Chinese Religious Life

During the past few years, the study of modern Chinese religions has been blessed by the publication of a series of pioneering studies.³ However, none has attained the level of this book, which makes much of this new data easily accessible to the general reader. Chinese Religious Life, which in part grew out of a 2007 international conference on the topic, clearly introduces the social dimensions of Chinese religions, demonstrates the manifold ways in which religion is practiced, and assesses the impact of its revival in China today. The editors deserve particular credit for allowing the authors to express a diversity of viewpoints, which befits a religious culture as vibrantly varied as China's. The introduction, by Philip Wickeri, aptly explains how religious practice in China cuts across different traditions, as well as religion's role in the “public negotiation” of relations. These trends are considered in subsequent chapters from...