Project MUSE®: Journal of Chinese Religions - Latest Articles
https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/734
Project MUSE®: Latest articles in Journal of Chinese Religions.daily12026-05-18T00:00:00-05:00text/htmlen-USVol. 36 (2008) through current issue
Latest Articles: Journal of Chinese ReligionsTWOProject MUSE®Journal of Chinese Religions2050-89990737-769XLatest articles in Journal of Chinese Religions. Feed provided by Project MUSE®Exploring the Cultural Perceptions and Symbolism of Tonsure in Early Buddhist China
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975819
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As Buddhist monastics gradually reached the Han territories from the first century onward, their shaven heads unequivocally captured the attention of the Chinese public. In both India and China, shaving one's hair symbolized the crucial transition from lay life to monkhood, thus becoming an essential identity marker of the Buddhist community across Asia. Nevertheless, the semantic of tonsure needs to be carefully contextualized within its cultural grammar. In ancient India, as Olivelle remarks, "a central feature of the rites of initiation into the ascetic life in all traditions—Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain—is the removal of the hair of the head and, for males, of the face."1 Shaving, then, was a shared practice among
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-18T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/734/image/coversmallExploring the Cultural Perceptions and Symbolism of Tonsure in Early Buddhist China2025-12-03text/htmlen-USExploring the Cultural Perceptions and Symbolism of Tonsure in Early Buddhist China2025-12-032025TWOProject MUSE®1758232026-05-18T00:00:00-05:002025-12-03The Origins of Buddhism (Shishi Yuanliu) and Illustrated Hagiographic Narratives in Ming China
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975820
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The Origins of Buddhism (or "Origins of the Śākya Clan," Shishi yuanliu 《釋氏源流》, hereafter SSYL) is a fifteenth-century illustrated compilation that couples the Life of the Buddha Śākyamuni with summaries of the Buddhist teachings and a pseudo-historical survey of Buddhism in China (fig. 1). As Suey-Ling Tsai highlights, SSYL is a syncretic collage of canonical and popular sources which seems to have been designed to serve didactic, ritualistic, and aesthetic functions.1 Stretching over four hundred episodes, SSYL
Fig 1
Episode I.1 of the 1556 edition of SSYL. Reprint in Shi Baocheng, Shishi yuanliu 《釋氏源流》 (Beijing: Zhongguo shudian, 2009).
[AI Generated Alt Text] Woodblock print of a seated Buddha flanked by four
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-18T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/734/image/coversmallThe Origins of Buddhism (Shishi Yuanliu) and Illustrated Hagiographic Narratives in Ming China2025-12-03text/htmlen-USThe Origins of Buddhism (Shishi Yuanliu) and Illustrated Hagiographic Narratives in Ming China2025-12-032025TWOProject MUSE®1642772026-05-18T00:00:00-05:002025-12-03Journey to the South: Chinese Buddhist Missions to South and Southeast Asia, 1930s–1945
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975821
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On 25 April 1940, the same day Taixu 太虛 (1890–1947) left Nanyang 南洋,1 a newspaper article published under different titles in The Union Times and Sin Chew Jit Poh reported on his trip to the region.2 Alleging that Taixu had approached a local philanthropist for a donation of 500,000 Straits dollars to execute a lofty proposal for an international Buddhist college, the article informed readers that the philanthropist had rejected Taixu's request. To the article's anonymous writer, Taixu's ambition for a global Buddhist institution and his purported attempt to obtain financial backing for this ambition were excesses in view of wartime and expected post-war needs in China.It is unclear how readers of the two Chinese
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-18T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/734/image/coversmallJourney to the South: Chinese Buddhist Missions to South and Southeast Asia, 1930s–19452025-12-03text/htmlen-USJourney to the South: Chinese Buddhist Missions to South and Southeast Asia, 1930s–19452025-12-032025TWOProject MUSE®1869142026-05-18T00:00:00-05:002025-12-03The Shades of Emptiness: The Subjective Model of Genuineness in the Teachings of Wei Yao
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975822
