Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Shi, Xia

Area of Concentration

Chinese Language and Culture

Abstract

In China, women have long been engaged with praying, burning incense, and taking part in various temple celebrations and activities. As a result, China’s elites have consistently criticized women for their spirituality and attempted to control women by banning them from visiting temples. Despite the abundance of works in gender and religion in Chinese studies, many scholars have not sufficiently highlighted the intersection between these two fields. This thesis aims to fill this gap by analyzing the gendered motives behind temple bans in China since the late Qing dynasty. Moving chronologically from the late Qing period, to contemporary China, it examines the introduction of categories such as “yinsi” (illicit cults), “superstition,” and “religion” and analyzes how these terms have been used to categorize, ban, and suppress various spiritual groups, especially those with large followings of women. It also sheds light on the state’s repetitive failure to successfully suppress women's spiritual practices, and how women's religious activism has shaped the contemporary religious landscape of China. Overall, by tracing the changing classifications of women's spiritual activities since late Qing Dynasty, this thesis aims to bridge the discussions of religion and women's studies and further our understanding of the development of female popular spiritual practices in modern China.

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