Chinese folk religion
Chinese folk religion, also known as Chinese popular religion, comprehends a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. Vivienne Wee described it as "an empty bowl, which can variously be filled with the contents of institutionalised religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Chinese syncretic religions".[1] This includes the veneration of shen (spirits) and ancestors.[2] Worship is devoted to deities and immortals, who can be deities of places or natural phenomena, of human behaviour, or founders of family lineages. Stories of these gods are collected into the body of Chinese mythology. By the Song dynasty (960–1279), these practices had been blended with Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist teachings to form the popular religious system which has lasted in many ways until the present day.[3] The present day government of mainland China, like the imperial dynasties, tolerates popular religious organizations if they bolster social stability but suppresses or persecutes those that they fear would undermine it.[4]
Chinese folk religion
中國民間信仰
中国民间信仰
Zhōngguó mínjiān xìnyǎng
Zhōngguó mínjiān xìnyǎng
ㄓㄨㄥ ㄍㄨㄛˊ ㄇㄧㄣˊ ㄐㄧㄢ ㄒㄧㄣˋ ㄧㄤˇ
Chung1-kuo2 min2-chien1 hsin4-yang3
Jhongguó mín-jian sìn-yǎng
Jūng gwok màhn gāan seun yéuhng
Zung1 gwok3 man4 gaan1 seon3 joeng5
After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, governments and modernizing elites condemned "feudal superstition" and opposed or attempted to eradicate traditional religious practices which they believed conflicted with modern values. By the late 20th century, these attitudes began to change both in Taiwan and in mainland China, and many scholars now view folk religion in a positive light.[5] In recent times traditional religion is experiencing a revival in both China and Taiwan. Some forms have received official understanding or recognition as a preservation of traditional culture, such as Mazuism and the Sanyi teaching in Fujian,[6] Huangdi worship,[7] and other forms of local worship, for example the Longwang, Pangu or Caishen worship.[8]
Geomancy, acupuncture, and traditional Chinese medicine reflect this world view, since features of the landscape as well as organs of the body are in correlation with the five powers and yin and yang.[9]
Diversity[edit]
Chinese religions have a variety of sources, local forms, founder backgrounds, and ritual and philosophical traditions. Despite this diversity, there is a common core that can be summarised as four theological, cosmological, and moral concepts:[10] Tian (Chinese: 天; pinyin: tiān; lit. 'Heaven'), the transcendent source of moral meaning; qi (simplified Chinese: 气; traditional Chinese: 氣; pinyin: qì), the breath or energy that animates the universe; jingzu (Chinese: 敬祖; pinyin: jìng zǔ), the veneration of ancestors; and bao ying (Chinese: 報應; pinyin: bàoyìng), moral reciprocity; together with two traditional concepts of fate and meaning:[11] ming yun (Chinese: 命運; pinyin: mìngyùn), the personal destiny or burgeoning; and yuan fen (Chinese: 緣分; pinyin: yuánfèn), "fateful coincidence",[12] good and bad chances and potential relationships.[12]
Yin and yang (Chinese: 陰陽; pinyin: yīnyáng) is the polarity that describes the order of the universe,[13] held in balance by the interaction of principles of "extension" (Chinese: 神; pinyin: shén; lit. 'spirit') and principles of "returning" (Chinese: 鬼; pinyin: guǐ; lit. 'ghost'),[14] with yang ("act") usually preferred over yin ("receptiveness") in common religion.[15] The taijitu is used in folk religion, along with the bagua, to represent the natural forces and power that deities like Zhong Kui wield.[16] Ling (Chinese: 靈; pinyin: líng), "numen" or "sacred", is the "medium" of the two states and the inchoate order of creation.[15]
History[edit]
Imperial China[edit]
By the Han dynasty, the ancient Chinese religion mostly consisted of people organising into shè (Chinese: 社 ["group", "body", local community altars]) who worshipped their godly principle. In many cases the "lord of the she" was the god of the earth, and in others a deified virtuous person (xiān Chinese: 仙, "immortal"). Some cults such as that of Liu Zhang, a king in what is today Shandong, date back to this period.[49]
From the 3rd century on by the Northern Wei, accompanying the spread of Buddhism in China, strong influences from the Indian subcontinent penetrated the ancient Chinese indigenous religion. A cult of Ganesha (Chinese: 象頭神 Xiàngtóushén, "Elephant-Head God") is attested in the year 531.[50] Pollination from Indian religions included processions of carts with images of gods or floats borne on shoulders, with musicians and chanting.[49]