1. How to Count Religious Phenomena in China and East Asia
Liyong Dai
PhD, Associate Professor School of Sociology, Central China Normal University Confucius Institute at Carleton University, Canada

2. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

3. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

4. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

5. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

6. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

7. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

8. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

9. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

10. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

11. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

12. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

13. Gui-yuan Temple, Wuhan (武汉 • 归元寺)

14. La-ma Temple, Beijing (北京 • 雍和宫)

15. La-ma Temple, Beijing (北京 • 雍和宫)

16. La-ma Temple, Beijing (北京 • 雍和宫)

17. Incense-pilgrim 香客

18. Incense-pilgrim 香客 The most common factor in East Asian Religions:
Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Folk Religions…
How to categorize?
Buddhist “believers”
Daoism “believers” …
How to count, measure and calculate?

19. Incense-pilgrim 香客
曹德旺 Cao, Dewang
Billionaire
Philanthropist

20. Incense-pilgrim 香客 Religious identity? Belonging? Double belonging?
Or Partly belonging?
“Believing”?
Double “Believing”?
“Believe without belonging”?
“Self claimed religious identification”? …

21. Incense-pilgrim 香客
Believe?
Belonging? …
Just do it?

22. Incense-pilgrim 香客

23. Incense-pilgrim 香客
Categories/instruments like “believe”, “belonging”, “identity”, “identification”, which are more based on monotheistic ideas …
Chinese and East Asian cultural context: the conception of God: Polytheism, pantheism, deism …

24. Incense-pilgrim 香客 Confucian ritual practitioners (儒礼的践行者)
cultural/spiritual tourist (文化/灵性旅游者)
occasional incense-pilgrims(偶然的香客)
constant incense-pilgrims(经常的香客)
lay disciples (居士 or 俗弟子)
other-worldly practitioners(出家修行者)
*sectarian believers (教门信众)

25. Population and Tension of Chinese Religions
A1: Confucian ritual practitioners
A2: Cultural/Spiritual tourist
A3: Occasional incense-pilgrims
B3: Constant incense-pilgrims
B2: Lay disciples
B1: Other-worldly Practitioners
D: Sectarian believers
Population and Tension of Chinese Religions
Tension: X2﹥X1﹥ Population: Y3﹥Y2﹥Y1﹥0

26. Hypothetical Distribution of Population and Tension of Religions in China and East Asia
Tension: X3﹥X2﹥X1﹥ Population: Y3﹥Y2﹥Y1﹥0

27. East Asian Religions Vs. Religions in the West
Asymmetrical Concave Curve
Vs.
Bell-shaped Curve

28. Religious Phenomena in China & East Asia: How to Count, Measure and Calculation?
Statistic method of religious phenomena in China and East Asia requires a different approach. More attention should be given to spiritual practices rather than religious identity/identification…
By introducing categories like Confucian ritual practitioners (儒礼的践行者), cultural/spiritual tourist (文化/灵性旅游者), occasional incense-pilgrims(偶然的香客), constant incense-pilgrims(经常的香客), lay disciples (居士or俗弟子) ,other-worldly practitioners(出家修行者), and sectarian believers (教门信众), we can get a much better mapping of religious phenomena in China and East Asia.
An asymmetrical concave curve can be developed through the observance and analysis of the population and tension across different Chinese religious/spiritual niches. Then, we can compare the asymmetrical concave curve and the bell-shaped curve…

29. Thank you!
Liyong Dai
PhD, Associate Professor School of Sociology, Central China Normal University Confucius Institute at Carleton University, Canada