SYNOPSIS
This book introduces Chinese religious life and practice. It is designed for the general reader, written by an international team of scholars from a variety of disciplines. Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Popular Religion, Christianity, and Islam are treated not as distinct systems, but as cultural and religious expressions interwoven in the Chinese context. The emphasis is on religious practice, not doctrines or beliefs. Each chapter treats a different aspect of religion in Chinese public life, and the authors discuss the ways in which religion is practiced in communities where it shapes the lives of individuals and families in villages and cities. The book shows how religion has remerged in the People’s Republic of China, and how religions relate to the Chinese Communist system. Religion provides a lens through which to observe a range of complex social issues, issues related to the economy, gender and sexuality, health and the environment, human rights, ethnicity, and globalization. There is no single “model” of religion and public life in China, and a wide range of imaginable possibilities are found in this volume. This book encourages readers to relate chapter themes to universally relevant areas of religious interest, all the time showing the distinctive features particular to the Chinese context. Religious life in Chinese communities on the mainland, in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and elsewhere is understood on its own terms and interpreted in creative interdisciplinary ways that will make the study of religion in China more widely accessible.