Chinese folk religion  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia -
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religion (traditional Chinese: or ; simplified Chinese: 中国民间宗教
or 中国民间信仰; pinyin: Zhōngguó mínjiān zōngjiào or Zhōngguó mínjiān
xìnyăng) or Shenism (pinyin: Shénjiào, 神教),[1][2][3] which is a
term of considerable debate, are labels used to describe the
collection of ethnic religious traditions which have
historically comprised the predominant belief system in China
and among Han Chinese ethnic groups up to the present day.
Shenism describes Chinese mythology and includes the worship of
shens (神, shén; "deities", "spirits", "awarenesses",
"consciousnesses", "archetypes") which can be nature deities,
Taizu or clan deities, city deities, national deities, cultural
heroes and demigods, dragons and ancestors. "Shenism" as a term
was first published by A. J. A Elliot in 1955.[4]   Despite
being suppressed during the last two centuries of the history of
China, from the Taiping Movement to t