University of California Press Religion in Chinese Society: A Study of Contemporary Social Functions of Religion and Some of Their Historical Factors

Religion in Chinese Society: A Study of Contemporary Social Functions of Religion and Some of Their Historical Factors by C. K. Yang offers a sweeping reinterpretation of how religion saturates Chinese social life. Challenging the long-held view of China as “unreligious,” Yang demonstrates―through local gazetteers, temple inscriptions, and popular mythological literature―that belief, ritual, and sacred organization are deeply woven into the fabric of family, community, and state. He distinguishes carefully between institutional religions (notably Buddhism and Taoism) and “diffused” religion―the ancestral rites, cults, and moral cosmologies that operate through secular institutions. In Yang’s account, temples and festivals are not merely devotional spaces; they are social infrastructures that coordinate kinship, mediate disputes, anchor markets and guilds, and transmit ethical norms. His functional approach reframes the crowded pantheon of popular cults as a coherent system addressing ultimate concerns―illness, fertility, fortune, justice―while stabilizing everyday social order. Equally compelling is Yang’s analysis of religion’s political dimensions. He traces how the Mandate of Heaven, underworld tribunals, and heavenly pantheons legitimated authority and sanctioned moral behavior, and how Confucianism―though not a theistic religion―absorbed and radiated religious meanings that shaped civic ethics, education, and governance. By mapping the interplay of cults of protection and prosperity, ancestor worship, and state ritual, Yang shows how sacred symbols and practices knit together rural villages and urban neighborhoods alike, while also fueling protest and rebellion when moral orders frayed. Methodologically innovative and empirically rich, *Religion in Chinese Society* stands as a foundational study of the social functions of religion in China, revealing a religious landscape that is eclectic, embedded, and indispensable to understanding Chinese history and society. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1961.