Taoist Ritual and Popular Cults of Southeast China

Many commentators imagine contemporary China to be monolithic, atheistic and materialist, wholly divorced from its earlier customs. However, this book combines evidence from historical texts and extensive fieldwork to reveal an entirely different picture. Since 1979, when the Chinese government relxed some of its most stringent controls on religion, villagers in the isolated areas of southeast China have maintained an "underground" effort to restore traditional rituals and local cults.