Chinese folk religion

==Terminology==
[[File:Dongmen City God Temple, 2014-10-07 17.JPG|thumb|Temple of the City God of Dongmen, in [[Xiangshan County, Zhejiang|Xiangshan]], [[Ningbo]], [[Zhejiang]].]]
[[file:浞景寺_01.jpg|thumb|A sign reading "This is a place of folk belief. No religious donation or religious activities are allowed." Taken in a Chinese folk temple in [[weifang|Weifang City]], Shandong Province]]
The Chinese language historically has not had a concept or overarching name for "religion". In English, the terms "popular religion" or  "folk religion" have long been used to mean local religious life. In Chinese academic literature and common usage "folk religion" ({{lang-zh|t=民間宗教|p=mínjiān zōngjiào}}) refers to specific [[Chinese salvationist religions|organised folk religious sects]].<ref>Clart, 2014. p. 393. Quote: "The problem started when the Taiwanese translator of my paper chose to render "popular religion" literally as ''minjian zongjiao'' {{lang-zh|t=民間宗教|p=mínjiān zōngjiào}}. The immediate association this term caused in the minds of many Taiwanese and practically all mainland Chinese participants in the conference was of popular sects (''minjian jiaopai'' {{lang-zh|t=民間教派|p=mínjiān jiàopài}}), rather than the local and communal religious life that was the main focus of my paper."</ref>

Contemporary academic study of traditional cults and the creation of a government agency that gave legal status to this religion {{sfnb|Clart|2014|pp=399–401}} have created proposals to formalise names and deal more clearly with folk religious sects and help conceptualise research and administration.{{sfnb|Clart|2014|p=402}} The terms that have been proposed include "Chinese native religion" or "Chinese indigenous religion" ({{lang-zh|t=民俗宗教|p=mínsú zōngjiào}}), "Chinese ethnic religion" ({{lang-zh|t=民族宗教|p=mínzú zōngjiào}}),{{sfnb|Clart|2014|pp=402-406}} or "Chinese religion" ({{lang-zh|t=中華教|p=zhōnghuájiào}}) viewed as comparable to the usage of the term "[[Hinduism]]" for Indian religion.{{sfnb|Clart|2014|p=409}} In [[Malaysia]], reports the scholar Tan Chee-Beng, Chinese do not have a definite term for their traditional religion, which is not surprising because "the religion is diffused into various aspects of Chinese culture". They refer to their religion as ''bai fo'' or ''bai shen'', which prompted Alan J. A. Elliott to suggest the term "''shenism''" ({{lang-zh|t=神教|p=shénjiào}}).  Tan however, comments that is not the way the Chinese refer to their religion, which in any case includes worship of ancestors, not ''shen'', and suggests it is logical to use "Chinese Religion".{{sfnb|Tan|1983|p=219}} "Shenxianism" ({{lang-zh|t=神仙教|p=shénxiān jiào}}, literally, "religion of [[shen (Chinese religion)|deities]] and [[xian (Taoism)|immortals]]"),{{sfnb|Shi|2008}} is a term partly inspired by Elliott's neologism, "Shenism".{{sfnb|Clart|2014|p=409, note 35}}

In the late [[Qing dynasty]] scholars Yao Wendong and Chen Jialin used the term ''shenjiao'' not referring to [[Shinto]] as a definite religious system, but to local ''[[kami|shin]]'' beliefs in Japan.<ref>Douglas Howland. ''Borders of Chinese Civilization: Geography and History at Empire's End''. Duke University Press, 1996. {{ISBN|0822382032}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=lH6i9OC4F5sC&q=Shinto+Wendong p. 179] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231015014203/https://books.google.com/books?id=lH6i9OC4F5sC&q=Shinto+Wendong |date=15 October 2023 }}</ref> Other terms are "folk cults" ({{lang-zh|t=民間崇拜|p=mínjiān chóngbài}}), "spontaneous religion" ({{lang-zh|t=自發宗教|p=zìfā zōngjiào}}), "lived (or living) religion" ({{lang-zh|t=生活宗教|p=shēnghuó zōngjiào}}), "local religion" ({{lang-zh|t=地方宗教|p=dìfāng zōngjiào}}), and "diffused religion" ({{lang-zh|t=分散性宗教|p=fēnsàn xìng zōngjiào}}).{{sfnb|Shi|2008|pp=158-159}} "Folk beliefs" ({{lang-zh|t=民間信仰|p=mínjiān xìnyǎng}}),{{sfnb|Clart|2014|p=397}} is a seldom used term taken by scholars in colonial Taiwan from Japanese during [[Taiwan under Japanese rule|Japan's occupation]] (1895–1945). It was used between the 1990s and the early 21st century among mainland Chinese scholars.{{sfnb|Wang|2011|p=3}}

