| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Over the past three decades, Chinese "ethnic areas" (minzu diqu) have experienced widespread religious revival. Religious populations are steadily increasing as the religious infrastructure expands under governmental or non-governmental sponsorship. The restoration of sacred sites appeals to the larger ethnic populations for reasons relating to community and identity (re-)creation. The officially recognised religions are reviving different regimes of transcendence in the ethnically diversified localities. Unofficial, transnational, or radical movements and denominations are engaging in activities either in the sphere of underground proselytising or non-governmental organisation (NGO) instruments. Popular religions are being legitimised through ethnic renaissance and are being embraced by astonishingly large populations. They are also being commercialised by local state agents who are given incentives to generate revenue by translating invented traditions into tourist attractions. Ancestor veneration and the Daoist rituals of consulting almanacs, geomancy, horoscopes and spirit mediums are seasoned with ethnic flavour. However, growing social, political and economic disparities are engendering greater anxiety among people who are seeking answers through the old ways such as oracle reading, mask dances, sutra chanting or karma fairs. The flow of capital, symbols, ideas and practices nationally and globally also poses unprecedented problems of religious pluralism in these increasingly mobile multi-ethnic areas.
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