How have Chinese addressed universal questions of personal meaning and survival, and of social connection and authority, with the help of religion? This course is interested in solutions elaborated over the centuries by Chinese of all social classes. Without neglecting the textual canon, we are particularly interested in changing styles of ritual organization and practice. We examine mutual borrowing and competition among shamanism, ancestor worship, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, and the adaptation of each to varying social contexts and state policies up to the present. Much of the material is in the form of original sources including descriptive accounts, introduced by religious historians, and fiction. The latter part of the course uses anthropological works to account for the religious practices currently flourishing in both Taiwan and Mainland China.
