Chinese folk religion

====Worship of local and national deities====
[[File:Zhangzhou Putou Damiao 20120225-2.jpg|thumb|{{lang-zh|浦頭大廟}} ''Pǔtóu dàmiào'', the "First Great Temple by the Riverside", in [[Zhangzhou]], [[Fujian]].]]
Chinese religion in its communal expression involves the worship of gods that are the generative power and tutelary spirit (''[[genius loci]]'') of a locality or a certain aspect of nature (for example [[water gods]], [[river gods]], [[fire gods]], [[mountain gods]]), or of gods that are common ancestors of a village, a larger identity, or the Chinese nation ([[Shennong]], [[Yellow Emperor|Huangdi]], [[Pangu]]).

The social structure of this religion is the ''shénshè'' {{lang-zh|神社}} (literally "society of a god"), synonymous with ''shehui'' {{lang-zh|社會}}, in which ''shè'' {{lang-zh|社}} originally meant the altar of a community's earth god,{{sfnb|Overmyer|2009|p=xii}} while {{lang-zh|會}} ''huì'' means "association", "assembly", "church" or "gathering". This type of religious trusts can be dedicated to a god which is bound to a single village or temple or to a god which has a wider following, in multiple villages, provinces or even a national importance. [[Mao Zedong]] distinguished "god associations", "village communities" and "temple associations" in his analysis of religious trusts.<ref name="Mao-hui">{{cite book | last1 = Mao | first1 = Zedong | last2 = Reynolds Schram | first2 = Stuart | last3 = Hodes | first3 = Nancy Jane | year = 1992 | title = Mao's Road to Power: From the Jinggangshan to the establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927 – December 1930 | publisher = M. E. Sharpe | isbn = 978-1563244391 }} p. 353-354</ref> In his words: "every kind and type of god [''shen''] can have an association [''hui'']", for example the Zhaogong Association, the Guanyin Association, the Guangong Association, the Dashen Association, the Bogong Association, the Wenchang Association, and the like.<ref name="Mao-hui"/> Within the category of ''hui'' Mao also distinguished the sacrifice associations (''jiàohuì'' {{lang-zh|醮會}}) which make sacrifices in honour of gods.<ref name="Mao-hui"/>

These societies organise gatherings and festivals (''[[miaohui]]'' {{lang-zh|廟會}}) participated by members of the whole village or larger community on the occasions of what are believed to be the birthdays of the gods or other events,{{sfnp|Fan|Chen|2013|p=8}} or to seek protection from droughts, epidemics, and other disasters.{{sfnp|Fan|Chen|2013|p=8}} Such festivals invoke the power of the gods for practical goals to "summon blessings and drive away harm".{{sfnp|Fan|Chen|2013|p=8}} Special devotional currents within this framework can be identified by specific names such as [[Mazuism]] ({{lang-zh|媽祖教}} ''Māzǔjiào''),<ref>Fujian Government's website: [http://www.stats-fj.gov.cn/tongjinianjian/dz07/html/0100e.htm Fujian's General Information]. {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20140107052910/http://www.stats-fj.gov.cn/tongjinianjian/dz07/html/0100e.htm |date=7 January 2014 }}. Quote: "''At present, major religions practiced in Fujian include Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism. In addition, Fujian has its folk belief with deeply local characteristic, such as Mazuism, the belief in Mazu, (which) is very influential''".</ref> [[Wang Ye worship]], or the cult of the Silkworm Mother.<ref>Fan Lizhu. ''The Cult of the Silkworm Mother as a Core of a Local Community Religion in a North China Village: Field Study in Zhiwuying, Baoding, Hebei''. The China Quarterly No. 174 (Jun. 2003), 360.</ref>

This type of religion is prevalent in north China, where lineage religion is absent, private, or historically present only within families of southern origin, and patrilineal ties are based on [[agnatic seniority|seniority]],{{sfnb|Chau|2005a|p=50|ps=. Discussing folk religion in [[Shanbei]]: "There were very few ancestral halls in the past in Shaanbei and none have been revived in the reform era, although there are isolated instances of the rewriting of lineage genealogies. Shaanbei people have never had domestic ancestral altars (except perhaps a few gentry families who might have brought this tradition from the South), even though in the past, as was common in North China, they kept collective ancestral tablets (''shenzhu'') or large cloth scrolls with drawings of ancestral tablets that they used during special occasions such as during the Lunar New Year's ancestral worship ceremony. There are visits to the graves of the immediate ancestors a few times a year on prescribed occasions such as the Cold Food (''hanshi'') / Clear and Bright (''qingming'') (Third Month Ninth) but Shaanbei people do not believe that their ancestors' souls are active forces capable of protecting, benefiting or troubling the living."}}<ref name=Wu20 /> and villages are composed of people with different surnames. In this context, the deity societies or temple societies function as poles of the civil organism.<ref name="Overmyer, 2009. pp. 12-13">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."</ref> Often deity societies incorporate entire villages; this is the reason why in north China there can be found many villages which are named after deities and their temples, for example ''Léishénmiào'' village ({{lang-zh|雷神廟}} "[Village of the] Temple of the Thunder God")  or ''Mǎshénmiàocūn'' ({{lang-zh|馬神廟村}} "Village of the Temple of the Horse God").