Chinese Popular Essay. Chinese Popular Religion. Chinese society.

Chinese Popular Essay
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Chinese Popular Essay
The phrase ‘Chinese popular religion’ does not have a direct definition since there are no specific doctrines that apply to its numerous religious practices, and it also lacks a general structure or system. Nevertheless, there are certain practices and beliefs that are common across the Chinese popular religion. According to Teiser (1995), the term Chinese ‘popular religion’ originally referred to any religious practices and ideologies that did not specifically apply to the specific institutionalized practices of Daoism, Confucianism, or Buddhism. Although the word “popular” is fundamentally ambiguous, it often relates to any practice of idea that is widespread or commonly practiced in comparison to other ‘elite’ religions. This paper critically analyses the issues that are practiced in Chinese popular religion.
Features of Chinese Popular Religion
Although it is difficult to classify Chinese popular religion as any specific form of religion, evidence indicates that this religion was previously mistaken to be a fusion of Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. However, Chinese popular culture is currently acknowledged as a separate system of practice and belief. Most people in China who can self-consciously argue that they do not adhere to any religious identity are actually followers of the popular culture (Marshall, 2016). Compared to western religions that are usually henotheistic, implying that they demand exclusive adherence, eastern religions such as the Chinese popular religion are not exclusionary and they tend to integrate a variety of belief systems. Moreover, the Chinese folk religion has a syncretic nature and it enhances efficient integration of various local practices and beliefs.
When Chinese religion is solely defined on the basis of the three traditions (Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism), it hinders crucial considerations of practices and ideologies that do not necessarily fit into the three labels. Examples of common rituals that are not applicable to the three traditions include incense that is offered to ancestors, exorcising ghosts, conducting funerals, and interacting with fortune tellers. However, Chinese popular religion includes different attributes of religious practices which most people share, irrespective of their affiliations to any teachings of the three traditions (Lopez, 1999). In addition, scholars argue that the term ‘popular religion’ is too broad such that most people prefer to use terms that are more meaningful and discrete such as family religion, seasonal festivals, mortuary rituals, mythology, divination, and curing. Therefore, popular religion can be regarded as types or religious activities that are practiced by almost every individual in China, irrespective of their socioeconomic status, literacy levels, of direct religious identification.
Religious Practices
Basically, some of the common and popular religious practices include ancestor worship, longevity practices, prayers, prophecy, divination, astrology, meditation, and traditional Chinese practices during funerals. Chinese popular religion does not have a distinct re...