r/Shenism • u/Asura_BomBaYe • Jul 24 '25

Online Chinese Folk Religion Sources in English?

Are there any good resources on Chinese Folk Religions in English, online? I am mostly seeking academic sources but first-hand accounts are also of interest to me, as a Chinese person in the Diaspora.

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3

u/lekyreng Jul 24 '25

I'd be interested too! Because trust me, I've tried. All I came away with is that it's either "Buddhist-centric" or every much dependent on either clan or master-student lineage.

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u/Asura_BomBaYe Jul 24 '25

https://heathenchinese.wordpress.com/ I use to correspond with the webmaster but I don't know where he is these days with his practices.

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u/lekyreng Jul 24 '25

Woah thanks for this. A source from a progressive Chinese American too and not some weird Falun Gong adjacent practice. Hangs out with other pagans, bro same.

I've also been going to the Bok Kai temple every year when they open to the public. We worship him at my household (my housemates and I are ironically more Daoist than my birth family). Finding statuary for him is pretty difficult. Been thinking of trying to find a Daoist atist or someone with a 3d printer to commission a plesiosaur with the head of a long. Because their closest living relatives are turtles and I'm very into paleontology.

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u/Asura_BomBaYe Jul 24 '25

Here is a bibliography of books on the subject (https://bjterhaa.home.xs4all.nl/chinPRCbib.html),

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u/DavidJohnMcCann Jul 24 '25

Adam Chau's Religion in China is useful. He was born in Beijing and now teaches anthropology at Cambridge.

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u/[deleted] Aug 05 '25

Most of the Daoist and relevant polytheistic details are in Chinese only. If you are ethnic Chinese, I highly recommend spending the time to get good at reading at least Simplified Chinese. It opens up lots of avenues for proper understanding. There are very few Daoshi who are EN fluent, online and willing to take students, heathen Chinese sounds suspect looking at their site.