Eleven essays translated from Chinese and an introductory essay for each of the two sections offer English-speakers an opportunity to engage with the views of Chinese scholars. The first
section deals with what the introduction states is often identified as folk religion or popular religion--terminology that is "...a shorthand used by scholars in China to refer to the
particular religious tradition that most Western historians would call sectarianism, or more broadly, the White Lotus Teaching." The essays focus on "the arrival and integration of new ideas
before the Song dynasty, the coalescence of an intellectual and scriptural tradition during the Ming, and efflorescence of new organizations during the late Qing." The second section comprises
three chapters and an introduction. The subject is shamanism, a phenomenon of the 1970s, in which traditional beliefs garnered renewed attention. Discussion includes shamanism in northeast
China and divination rites in a local culture of southwest China. The volume is identified as the first in a series titled "Religious Studies in Contemporary China Collection." Annotation 穢2011
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