ABSTRACT
Before the modernist transformations of the twentieth century, China had one of the richest and most diverse religious cultures in the world. The radical antitraditionalist policies of both the Republican and Communist regimes as well as other socio-historical factors posed formidable challenges to China’s religious traditions but also presented new opportunities for regeneration and innovation. The economic reforms and the concurrent relaxation of religious policies have provided fertile ground for the revitalization of a wide array of religious practices including divination, ancestor worship, temple festivals, spirit mediumism, going to the church or mosque, funeral rites, exorcism, pilgrimages, sectarianism, sponsoring sutra chanting, printing and distributing morality books, etc. At the same time, apparently new forms of religious practices have emerged such as lay Buddhist preachers, “Maoist shamans” (Chao 1999), and a bewildering number of qigong sects/schools. How do we explain this remarkable religious effervescence? Which of these religious practices are revived old practices and which are invented new practices? How are religious innovations made possible? What are the different processes and mechanisms of religious revivals and innovations? What factors (historical, political, social, economic, etc.) impact upon these processes and mechanisms? What kinds of innovation emerge that are clothed in traditional idioms or appear to be radical breaks from tradition? And more broadly, what does the Chinese case of religious revitalization and innovation tell us about the nature of religious tradition and the larger issue of cultural continuity and change? This collection of essays will address these crucial questions by focusing on the processes and mechanisms of religious revitalization and innovation in contemporary China. The contributors are an international, interdisciplinary team of experts who have all conducted in-depth fieldwork research in China on different aspects of religious revitalization and innovation. The contributors work in the fields of anthropology, ethnomusicology, history, religious studies, and sociology, and are affiliated with institutions in the US, Europe (the UK and France), and China (including Hong Kong). Each of the eight substantive chapters is based on a case study of a specific religious phenomenon (or a cluster of related religious phenomena) and provides analytical keys to understanding issues of revitalization and innovation.
