Chinese Gods: An Introduction to Chinese Folk Religion

Chinese gods: Who are they? Where did they come from? What do they do? Chinese folk religion is the underlying belief system of more than a billion Chinese people. Go into any Chinese home, office or restaurant and you will see altars, statues or paper 'good luck' images. And wherever there is a Chinese community there are temples and Earth God shrines. But what is the religion that makes sense of all these expressions of belief? How do these beliefs connect to Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism? Chinese Gods helps us understand the building blocks of this religion for which even the Chinese have no name - because the beliefs are so intertwined with language and culture they have no independent existence - and provides an in-depth analysis of 19 of the major gods of the Chinese pantheon.