Assoc. Prof. Ph.D. Yanfei Sun, Zhejiang University

Moderated by: Prof. Ph.D. Philip Clart, Universität Leipzig

Joint event of the Confucius Institute Leipzig and the Confucius Institute at Freie Universität Berlin

Date: Monday, 29 January 2024, 18.15 h

This presentation examines the situation of popular religion in post-Mao China, by focusing on a major form of popular religion, the territorial cult. The post-Mao revitalization of the territorial cult is not simply the resurrection of tradition after a period of suppression; rather, the religion has undergone a transformation in the process of its resurgence. The talk analyzes the pattern of these changes and delves into the structural forces driving them. Additionally, it explores the impact that the Chinese government’s promotion of traditional Chinese culture in the last decade has on the territorial cult.

Yanfei Sun is currently associate professor of sociology at Zhejiang University. She graduated from University of Chicago with a Ph.D. in sociology in 2010. She was a Mellon Research Fellow of Columbia University Society of Fellows (2010–2013), a visiting associate professor at Harvard University, and a lecturer at the University of Chicago. Her research mainly concerns the intersection between religion and politics, particularly religious changes, religious toleration, secularism, and religious nationalism. From September 2023 to July 2024, she is a fellow at the Berlin Institute for Advanced Study (Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin).

Philip Clart (Ph.D. 1997, University of British Columbia) is Professor of Chinese Culture and History at Leipzig University, Germany, and editor of the Journal of Chinese Religions. His main research areas are popular religion and new religious movements in Taiwan, as well as literature and religions of the late imperial period. His monographs include Han Xiangzi: The Alchemical Adventures of a Daoist Immortal (University of Washington Press, 2007) and Die Religionen Chinas (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009). He has edited or co-edited several volumes, including most recently From Trustworthiness to Secular Beliefs: Changing Concepts of xin 信 from Traditional to Modern Chinese (Brill, 2023).

For attendance in presence:
Confucius Institute at Freie Universität Berlin
Goßlerstraße 2-4
14195 Berlin
Room 203 (lecture hall)

For online participation:
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