Chinese folk religion

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Chinese folk religion (traditional Chinese: or ; simplified Chinese: 中国民间宗教 or 中国民间信仰; pinyin: Zhōngguó mínjiān zōngjiào or Zhōngguó mínjiān xìnyăng) or Shenism (pinyin: Shénjiào, 神教),[1][2][3] which is a term of considerable debate, are labels used to describe the collection of ethnic religious traditions which have historically comprised the predominant belief system in China and among Han Chinese ethnic groups up to the present day. Shenism describes Chinese mythology and includes the worship of shens (神, shén; "deities", "spirits", "awarenesses", "consciousnesses", "archetypes") which can be nature deities, Taizu or clan deities, city deities, national deities, cultural heroes and demigods, dragons and ancestors. "Shenism" as a term was first published by A. J. A Elliot in 1955.[4]


Despite being suppressed during the last two centuries of the history of China, from the Taiping Movement to the Cultural Revolution, it is currently experiencing a modern revival in both Mainland China and Taiwan.[8][9] Various forms have received support by the Government of the People's Republic of China, such as Mazuism in Southern China (officially about 160 million Chinese are Mazuists),[10] Huangdi worship,[11][12] Black Dragon worship in Shaanxi,[13][14][15] and Caishen worship.[16]



Chinese folk religion holds aspects of ancestral belief systems such as animism and shamanism,[17][18] which include the veneration of (and communication with) ancestors, and energetic streams such as Qi, but also physical phenomena such as the Sun, the Moon, the Earth, the Heaven, and various stars, as well as communication with animals, such as Auspices from birds. Related practices have been held by the Chinese people for over three thousand years (such as written in Oracle bone scripts), and alongside Buddhism, Taoism, and various other religions for the past two thousand years. Even in ancient China, religion emphasized documentation and was quite bureaucratic in nature.[19]

Rituals, devotional worship, myths sacred reenactment, festivals and various other practices associated with different folk gods and goddesses form an important part of Chinese culture and Chinese spiritual world concepts today. The veneration of secondary gods does not conflict with an individual's chosen religion, but is accepted as a complementary adjunct, particularly to Taoism. Some mythical figures in folk culture have been integrated into Chinese Buddhism, as in the case of Miao Shan. She is generally thought to have influenced the beliefs about the Buddhist bodhisattva Guanyin. This Bodhisattva originally was based upon the Indian counterpart Avalokiteśvara. Androgynous in India, this Bodhisattva over centuries became a female figure in China and Japan. Guanyin is one of the most popular Bodhisattva to which people pray.

There are many public-domain folk religion texts such as Journeys to the Underworld distributed in temples (often without charge) or sold in gods material shops or vegetarian shops. Temples for Shenist worship are different from Taoist temples and Buddhist monasteries, being administered by local managers, associations and worship communities.


Communal ceremony at the Grand Temple of Shennong-Yandi in Suizhou, Hubei.

The Chinese Deities (Gods and goddesses)

There are hundreds of Chinese Deities (local gods and goddesses) as well as demigods. After apotheosis, historical figures noted for their bravery or virtue are also venerated and honored as ancestral "saints", xians, or heightened to the status of shens, deities. Song Dynasty registered them.[20] Deities reflect the Chinese imperial bureaucracy, and exemplify many characteristics of human officials, such as their fallibility.[7] The following list represents some commonly worshipped deities.