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How do we define what is genuine and what is false? Arguably, many different models of genuineness exist, and the argument about genuineness is not only an issue of finding sufficient proof but also an issue of choosing the suitable model. Daoists refer to one of the higher states in the hierarchy of Daoist spiritual achievement as a genuine man (zhenren 真人),1 suggesting that only transcendental immortal beings could be defined as "genuine." At the same time, the mortality of ordinary people indicates that they lack a real connection with the Dao and, therefore, could be regarded as "false." However, this view stands in contrast to the modern model of genuineness, which is rooted in a scientific positivist
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-18T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/734/image/coversmallThe Shades of Emptiness: The Subjective Model of Genuineness in the Teachings of Wei Yao2025-12-03text/htmlen-USThe Shades of Emptiness: The Subjective Model of Genuineness in the Teachings of Wei Yao2025-12-032025TWOProject MUSE®1857622026-05-18T00:00:00-05:002025-12-03The Stage in the Temple: Ritual Opera in Village Shanxi by David G. Johnson (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975823
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David Johnson's new book deals with traditional Chinese dramas, known as "Za operas" (Zaju 雜劇), that in the past were performed on temple stages during annual festivals as offerings to village gods in Shanxi province.1 They appeared around the eleventh century and were still performed in rural areas in the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries, when they attracted the attention of Chinese folklorists and anthropologists. Johnson's book tries to reconstruct the past form of these dramatic performances in Shanxi, mainly using a number of old dramatic Za opera scripts that were collected in southwestern Shanxi. It also makes a contribution to the discussion of ritual drama's roles in premodern rural Chinese
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-18T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/734/image/coversmallThe Stage in the Temple: Ritual Opera in Village Shanxi by David G. Johnson (review)2025-12-03text/htmlen-USThe Stage in the Temple: Ritual Opera in Village Shanxi by David G. Johnson (review)2025-12-032025TWOProject MUSE®143242026-05-18T00:00:00-05:002025-12-03Unlocking the Chinese Gate: Manifestations of the Space "In-Between" in Early China by Galia Dor (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975824
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Unlocking the Chinese Gate: Manifestations of the Space "In-Between" in Early China is a noteworthy and original work that defies easy classification. Authored by Galia Dor, the book explores Chinese gates—both material and conceptual—through a lens that blends elements of scholarly and popular writing. The volume, oscillating between academic rigor and broader accessibility, offers a novel perspective on early Chinese culture through its "Semipersonal Preface," introduction, six thematic chapters, and a conclusion entitled "Discussion and Further Reflections."The novelty of the volume includes Dor's distinctive authorial voice. Her style is decidedly personal as she presents her unique interpretations of Chinese
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-18T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/734/image/coversmallUnlocking the Chinese Gate: Manifestations of the Space "In-Between" in Early China by Galia Dor (review)2025-12-03text/htmlen-USUnlocking the Chinese Gate: Manifestations of the Space "In-Between" in Early China by Galia Dor (review)2025-12-032025TWOProject MUSE®95342026-05-18T00:00:00-05:002025-12-03Just Awakening: Yogācāra Social Philosophy in Modern China by Jessica X. Zu (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975825
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Just Awakening: Yogācāra Social Philosophy in Modern China is a distinctive, provocative, and deeply inspiring piece of scholarship. It presents its protagonist, Lü Cheng 呂澂 (1896–1989), a leading Yogācāra thinker in twentieth-century China, in a way that enables readers to learn as much from him as to learn about him. Combining philosophical analysis with intellectual history, Just Awakening unravels two interfused dimensions of Lü Cheng's lifework, revolutionary activism, and soteriological construction. In revealing a new portrait of the polyglot philosopher, Just Awakening compels us to rethink moreover what the study of Buddhist philosophy could possibly mean, and do, for our world. It is a work of "liberation
