian church buildings.
Jump up ^ Richard Madsen. The Upsurge of Religion in China. Journal of Democracy,
Volume 21, Number 4. October 2010. p. 66, quote: The encouragement of local folk
religion seems to have slowed the recent growth of evangelical Christianity in the
countryside. The Christian God then becomes one in a pantheon of local gods
among whom the rural population divides its loyalties.
^ Jump up to: a b Overmyer, 2003. p. 185
^ Jump up to: a b Francis Ching-Wah Yip in Miller, 2006. p. 185
Jump up ^ Dui Hua, issue 46, Winter 2012: Uncovering Chinas Korean Christians.
Jump up ^ Joel Carpenter, Kevin R. den Dulk. Christianity in Chinese Public Life:
Religion, Society, and the Rule of Law. Palgrave Pivot, 2014. ISBN 1137427876. pp.
29-31
^ Jump up to: a b Joel Carpenter, Kevin R. den Dulk. Christianity in Chinese Public
Life: Religion, Society, and the Rule of Law. Palgrave Pivot, 2014. ISBN 1137427876.
p. 33
Jump up ^ Joel Carpenter, Kevin R. den Dulk. Christianity in Chinese Public Life:
Religion, Society, and the Rule of Law. Palgrave Pivot, 2014. ISBN 1137427876. p. 37
Jump up ^ Javier C. Hernndez And Crystal Tseaug, "Hong Kong Christians Draw
New Scrutiny From Mainland", New York Times 27 August, 2015
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Northwest China. University of Washington Press, 1997. ISBN 0-295-97644-6. p. 25.
^ Jump up to: a b c Gernet, Jacques. A History of Chinese Civilization. 2. New York:
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American Academy of Political and Social Science. 483.1:145-56
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World. Vol. I, Jewish Diaspora in China by Xu Xin, pp.152163, Ember, Melvin;
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Further reading[edit]
Ch'en, Kenneth K. S. Buddhism in China, a Historical Survey. (Princeton, N.J.,:
Princeton University Press, The Virginia and Richard Stewart Memorial Lectures,
1961, 1964).
Overmyer, Daniel L. Religions of China: The World as a Living System. (New York:
Harper & Row, Religious Traditions of the World, 1986).
Paper, Jordan D. (1995). The Spirits are Drunk: Comparative Approaches to Chinese
Religion. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0791423158.

Wright, Arthur F.. Buddhism in Chinese History. (Stanford, CA: Stanford University
Press, 1959; various reprints and translations).
Yang, CK., Religion in Chinese Society (California U. Press, 1970)
Xinzhong Yao and Yanxia Zhao, Chinese Religion (Continuum, 2010)
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