Places of worship




Organizational religions

There are also many controversial folk religious movements known as secret religions (zh:中国秘密宗教) with different names.[21][22]

Societal impact

Scholars have studied how Chinese folk religion-inspired society, elastic and polytheistic in spirit, provided the groundwork for the development of dynamic grassroots Chinese-style pre-modern capitalism in Song Dynasty China and modern capitalism in contemporary Taiwan.[23][24][25][26] Chinese folk religion with its ritual economy is also a key in the contemporary economic development in rural Mainland China.[27][28]


With around 400 million adherents Chinese folk religion is one of the major religions in the world, comprising about 6% of world population.[29][30] In China more than 30% of the population adheres to Shenism or Taoism. In Taiwan, Shenism is highly institutionalised under the label and the institutions of "Taoism", which is adhered by 33% of the population.[citation needed]

In Singapore about 8.5% of the total population is Taoist, and 10% of the Chinese Singaporeans identify as Taoists.[31] In Malaysia, 10.6% of Chinese Malaysians are Shenists-Taoists, corresponding to 3% of the whole country population. In Indonesia, Taosu Agung Kusumo, leader of the Majelis Agama Tao Indonesia, claims there are 5 million Taoist followers in the country as of 2009.[32]


Images of Shenist temples, altars, deity depictions, and practices
Paper prayers, candles and offerings on a Taiwanese altar  
A city god statue inside a miao  
Historical depiction of the archaic twin deities Fuxi and Nüwa  
A typical miao altar  
A temple to Guandi in Linyi, Shandong.  
Colossus of god Xuan Wu in Taiwan  
Altar to Guandi in a restaurant of Beijing  
People worshipping the city god of Suzhou inside the City God Temple of Suzhou, Jiangsu  
Clothed statues of Mazu (Goddess of the Seas)  
Altar inside the City God Temple of Shanghai with Taoist priests performing ritual  

See also

Further reading


  1. ^ "Reinventing Chinese Syncretic Religion: Shenism". 2007-02-23. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
  3. ^ "Religious Diversity in Singapore". 2001-09-11. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
  4. ^
  5. ^ Religion. (2011). In Encyclopædia Britannica.
  12. ^ Compatriots across the strait honor their ancestry
  15. ^ "Miraculous response: doing popular religion in contemporary China". Retrieved 2011-11-20.
  17. ^ "Animism". OMF. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
  18. ^ Barend ter Haar. "Shamanism in China: bibliography by Barend ter Haar". Retrieved 2011-11-20.
  19. ^ Poo, Mu-chou. "Roots of a Religion of Personal Welfare." In Search of Personal Welfare. A View of Ancient Chinese Religion. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988. pg. 17-29.
  20. ^ 在线阅读
  21. ^ 吃齋與清代民間宗教的發展機制
  22. ^ 據大陸學者劉子揚對第一歷史檔案館所藏清代檔案進行統計，教派名目多達一0七種;根據中國在2004年出版的《中國會道門史料集成》的統計，中國內地自晚清以來近百年間的會道門(含秘密宗教與秘密會黨)有4,542種，其中會908種；道1601種；門366種；教368種；堂388種；壇295種，社152種；學14種；雜450種。清代的秘密宗教.docx
  23. ^ Council of Foreign Relations. Symposium on Religion and the Future of China: Religion, Civil Society, and Economic Life. June 11, 2008.
  24. ^ Hill Gates - Robert P. Weller. Hegemony of Chinese Folk Ideologies. Sage Publications, 1987.
  25. ^ Gordon Redding. The Spirit of Chinese Capitalism. Walter de Grutyer, 1990.
  26. ^ Hill Gates. China's motor: one thousand years of petty-capitalism. Cornell University, 1996.
  27. ^ Mayfair Mei-hui Yang (Director of Asian Studies, University of Sydney, Australia). Ritual Economy and Rural Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics. University of California Press. Retrieved 31st July 2011.
  28. ^ Pui-lam Law. The Revival of Folk Religion and Gender Relationships in Rural China. Hong Kong Polytechnic University Press. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  29. ^ "Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents". Retrieved 2011-11-20.
  30. ^ "How Now Tao". Retrieved 2011-11-20.
  31. ^ CIA World Factbook - Singapore
  32. ^ "Tao, Taoism Religion". Retrieved 2011-11-20.

External links

Media related to Chinese folk religion at Wikimedia Commons