Chapter 6 Competing Interests and Conflicting Beliefs
A Case Study of a Seaside Church in Zhejiang
In: Shades of Gray in the Changing Religious Markets of China
Author:
Cuicui
Cuicui
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Abstract
This chapter recounts a conflict between Christians and folk religious believers in a seaside community of Zhejiang. Here, local villagers opposed the Christian minority, claiming that a sudden fire in a local sacred tree was proof the construction of a new church was inauspicious. While folk religious adherents garnered support from villagers by couching their opposition in religious terms, railing against the destruction of fengshui the new church would bring, in their interaction with the state, they inched toward the red market, relying on a legal discourse and claiming the church had not followed proper procedures in gaining approval for construction.