Chinese folk religion

=== 19th–20th century ===
[[File:Quanshan Tudi Gong Gong - statues - DSCF8317.JPG|thumb|Zitong altar in a temple of [[Quanzhou]], [[Fujian]]. To his left there is a statue of [[Kuixing]].]]
The ancient Chinese religion was subject to persecution in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many ancient temples were destroyed during the [[Taiping Rebellion]] and the [[Boxer Rebellion]] in the late 1800s.{{sfnp|Fan|Chen|2013|p=9}} After the [[Xinhai Revolution]] of 1911 "most temples were turned to other uses or were destroyed, with a few changed into schools".{{sfnb|Overmyer|2009|p=43}} During the [[Second Sino-Japanese War|Japanese invasion of China between 1937 and 1945]] many temples were used as barracks by soldiers and destroyed in warfare.{{sfnp|Fan|Chen|2013|p=9}}{{sfnb|Overmyer|2009|p=45}}

In the 19th century in the [[Guangdong]] region, [[monotheism]], likely of a [[Henotheism|henotheistic]] and/or [[Monolatry|monolatrous]] character in at least some contexts and locations, was well-known and popular in Chinese folk religion.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chang |first=Iris |title=The Chinese in America: A Narrative History |publisher=[[Viking Press]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-670-03123-8 |location=New York |page=29 |author-link=Iris Chang}}</ref>

In the past, popular cults were regulated by imperial government policies, promoting certain deities while suppressing others.{{sfnb|Overmyer|2009|p=46}} In the 20th century, with the decline of the Qing dynasty, increasing urbanisation and Western influence, the issue for the new intellectuals who looked to the West was no longer controlling unauthorised worship of unregistered gods but the ancient Chinese religion itself, which they perceived as an issue halting modernisation.{{sfnb|Overmyer|2009|p=50}}

By 1899, 400 syncretic temples that combined folk religion elements and [[Deity|gods]], as well as Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucianist gods existed on the [[West Coast of the United States|American West Coast]] alone.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Queen II |first1=Edward L. |title=The Encyclopedia of American Religious History |last2=Prothero |first2=Stephen R. |last3=Shattuck Jr. |first3=Gardiner H. |publisher=Proseworks |year=1996 |isbn=0-8160-3545-8 |volume=1 |location=New York |pages=85 |author-link2=Stephen Prothero}}</ref>

In 1904, a [[New Policies|reform policy]] of the late [[Qing dynasty]] provided that schools would be built through the confiscation of temple property.{{sfnb|Overmyer|2009|p=50}} "Anti-superstition" campaigns followed. The [[Kuomintang|Nationalist]] government of the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] intensified the suppression of the ancient Chinese religion with the 1928 "Standards for retaining or abolishing gods and shrines"; the policy attempted to abolish the cults of all gods with the exception of ancient great human heroes and sages such as the [[Yellow Emperor]], [[Yu the Great]], [[Guan Yu]], [[Sun Tzu]], [[Mazu]], [[Xuanzang]], [[Kūkai]], [[Buddha]], [[Budai]], [[Bodhidharma]], [[Lao Tzu]], and [[Confucius]].{{sfnb|Overmyer|2009|p=51}}

These policies were the background for those implemented by [[Communist Party of China|Communist Party]] after winning the [[Chinese Civil War]] and taking power in 1949.{{sfnb|Overmyer|2009|p=51}} The [[Cultural Revolution]], between 1966 and 1976 of the [[history of the People's Republic of China (1949–76)|Chairman Mao period]] in the PRC, was the most serious and last systematic effort to destroy the ancient Chinese religion, while in [[Taiwan]] the ancient Chinese religion was very well-preserved but controlled by [[President of the Republic of China|Republic of China (Taiwan) president]] [[Chiang Kai-Shek]] during his [[Chinese Cultural Renaissance]] to counter the Cultural Revolution.{{sfnp|Fan|Chen|2013|p=9}}{{sfnb|Overmyer|2009|p=51}}
[[File:2021年4月5日 海峡两岸同步举行祭轩辕黄帝典礼.webm|Chinese government holds ceremony in honor of the [[Yellow Emperor]] on the 2021 [[Qingming Festival]], reported by [[China News Service|CNS]].|thumb]]
After 1978 the ancient Chinese religion started to rapidly revive in China,{{sfnp|Fan|Chen|2013|p=1}}{{sfnp|Fan|Chen|2013|p=8}} with millions of temples being rebuilt or built from scratch.{{sfnp|Fan|Chen|2013|p=8}} Since the 1980s the central government moved to a policy of benign neglect or ''[[wu wei]]'' ({{lang-zh|無為}}) in regard to rural community life, and the local government's new regulatory relationship with local society is characterised by practical mutual dependence; these factors have given much space for popular religion to develop.{{sfnp|Fan|Chen|2013|p=8}} In recent years, in some cases, local governments have taken an even positive and supportive attitude towards indigenous religion in the name of promoting cultural heritage.{{sfnp|Fan|Chen|2013|p=8}}{{sfnb|Overmyer|2009|p=52}}

Instead of signaling the demise of traditional ancient religion, [[China]] and [[Taiwan]]'s economic and technological industrialization and development has brought a spiritual renewal.{{sfnp|Fan|Chen|2013|p=28}}