ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the religious revival in Dali, the five institutional religions – Daoism, Buddhism, Christianity, Catholicism, and Islam – as well as non-institutional religions. It analyzes two grassroots organizations – the Dongjinghui, or the GSA, and the guyaonihui, or the OWA two gendered religious societies revived at almost the same time. The state presence in the landscape of Dali religions can be political or economic. Politically, the state regulates religions according to the "potential threat" it thinks might be coming. The GSA members believe they are moral exemplars of the community. Only males who read and write are eligible to join. In the 1980s, these people included retired teachers, cadres, or technicians who had the experience to work somewhere else. In Dali, each benzhu temple accommodates an association of cultivators, called guyaonihui, the OWA, or Lianchihui in Chinese. Different from the institutional religions, the GSA, OWA, and the benzhu temple systems are free in their practice and beliefs.
