Talk:Religion in China

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Burning of books[edit]

The Qin burning of books and burying of scholars is widely considered by scholars a Confucian-endorsed myth against its rival school Legalism, though I think it might have earlier been given backing by Huang-Lao through Han historiographer Sima Qian for his school (I’d have to re-read).

Although the emperor probably did collect the books into a library that was probably burned with the fall of the dynasty, and while Legalism often vehemently denounced Confucianism, the emperor himself endorsed the widely held view of the emperor as high priest, or in his case even unifying god, and while endorsing legalist ministers saw it fit to consult the Confucians on matters of ritual. The penultimate legalist philosopher Han Fei himself, while emphasizing loyalty to the state, still endorsed family patriarchal relations, as did the state of Qin and it’s legal system.FourLights (talk) 16:18, 10 February 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

More Religions[edit]

I need to know how many people follow a few religions in China. Can you please consider adding Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Shintoism, and Confucianism? Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by HaydenBunny (talk • contribs) 20:59, 18 April 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The pie chart at the top of the page gives approximate percentages, and detailed numbers are buried in the section "Demographics" Sorry that this article is so confusingly organized.ch (talk) ch (talk) 20:06, 6 May 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Pie chart in lead[edit]

Thanks to Chinese Han for the pie chart! Apologies that I removed it. I checked contributions for Chinese Han and noticed that adding this pie chart twice are the only edits you have made, so you may not be familiar with Wikipedia policy. I left a note on your Talk Page to say that my problem is with the sourcing, which has to be clear. I Googled for the closest thing I could find, the Foreign Affairs 2020 report, which I added, and it seems to have different categories and numbers. I'd be glad to help in any way, so just be clear. ch (talk) 19:59, 6 May 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Sources for future article expansion[edit]

Brown, Tristan G. (5 March 2015), "Feasts of the Sacrifice: Ritual Slaughter in Late Imperial and 20th-Century China", All about China, Washington: Middle East Institute.

This is a fascinating account of how Eid al-Adha rituals led to Muslims/Hui becoming the usual butchers in western China not only for the imperial elite but also for mandatory state sacrifices to the Chinese gods (considered to be meat-eaters if not carnivores) and suspect Commies during the paranoid Nationalist era (since killing cattle could only be a plot to reduce agricultural output and undermine the state). It should probably be introduced here, as well as at Islam in China, Chinese cuisine, and similar pages. — LlywelynII 00:18, 26 December 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Split off history section[edit]

As this article is too long to navigate comfortably I’ve split off content into a draft article and want to get it through Draft:History of religion in China thoughts on this? We might want to update it though because the draft is rather old. Tagging @Æo Immanuelle ❤️💚💙 (talk to the cutest Wikipedian) 21:13, 9 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Immanuelle: A splitting of the article was probably due, given its length and the fact that the new Wikipedia interface V22 has completely destroyed the layout of most articles, including this one, necessitating their revision. However, your way of doing the splitting has been, for the umpteenth time, hasty. First of all, I don't see any approval of the subdivision, either on this page, here or here. Second, the last time I edited this article was more than five years ago. Over the years, the article, including the parts you have split off, has severely degenerated: paragraphs have been deleted, sentences have been interpolated, references have been altered, and it has been filled with a lot of journalistic junk. I have not checked the integrity of this article for over five years. Therefore, the latest revision was not the most advisable to be split. I doubt that you took these issues into consideration before proceeding with the splitting. Æo (talk) 14:39, 18 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I see as well as you do that both this and the split article require a ton on work and in what ways, and I'm actively working on it. My approach at first has been to just hack at it, that's how unruly it is, but I feel like I will be able to get it more presentable, especially with a little help.

(P.S. Immanuelle is taking a break from the site for a bit.) Remsense聊 15:00, 18 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Remsense: Thank you for your efforts. I had already planned to return to work on this article myself in the future, envisioning possible ameliorations based on the most recent publications about the subject, but not before finishing the improvement of "Religion in Hungary" (after which I planned to focus on "Religion in France"). Religion in China is a huge and complex — and extremely fascinating — subject, especially the major religious tradition of the country, Chinese folk religion (which varies, even in its terminologies, from province to province). Over the last two decades, academic studies on the subject have increased both in number and quality; I write a list of some recent publications herebelow.--Æo (talk) 13:29, 19 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thank you so, so much for the list. This is one of several very-big-complex-topic articles I've got spinning in the air right now, but I still want to help do it justice. Remsense聊 13:43, 19 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

New sources 2023[edit]

Wang, Xiaoxuan (2019). "'Folk Belief', Cultural Turn of Secular Governance and Shifting Religious Landscape in Contemporary China". In Dean, Kenneth; Van der Veer, Peter (eds.). The Secular in South, East, and Southeast Asia. Global Diversities. Palgrave Macmillan Cham. pp. 137–164. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-89369-3_7. ISBN 9783030077518.
Zhao, Xiaohuan (2021). "Form Follows Function in Community Rituals in North China: Temples and Temple Festivals in Jiacun Village". Religions. MDPI. 12 (12): 575–592. doi:10.3390/rel12121105. ISSN 2077-1444.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
Zhang, Chunni; Lu, Yunfeng; He, Sheng (2021). "Exploring Chinese folk religion: Popularity, diffuseness, and diversities" (PDF). Chinese Journal of Sociology. SAGE Publications. 7 (4): 575–592. doi:10.1177/2057150X211042687. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 October 2023.
- Contains CFPS 2018 data*.
Ashiwa, Yoshiko; Wank, David L. (2020). The Chinese State's Global Promotion of Buddhism (PDF) (Report). The Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power. Berkley Center, Georgetown University. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 February 2021.
"Measuring Religion in China" (PDF). Pew Research Center. 30 August 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 September 2023. Website.
- This is a surprisingly good study compared to Pew's previous ones on the same subject; it summarises key points in the definition, history and regulation of religion in China, and compiles the demographic data from the best surveys of the 2010s, including the most recent ones, the CFPS 2018* and the CGSS 2021. The study also contains the most recent (2014 to 2018) data on counted (not only officially registered; not total including all the unregistered) places of worship in China**.
Wenzel-Teuber, Katharina (2023). "Statistics on Religions and Churches in the People's Republic of China – Update for the Year 2022" (PDF). Religions & Christianity in Today's China. China Zentrum. XIII: 18–44. ISSN 2192-9289. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 June 2023.
- Also contains CFPS 2018 data*.

–* CFPS 2018: ~70% overall Chinese folk religion: 33% Buddhism, 18% Taoism, 19% other; ~25% non-believers; ~5% Abrahamic religion: 2-3% Christianity, 2-3% Islam.
–** 2014–2018: 280,000 traditional religions' sites: 165,000 deity temples, 102,000 ancestral temples, 9,000 Taoist monasteries (only registered), 1,600 Confucian temples (only registered); 190,000 Buddhist temples and monasteries (of which 34,000 are registered); 60,000 Protestant churches; 6,400 Catholic churches; 39,000 Islamic mosques. Cf. Pew 2023, pp. 29, 47-50, 69, 90.

--Æo (talk) 13:29, 19 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]