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Chinese folk religion comprises the religion practiced in much of China for thousands of years which included ancestor worship and drew heavily upon concepts and beings within Chinese mythology.* Chinese folk religion is sometimes seen as a constituent part of Chinese traditional religion, but more often, the two are regarded as synonymous. It is estimated that there are at least 850 million adherents to Chinese folk religion worldwide (see "Major world religions").
Overview
Chinese folk religion is composed of a combination of religious practices, including ancestor worship or veneration, Buddhism and Taoism. Chinese folk religion also retains traces of some of its ancestral neolithic belief systems which include in animal worship, as well as the worship of the sun, moon, earth, the heavens, and various stars. It has been practiced alongside Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism by Chinese people throughout the world for thousands of years.
Worship, legends, festivals and various devotions associated with different folk gods and goddesses form an important part of Chinese culture even today. The worship of secondary gods does not conflict with an individual's chosen religion, but is accepted as a complementary adjunct to Buddhism, Confucianism or Taoism. Some mythical figures in folk culture have even been integrated into Buddhism as in the case of Miao Shan who is generally thought of having evolved into the Buddhist bodhisattva Kuan Yin. Other folk gods may date back to pre-Buddhist eras of Chinese history.
Gods and goddesses
There are hundreds of gods and goddeses as well as "saints," immortals and demigods. Historical figures noted for their bravery or virtue are also venerated and honored with their own festivals after they are apotheosized. The following list represents some commonly worshipped deities:
(Note: This list is incomplete and should not be considered a full representation)
- The Jade Emperor(玉帝, yǜ dì), king of the gods, who stands in relation to the other gods as the human emperors of old did to China's bureaucracy.
- Tu Di Gong (土地公, tǔ dì gōng), the "God of the earth", a genius loci who protects a local place (especially hills), and whose statue may be found in roadside shrines. He is also the god of wealth, by virtue of his connection with the earth, and therefore, minerals and buried treasure.
- Guan Yu (關羽), the red-faced, bearded hero of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and symbol of loyalty. He is the patron god of policemen and law, and gangsters, as he shows forgiveness, and often also serves as "Cai Shen".
- Cheng Huang (城隍), a class of protective deities: Each city has a Cheng Huang who looks after the fortunes of the city and judges the dead. Usually these are famous or noble persons from the city who were deified after death. The Cheng Huang Miao (城隍廟) or "Shrine of the Cheng Huang" was often the focal point of a town in ancient times.
- Xi Wangmu (西王母), the "Queen Mother of the West" who reigns over a paradisial mountain and has the power to make others immortal. In some myths, she is the mother of the Jade Emperor (玉帝).
- The Eight Immortals (ba xian, 八仙) are important literary and artistic figures who were deified after death, and became objects of worship.
- Wenchangdi (文昌帝 "Emperor Promoting Culture"), god of students, scholars, and examination. He is worshipped by students who wish to pass their examinations. Inept examiners in ancient times sometimes sought "divine guidance" from him to decide rank between students.
- Zhusheng Niangniang (註生娘娘 "Birth-Registry Lady"). Worshipped by people who want children, or who want their child to be a boy.
- Yuexia Laoren (月下老人 "Old Man Under the Moon"). The matchmaker who pairs lovers together, worshipped by those seeking their partner.
- Hu Ye (虎爺 "Lord Tiger"), a guardian spirit.
- Qiye (七爺 "Seventh Lord") and Baye (八爺 "Eighth Lord"), two generals and best friends, often seen as giant puppets in street parades. 7 is black, because he drowned rather than miss his appointment to meet with 8, even though a flood was coming. 8 has his tongue sticking out, because he hanged himself in mourning for 7.
In many ways, the gods of Chinese folk religion are counterparts of humanity. Their domain, tian (天) or heaven, is a mirror image of earth. The gods have social hierarchies: the Jade Emperor (玉帝) is the counterpart of the earthly emperor, and his subjects the lesser gods, observe the social protocols as strictly as their earthly counterparts. The gods also live variously in palaces or households much in the same way as the people who worship them and they frequently exhibit very human foibles. According to accounts in the Feng shen yan yi in 1122 BCE, during the Zhou Dynasty, the gods, demigods and other immortals even engaged in a long drawn-out battle with each other over which dynasty should rule China.
The distinction between heavenly beings and humans was first made in the ancient Book of Rites (禮儀). Although the Chinese have venerated their ancestors for thousands of years, the worship of tian and everything associated with it is distinct from the veneration of humans such as ancestors or venerable figures such as Confucius (孔夫子) who belong to the category of spirits known as gui.
Chinese traditional religion
Chinese traditional religion (a term often used synononymously with the term "Chinese folk religion"), is a loosely-connected system of practices and beliefs that has been practiced by large segments of the Han Chinese population of China from the early period of Chinese history up to the present. With the influx of Western cultural influences for several centuries and the complex changes and modernization of the 20th century, the prevalence of Chinese traditional beliefs has declined, but still remain strong, many or most gradually transforming into elements of culture and social behavior with less direct spiritual or religious significance.
Traditional practices are situated in the context of Chinese culture and social structures, which, like many throughout East Asia, and unlike many in the West, do not suppose an exclusive adherence to a single belief system. Instead, elements of traditional practices may be practiced by individuals who identify themselves as Buddhists or members of other traditions. This is all the more true when these traditional practices are seen as cultural elements without spiritual significance, permitting them to be retained by adherents of certain belief-systems, such as various forms of Christianity, with which the overall assumptions of Chinese traditional practice as a religion would likely have been incompatible.
The system of Chinese traditional beliefs, expressed concretely in a wide range of practices, has been passed down from generation to generation through oral tradition, formal cultural activities and rituals, and some literature. Throughout the course of Chinese history, it absorbed a wide variety of influences from many different belief systems (e.g. as previously mentioned, Buddhism and Taoism, and also other influences from Chinese philosophy), without being challenged in its integrity. Like the popular traditions of most cultures of the world, the system of traditional beliefs generally did not go by a specific or formal name in Chinese culture. It has been recognized only in terms of specific constituent practices or elements (e.g. New Years traditions, ancestor portraits and veneration). Likewise, no profession or confession of belief is typically required, nor any initiation practice or ritual—as most practices were integrated into the daily life of Chinese culture, all the more so given the distinct homogeneity of many rural regions of China even in the 21st century.
Western views
The absence of a proper name for this religion, associated with the absence of any canonical literature, have for a long time caused Chinese folk religion to be viewed by Westerners as a popularized version of an "authentic" religion, in the same way that the cult of the saints is viewed. Both in China and outside, adherents often describe themselves, or are described by others, as followers of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, or a mix among these.
Demographics
Many publications on religion in China do not include statistics on the number of adherents of traditional religion, with most adherents registered under the category of Taoist or Buddhist. However, despite the critical influence of those two belief-systems, Chinese traditional religion is not coterminous with them and, strictly speaking, marked distinctions exist. Nonetheless, such overlaps or blurring of distinctions are consistent with East Asian cultural understandings of religion and identity that do not require exclusive indentification as an adherent of solely one distinct tradition.
See also
Religion in China | Chinese traditional religion
Chinesischer Volksglaube | Religion traditionnelle chinoise | Kepercayaan tradisional Tionghoa | Religione popolare cinese | Agama Rakyat China
"Chinese folk religion"