Religion and Religious Practices in Rural China

Religion and Religious Practices in Rural China
Author: Mu Peng
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2019-11-13
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000727068

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This book explores how, unlike in the West, the daily religious life of most Chinese people spreads without institutional propagation. Based upon more than a decade of field research in rural China, the book demonstrates the decisive role of rites of passage and yearly festival rituals held in every household in shaping people’s religious dispositions. It focuses on the family, the unit most central to Chinese culture and society, and reveals the repertoire embodied in daily life in a world envisioned as comprising both the “yin” world of ancestors, spirits, and ghosts, and the “yang” world of the living. It discusses especially the concept of bai, which refers to both concrete bodily movements that express respect and awe, such as bowing, kneeling, or holding up ritual offerings, and to people’s religious inclinations and dispositions, which indicate that they are aware of a spiritual realm that is separate from yet close to the world of the living. Overall, the book shows that the daily practices of religion are not a separate sphere, but rather belief and ritual integrated into a way of dwelling in a world envisaged as consisting of both the “yin” and the “yang” worlds that regularly communicate with each other.

Chinese Religious Life

Chinese Religious Life
Author: David A. Palmer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2011-09-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0199731381

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Offering an introduction to religion in contemporary China, the essays in this volume consider many diverse themes including religion in urban, rural and ethnic minority settings and the historical, sociological, economic and political aspects of religion on the country as a whole.

Local Religion in North China in the Twentieth Century

Local Religion in North China in the Twentieth Century
Author: Daniel Overmyer
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2009-09-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9047429362

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This book is a comprehensive survey of the structure, organization and institutionalization of local community religious traditions in north China villages in the twentieth century. These traditions have their own forms of leaders, deities and beliefs. Despite much local variation one everywhere finds similar temples, images, offerings and temple festivals, all supported by practical concerns for divine aid to deal with the problems of everyday life. These local traditions are a structure in the history of Chinese religions; they have a clear sense of their own integrity and rules, handed down by their ancestors. There are Daoist, Buddhist and government influences on these traditions, but they must be adapted to the needs of local communities. It is the villagers who build temples and organize festivals, in which all members of the community are expected to participate and contribute. With chapters on such topics as historical origins and development, leadership and organization, temple festivals, temples and deities, and beliefs and values.

Handbook on Religion in China

Handbook on Religion in China
Author: Stephan Feuchtwang
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 488
Release: 2020-02-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1786437961

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Informative and eye-opening, the Handbook on Religion in China provides a uniquely broad insight into the contemporary Chinese variations of Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. In turn, China's own religions and transmissions of rites and systems of divination have spread beyond China, a progression that is explored in detail across 19 chapters, written by leading experts in the field.

Religion in China Today

Religion in China Today
Author: Daniel L. Overmyer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2003-07-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780521538237

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Table of contents

Risk of Health, Social Security and Villagers' Choice of Religious Beliefs in Rural China

Risk of Health, Social Security and Villagers' Choice of Religious Beliefs in Rural China
Author: Jiang Jinqi
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011
Genre:
ISBN:

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After the reform and opening, “religious belief fevers” can be seen in many regions of rural China. Using a rural household dataset from Song County in He Nan Province, this research, by a Logit regression model, has analyzed the key factors that affect the religion choices of the villagers, and has found that age, gender, political stand, risk of health and individual social security level have important interpretation on the choices. On this basis, focuses of researches paid attentions to the internal logic of “religious belief due to sickness” of the villagers, and pointed out that due to governments long period backing out of the basic public service resulting in the severe insufficiency of public service are already causing an notable increase of risks of health faced by villagers, this has largely boosted the “revival” of religious belief in the villages.

