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Contemporary Chinese Cults*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Clarence Burton Day
Clarence Burton Day
Affiliation:
Hangchow University
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Extract

In our approach to the household religion of the Chinese people, we found it characterized in two essential particulars; it was integrated with the felt life needs of a village-dwelling agricultural folk, and it found expression occasionally in temple worship but more frequently in home ceremonials. Realizing that the historico-genetic study of any religion seeks the point of view of the worshiper himself, we set out to find, if possible, the answer to this insistent question: What are the benefits which the ordinary householder wishes to obtain for himself and his family in his religious practices? We felt, moreover, that the answer should come only from first-hand sources.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , May 1947 , pp. 294 - 299
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1947

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References

* This paper is based on field research carried out between the years 1924 and 1940 by the author and students of Hangchow University, Zakow, Chekiang, China. Further details are to be found in the author's Chinese peasant cults (Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh, 1940. xx, 243 p.) which was reviewed in the August 1943 issue of the Quarterly. At present Dr. Day is on temporary assignment under the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions to Forman College, Lahore, Punjab, India, before returning to China. References to Giles are to his Chinese biographical dictionary (Shanghai and London, 1898).