Chapter 5 Worship of the God of Wealth and a Portrait of Rural Public Life
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Abstract
The worship of the God of Wealth (Caishen) in a rural Sichuan county reveals the complex interplay among the local folk religion, its worshipers, and the government. Unlike other neighboring folk religious temples which have registered with the official Buddhist or Daoist associations, this temple to the God of Wealth is an unregistered religious site. Because of this, temple leaders have consciously adopted strategies to ensure non-interference from the state. By constructing civic associations, such as a senior citizen center, within the temple grounds, religious leaders have clearly moved the temple from the black market, where “superstitious” groups are typically relegated, into the gray area of civic community.