Chinese popular religion plays a very significant role in Chinese culture. The author explores recent developments in popular religion since the economic reforms in the People's Republic of China. It focuses on the factors underlying the on-going popularity of temple cults, local deities, temple festivals, and the privatization 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.
References
1.
Cohen, Myron (1990) Changing Gods in Medieval China. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press .
2.
Dean, Kenneth (1993) Taoist Ritual and Popular Cults of Southeast China. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press .
3.
Dean, Kenneth (1998) Lord of the Three in One: The Spread of a Cult in Southeast China. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press .
4.
Dean, Kenneth (2003) “Local Community Religion in Contemporary Southeast China”, China Quarterly June.
5.
Fang, Xuejia (ed.) (1997) Meizhou Heyuan Diqu de cunluo wenhua [Village Religion and Culture in Northeastern Guangdong], ed. John Lagerwey. Hong Kong: Traditional Hakka Society Series , Vol. 5.
6.
Gamble, Sidney D. (1954) Ting Hsien: A North China Rural Community. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press .
7.
Gamble, Sidney D. (1963) North China Villages: Social, Political, and Economic Activities Before 1933. Berkeley: University of California Press .
8.
MacInnis, Donald E. (1989) Religion in China Today: Policy and Practice. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis .
9.
Madsen, Richard (1999) China's Catholics: Tragedy and Hope in an Emerging Civil Society. Berkeley: University of California Press .
10.
Overmyer, Daniel (2001) “From `Feudal Superstitions' to `Popular Beliefs': New Directions in Mainland Chinese Studies of Chinese Popular Religion” , Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, 12: 103-126 .
11.
Overmyer, Daniel (2002a) “Comments on the Foundations of Chinese Culture in Late Traditional Times”, in Ethnography in China Today: A Critical Assessment of Methods and Results. Taipei: Yuan-Liam Pub. Co .
12.
Overmyer, Daniel (ed.) (2002b) Ethnography in China Today: A Critical Assessment of Methods and Results. Taipei: Yuan-Liou Pub. Co .
13.
Wang, Ch'iu-kuei (1993) Min-su ch'ü-i ts'ung-shu [Studies in Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folklore]. 80 volumes, Taipei: Shih Ho-cheng Folk Culture Foundation .
14.
Yang, C.K. (1961) Religion in Chinese Society. Berkeley: University of California Press .
15.
Ye, Mingsheng (1996) “Fujiansheng Longyanshi Dongxiaozhen Lushanjiao Guangjitan keyiben” [The Ritual Texts of the Guangji Altar of the Lushan Sect in Dongxiao Town, Longyan Municipality, Fujian], in Wang Ch'iu-kuei (ed.) Zhongguo chuantong keyiben buibian [Collection of Traditional Chinese Ritual Texts]. Taipei: Hsin Wen Feng Publishing Co.