Contemporary Religions in China

Contemporary Religions in China
Author: Shawn Arthur
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2019-01-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 042981254X

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Folk and popular religion is a very significant part of Chinese religious life, especially in rural areas. Contemporary Religions in China focuses on the religious activities of the lay people of contemporary China and their ideas of what it means to be "religious" and to practice "religion". Throughout, the discussion is illustrated with case studies, textboxes, images, thought questions, and further reading, which help to capture what religion is like, how and why it is practiced, and what ‘religion’ means for everyday people across China in the twenty-first century. Contemporary Religions in China is an ideal introduction to religion in China for undergraduate students of religion, Chinese studies, and anthropology.

Miraculous Response

Miraculous Response
Author: Adam Yuet Chau
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2008-07-21
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0804767653

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This book-length ethnography of the revival of a popular religious temple in contemporary rural China examines the organizational and cultural logics that inform the staging of popular religious activities. It also explores the politics of the religious revival, detailing the relationships of village-level local activists and local state agents wtih temple associations and temple bosses. Shedding light on shifting state-society relationships in the reform era, this book is of interest to scholars and students in Asian Studies, the social sciences, and religious and ritual studies.

Materializing Magic Power

Materializing Magic Power
Author: Wei-Ping Lin
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2020-10-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1684170818

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Materializing Magic Power paints a broad picture of the dynamics of popular religion in Taiwan. The first book to explore contemporary Chinese popular religion from its cultural, social, and material perspectives, it analyzes these aspects of religious practice in a unified framework and traces their transformation as adherents move from villages to cities. In this groundbreaking study, Wei-Ping Lin offers a fresh perspective on the divine power of Chinese deities as revealed in two important material forms—god statues and spirit mediums. By examining the significance of these religious manifestations, Lin identifies personification and localization as the crucial cultural mechanisms that bestow efficacy on deity statues and spirit mediums. She further traces the social consequences of materialization and demonstrates how the different natures of materials mediate distinct kinds of divine power. The first part of the book provides a detailed account of popular religion in villages. This is followed by a discussion of how rural migrant workers cope with challenges in urban environments by inviting branch statues of village deities to the city, establishing an urban shrine, and selecting a new spirit medium. These practices show how traditional village religion is being reconfigured in cities today.

Religion in Contemporary China

Religion in Contemporary China
Author: Kennith Rayne
Publisher: Socialy Press
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2017-06
Genre:
ISBN: 9781681177663

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In the 1970s it was commonly asserted that Chinese religion, at least as it had existed during Qing dynasty times, had ceased to existal together. But something rather curious occurred between the 1970s to the late 1990s and the present. Chinais home to over 20million Muslims, and the number of mosques, including women only mosques, has been rapidly growing. Chinais also predicted to become the worlds largest Christian nation with in ten years. Tibetan Buddhism, once a minor religion, now a day attracts a large number of followers among the wealthy and educated Chinese middle class. Periodically there is another crack down on religious activity, but it would certainly appear that religion in China today, which is clearly derivative of traditional Chinese religion, with certain modern additions, has come back within creasing force. For the most part, nowadays the Chinese people have relative autonomy to practice any of the officially approved religions, as long as that does not pose a challenge to the established social order or the political status quo. An increasing number of people are availing themselves to the varied opportunities for religious engagement and expression. On the whole, there is a discernible trend towards greater religious participation, although China still comes across as being much more secular when compared to other countries with high levels of religious belief and affiliation, such as the US or India. On the other hand, there is probably more religious participation in China than in much of Europe. Religion in Contemporary China: Revitalization and Innovation provides wide-ranging studies of contemporary religious practices in China. It examines the different processes and me czarisms of religious revivals and innovations, and, more broadly, relates the Chinese example of religious revitalization to larger issues of social and cultural continuity and change. Along with Chinas astonishing economic grow thin recent years, Chinese religions have enjoyed a remarkable renaissance. Buddhist, Daoist, and popular religious temples have flourished. It focuses on the fact or sunderly ingtheon-going popularity of templecults, local deities, temple festivals, and the privatisation of popular beliefs -- which are all deeply rooted in Chinese rural life. In addition, it tries to offer some new perspectives on the study of urban religion in contemporary China.