"Shendao" ({{lang-zh|t=神道|p=shéndào|l=the Way of the Gods}}) is a term already used in the ''[[Yijing]]'' referring to the divine order of nature.<ref>''Commentary on Judgment'' about ''Yijing'' 20, ''Guan'' ("Viewing"): "Viewing the Way of the Gods (''Shendao''), one finds that the four seasons never deviate, and so the sage establishes his teachings on the basis of this Way, and all under Heaven submit to him".</ref> Around the time of the spread of [[Buddhism]] in the [[Han dynasty|Han period]] (206&nbsp;BCE&nbsp;– 220&nbsp;CE), it was used to distinguish the indigenous ancient religion from the imported religion. [[Ge Hong]] used it in his ''[[Baopuzi]]'' as a synonym for [[Taoism]].<ref>Herman Ooms. ''Imperial Politics and Symbolics in Ancient Japan: The Tenmu Dynasty, 650–800''. University of Hawaii Press, 2009. {{ISBN|0824832353}}. p. 166</ref> The term was subsequently adopted in [[Japan]] in the 6th century as ''Shindo'', later ''Shinto'', with the same purpose of identification of the Japanese indigenous religion.<ref>Brian Bocking. ''A Popular Dictionary of Shinto''. Routledge, 2005. ASIN: B00ID5TQZY p. 129</ref><ref>Stuart D. B. Picken. ''Essentials of Shinto: An Analytical Guide to Principal Teachings''. Resources in Asian Philosophy and Religion. Greenwood, 1994. {{ISBN|0313264317}} p. xxi</ref> In the 14th century, the [[Hongwu Emperor]] (Taizu of the [[Ming dynasty]], 1328–1398) used the term "Shendao" clearly identifying the indigenous cults, which he strengthened and systematised.<ref>John W. Dardess. ''Ming China, 1368–1644: A Concise History of a Resilient Empire''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2012. {{ISBN|1442204915}}. p. 26</ref>

"Chinese Universism", not in the sense of "[[universalism]]", that is a system of universal application, that is [[Tian]] in Chinese thought, is a coinage of [[Jan Jakob Maria de Groot]] that refers to the [[Chinese philosophy|metaphysical]] perspective that lies behind the Chinese religious tradition. De Groot calls Chinese Universism "the ancient metaphysical view that serves as the basis of all classical Chinese thought.&nbsp;... In Universism, the three components of integrated universe—understood epistemologically, 'heaven, earth and man', and understood ontologically, '[[Taiji (philosophy)|Taiji]] (the great beginning, the highest ultimate), yin and yang'—are formed".<ref>J. J. M. de Groot. ''Religion in China: Universism a Key to the Study of Taoism and Confucianism''. 1912.</ref>

In 1931 [[Hu Shih]] argued that "Two great religions have played tremendously important roles throughout Chinese history. One is Buddhism which came to China probably before the Christian era but which began to exert nation-wide influence only after the third century A.D. The other great religion has had no generic name, but I propose to call it Siniticism. It is the native ancient religion of the [[Han Chinese]] people: it dates back to time immemorial, over 10,000 years old, and includes all such later phases of its development as Moism, Confucianism (as a state religion), and all the various stages of the Taoist religion."<ref>Shi Hu, [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/4203370 "Religion and Philosophy in Chinese History"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215111707/https://search.worldcat.org/title/4203370 |date=15 February 2024 }} (Shanghai: China Institute of Pacific Relations, 1931), reprinted in {{cite book | last = Hu | first = Shih | author-link = Hu Shih | year = 2013 | title = English Writings of Hu Shih: Chinese Philosophy and Intellectual History | volume = 2| series = China Academic Library | publisher = Springer Science & Business Media | isbn = 978-3642311819 }}</ref>

===Attributes===
Contemporary Chinese scholars have identified what they find to be the essential features of the ancient (or indigenous—ethnic) religion of China. According to Chen Xiaoyi ({{lang-zh|t=陳曉毅}}) local [[indigenous religion]] is the crucial factor for a harmonious "religious ecology" ({{lang-zh|t=宗教生態}}), that is the balance of forces in a given community.{{sfnb|Clart|2014|p=405}} Professor Han Bingfang ({{lang-zh|t=韓秉芳}}) has called for a [[rectification of names|rectification of distorted names]] ({{lang-zh|t=正名}}). Distorted names are "superstitious activities" ({{lang-zh|t=迷信活動|p=míxìn huódòng}}) or "feudal superstition" ({{lang-zh|t=封建迷信|p=fēngjiàn míxìn}}), that were derogatorily applied to the indigenous religion by leftist policies. Christian missionaries also used the propaganda label "feudal superstition" in order to undermine their religious competitor.{{sfnb|Clart|2014|p=408}} Han calls for the acknowledgment of the ancient Chinese religion for what it really is, the "core and soul of popular culture" ({{lang-zh|俗文化的核心與靈魂|p=sú wénhuà de héxīn yǔ línghún}}).{{sfnb|Clart|2014|p=407}}

According to Chen Jinguo ({{lang-zh|t=陳進國}}), the ancient Chinese religion is a core element of Chinese cultural and religious self-awareness ({{lang-zh|t=文化自覺, 信仰自覺|p=wénhuà zìjué, xìnyǎng zìjué}}).{{sfnb|Clart|2014|p=408}} He has proposed a theoretical definition of Chinese indigenous religion in a trinity ({{lang-zh|t=三位一體|p=sānwèiyītǐ}}), apparently inspired to [[Tang Junyi]]'s thought:{{sfnb|Clart|2014|pp=408-409}}
* substance ({{lang-zh|t=體|p=tǐ}}): religiousness ({{lang-zh|t=宗教性|p=zōngjiào xìng}});
* function ({{lang-zh|t=用|p=yòng}}): folkloricity ({{lang-zh|t=民俗性|p=mínsú xìng}});
* quality ({{lang-zh|t=相|p=xiàng}}): Chineseness ({{lang-zh|t=中華性|p=zhōnghuá xìng}}).