Chinese people are flocking to temples to burn incense in the hope of better luck and wealth at the start of the Year of the Snake despite the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s disapproval of “superstitious” practices, as they seek psychological solace amid a bleak economy, commentators told RFA Mandarin in recent interviews.
Some 40,000 people lined up for several hours outside Beijing’s Tibetan Buddhist Lama Temple in temperatures of minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) on Jan. 28, the eve of Lunar New Year, with the authorities dispatching police to maintain order, local media reported.
All this despite recent government bans on the burning of offerings as part of Chinese folk religion.
Many of the temple-goers were younger people in need of a boost to their personal luck and prosperity, as suggested in the viral hit pop song about being young and poor by Li Ermeng from October 2023.
As China copes with widespread youth unemployment and a flagging economy, Li’s jaunty pop ditty sings of lying down, dropping out and burning incense in the hope of magically getting rich seems to have struck a chord.
“They’d understand what I’m suffering in the temple,” the song begins after a shrill alarm clock sound effect. “I’d rather rely on Buddha than on hard work,” Li sings.
Ticket sales up
Sales of entrance tickets to temples around the country rose three-fold in 2024 compared with the previous year, with younger people making up the bulk of new customers, according to state-backed media The Paper and travel website Ctrip.com.
Incense is burned in Chinese folk religion to open up communication with the gods and other helpful spiritual entities at graves, temples and shrines, as a way of honoring the dead and conveying the wishes and prayers of the living, particularly on major festivals.
In Shanghai, authorities imposed traffic controls in streets around Longhua Temple on Lunar New Year’s Eve, while the temple required people to make an online booking before traveling to make their offerings, according to media reports.
More than 100,000 people visited the temple on the first day of the Year of the Snake, local media reported.
RELATED STORIES
‘Lying flat’: Song about being young and poor goes viral in China
Chinese cities ban burning of ‘ghost money’ ahead of grave festival
Cash-strapped Chinese take the slow train home for Lunar New Year
Temples in other major cities were also packed, including Hangzhou’s Lingyin Temple, Suzhou’s Xiyuan Temple, Xi’an’s Daxingshan Temple and Wutaishan Temple in the northern province of Shanxi, according to Jimu News.
Superstition ban
The booming nationwide popularity of Taoist and Buddhist temples comes despite attempts by the ruling Chinese Communist Party to ban the burning of “ghost money” and other paper offerings for the dead.
The atheist ruling Chinese Communist Party has also warned media producers not to depict ghost stories and dramas based on magic, demons, and the Taoist underworld in recent years, despite a huge public appetite for such shows.
Yet state media often references traditional Chinese culture during major holidays, with the state-backed Global Times lauding temple fairs as part of China’s “intangible cultural heritage” in a recent report.
Political commentator and former Protestant “house church” pastor Guo Baosheng said the huge crowds at temples could be linked to the overall sense of economic uncertainty and people’s fears for the future.
“Religious belief happens because human rationality is limited and cannot answer some ultimate questions,” Guo told RFA Mandarin in a recent interview.
“The Chinese Communist Party is supposed to promote atheism, but people have come to depend psychologically on religion and are looking to find a sense of hope for the future,” Guo said, citing the psychological pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic downturn, and a slew of violent attacks on members of the public in recent months.
A former Chinese journalist who identified only the surname Guo for fear of reprisals said younger people in China face an unprecedented level of economic uncertainty, including the fear of getting passed over for jobs because they’re over the age of 35.
“The crisis of 35 is the worst fear for many people,” Guo said. “Work-related anxiety has increased significantly, given the limited opportunities for promotion and constant layoffs.”
Economic growth in China has been sluggish in recent years, and young people have found that their income grows only slowly, no matter how hard they work, she said.
“Then there are the very real pressures to buy an apartment, get married and provide for the elderly,” Guo said. “Young people in the workplace are gradually losing trust in the system, and feeling that there’s not much point in work, and hope to pray for good luck instead by burning incense.”
Cheng Qing, an associate professor at the History Department of Shanghai University who specializes in Buddhist studies, told the Bafen cultural podcast recently that nobody can tolerate this level of stress for long, and that many people burn incense as a form of stress relief rather than a deep and abiding faith in Buddhism.
Yet folk religion persists, despite concerted efforts under Xi Jinping to eradicate it, even among members of the ruling party.
Punishing practitioners
Last month, the party expelled eight officials for “disciplinary violations,” saying they were involved in “feudal superstitious activities.”
A 2023 report from the Pew Research Center found that some 40% of Chinese Communist Party members believe in feng shui, 24% believe in the Buddha and/or Bodhisattvas, and 10% believe in Taoist deities.
According to former pastor Guo: “This is because Communist Party members aren’t happy either, because Marxist and communism can’t solve life’s ultimate problems.”
“They too need something to lean on for psychological support, and they too are uneasy about the future,” he said.
Li Yingzhi, a human rights activist and historian living in the United States, said people in China used to place their faith in communism to solve the country’s problems, largely as the result of intense conditioning from a young age.
“The fact that so many young people and Communist Party members are burning incense and praying to Buddha and to the gods shows us that everyone is abandoning all those high-sounding statements,” Li said.
“This shows us that faith in the Chinese Communist Party has actually collapsed,” he said.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Eugene Whong.