Religious Actors

To dissect the evolution of China's religious institutions and explore the logic behind the religious psychology and behavior of Chinese people is a fundamental task for researchers of the Chinese religion, especially sociologists of Chinese religion. This chapter aims to integrate empirical studies on Chinese religion based on a review of the basic paradigms of sociology of religion to reveal the implicit dynamics of the Chinese religious landscape. By focusing on religious actors, it attempts to construct a theoretical model to explain the religious behavior of Chinese people, namely, the theory of religious group membership, in order to contribute the wisdom of a Chinese scholar to the study of religion.