Chinese folk religion

===Overseas Chinese===
{{Main|Chinese folk religion in Southeast Asia}}
[[File:Yokohama Masobyo 2013-05-05.JPG|thumb|[[Temple of Mazu, Yokohama|Temple of Mazu]] in [[Yokohama]], serving the [[Chinese people in Japan|Chinese of Japan]].]]

Most of the [[overseas Chinese]] populations have maintained Chinese folk religions, often adapting to the new environment by developing new cults and incorporating elements of local traditions. In [[Southeast Asia]], Chinese deities are subject to a "re-territorialisation" and maintain their relation to the ethnic associations (i.e. the Hainanese Association or the Fujianese Association, each of them has a patron deity and manages one or more temples of such a deity).<ref name="Tan">Tan, Chee-Beng. ''Tianhou and the Chinese in Diaspora''. Chapter in the ''Routledge Handbook of the Chinese Diaspora''. Routledge, 2013. {{ISBN|1136230963}}. pp. 417–422</ref>

The most important deity among Southeast Asian Chinese is [[Mazu (goddess)|Mazu]], the Queen of Heaven and goddess of the sea. This is related to the fact that most of these Chinese populations are from southeastern provinces of China, where the goddess is very popular.<ref name="Tan"/> Some [[Chinese salvationist religions|folk religious sects]] have spread successfully among Southeast Asian Chinese. They include especially [[De religion|Church of Virtue]] (Deism),<ref>Bernard Formoso. ''De Jiao – A Religious Movement in Contemporary China and Overseas: Purple Qi from the East''. National University of Singapore, 2010. {{ISBN|9789971694920}}</ref><ref>Kazuo Yoshihara. ''[https://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/30233386?uid=3738296&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21103277983863 Dejiao: A Chinese Religion in Southeast Asia]''. In ''Japanese Journal of Religious Studies'', Vol. 15, No. 2/3, ''Folk Religion and Religious Organizations in Asia'' (June–September 1988), Nanzan University. pp. 199–221</ref><ref>Chee Beng Tan. ''[http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/1407 The Development and Distribution of Dejiao Associations in Malaysia and Singapore, A Study on a Religious Organization] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212951/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/1407 |date=3 March 2016 }}''. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Occasional Paper n. 79. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1985. {{ISBN|9789971988142}}</ref> [[Zhenkongdao]]{{sfnb|Goossaert|Palmer|2011|p=108}} and [[Yiguandao]].{{sfnb|Goossaert|Palmer|2011|p=108}}