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-18T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/734/image/coversmallJust Awakening: Yogācāra Social Philosophy in Modern China by Jessica X. Zu (review)2025-12-03text/htmlen-USJust Awakening: Yogācāra Social Philosophy in Modern China by Jessica X. Zu (review)2025-12-032025TWOProject MUSE®141402026-05-18T00:00:00-05:002025-12-03Communicating with the Gods: Spirit-Writing in Chinese History and Society ed. by Matthias Schumann and Elena Valussi (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975826
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In this edited volume, consisting of an introduction and fifteen single-authored chapters, Schumann and Valussi have gathered together an impressive international cohort of scholars concerned with Chinese spirit-writing to create what I believe will be the resource for anyone interested in learning about the practice to whet their curiosity. That is not to say this book is an exhaustive look at spirit-writing in all its forms and iterations, but that it is the right place to start one's exploration of this vibrant field of study. In June 2019, Schumann and Valussi organized the original conference that led to this volume, and this work is an admirable culmination of their years of work.In their introduction
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-18T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/734/image/coversmallCommunicating with the Gods: Spirit-Writing in Chinese History and Society ed. by Matthias Schumann and Elena Valussi (review)2025-12-03text/htmlen-USCommunicating with the Gods: Spirit-Writing in Chinese History and Society ed. by Matthias Schumann and Elena Valussi (review)2025-12-032025TWOProject MUSE®91872026-05-18T00:00:00-05:002025-12-03Sino-Muslims, Networking, and Identity in Late Imperial China: Longstanding Natives and Dispersed Minorities by Shaodan Zhang (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975827
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In Sino-Muslims, Networking and Identity in Late Imperial China: Longstanding Natives and Dispersed Minorities, Shaodan Zhang presents a history of Islam in China that is perhaps the first to explore the routine life of mosque communities in late imperial times. Driven by the priorities of available sources, previous histories of Islam in China have often focused on the exceptional: moments when Muslims enter the imperial archives due to conflict with the state, or the corpus of beautiful but rarified Islamic philosophical texts composed in Classical Chinese.1 Through interrogation of Sino-Muslim (Hui 回) stele texts and genealogies, Zhang is able to piece together a history of Muslim community action and activism
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-18T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/734/image/coversmallSino-Muslims, Networking, and Identity in Late Imperial China: Longstanding Natives and Dispersed Minorities by Shaodan Zhang (review)2025-12-03text/htmlen-USSino-Muslims, Networking, and Identity in Late Imperial China: Longstanding Natives and Dispersed Minorities by Shaodan Zhang (review)2025-12-032025TWOProject MUSE®145172026-05-18T00:00:00-05:002025-12-03Enchanted Revolution: Ghosts, Shamans, and Gender Politics in Chinese Communist Propaganda, 1942–1953 by Xiaofei Kang (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975828
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Xiaofei Kang begins her engaging book with a personal anecdote regarding her experience in a children's propaganda performance group during the Cultural Revolution. In Kang's account, while waiting backstage to sing songs praising Chairman Mao, performers of all ages would share lurid tales of the bizarre and supernatural, often connecting them to the revolutionary class struggles about which they were singing. This tale of the paradoxical juxtaposition between propaganda performances of the atheist state and "superstitious" stories sets the tone for Kang's exploration into the role of popular religion in the making of revolutionary propaganda during the formative years of the Communist Party in the 1940s and early
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-18T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/734/image/coversmallEnchanted Revolution: Ghosts, Shamans, and Gender Politics in Chinese Communist Propaganda, 1942–1953 by Xiaofei Kang (review)2025-12-03text/htmlen-USEnchanted Revolution: Ghosts, Shamans, and Gender Politics in Chinese Communist Propaganda, 1942–1953 by Xiaofei Kang (review)2025-12-032025TWOProject MUSE®153492026-05-18T00:00:00-05:002025-12-03