Chinese Religious Cultures: Historical Traditions and Modern Interpretations

Prior to the twentieth century, Chinese academia lacked the modern concept of “religion”. In classical Chinese, the term zongjiao 宗教 (religion) is composed of two separate words: zong and jiao. For instance, Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字 (Annotations on the Chinese Characters) defines zong as “to venerate the ancestral temple” 尊祖廟也 and jiao as “that which those above impart and those below emulate” 上所施下所效也. The earliest instances in ancient China where “zong” and “jiao” were used together appear in Buddhist texts. The letter Reply to Shi Fayun Refuting Fan Zhen’s Treatise on the Extinction of the Spirit 答釋法雲書難範縝神滅論, composed during the Southern Dynasties (420–589 CE), records: “Upon examining the sacred scriptures, they clearly affirm that [the spirit] is not nonexistent; one ought therefore to uphold the teachings (zongjiao) and take refuge in this affirmation of existence” 仰尋聖典，既顯言不無，但應宗教，歸依其有 (Sengyou 1924–1932, CBEAT, T52, no. 2102, p. 61a18-19). The term “zongjiao” was a term used exclusively within Buddhism, referring to the ultimate truths realized by the Buddha and the teachings he transmitted to subsequent disciples. This meaning is entirely distinct from the Western notion of religion. From the early modern period onward, Japanese scholars adopted the Sino-Japanese compound “zongjiao” as a translation of the Western term “religion”. “This translation prompted Chinese intellectuals, including Liang Qichao, Kang Youwei, and Peng Guangyou, to engage in in-depth discussions of the distinctions between religion and jiao, reflecting Chinese scholars’ conceptualization of and reflections on traditional Chinese religious beliefs, practices, and phenomena within the context of Western religious culture” (Li and Chen 2024). Only thereafter did the term “zongjiao” acquire its commonly accepted modern meaning in Chinese. Early Chinese scholarship on religion primarily categorized religions into five major faiths: Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism. However, this classification does not fully reflect the rich diversity of religious cultures found across China. Notably, “Nearly forty years since the reform and opening-up, China’s contemporary religious landscape has long transcended the traditional framework of the ‘five major religions,’ exhibiting a diverse ecology of beliefs encompassing institutional religions and folk beliefs” (Zhuo 2021, p. 222). Accordingly, the study of religion in ancient China through the lens of modern academic disciplines has persistently been complicated by ambiguities in conceptual framing and contextual grounding. Whether ancient China had “religion” in the modern sense has remained a contentious academic issue ever since the beginning of Sino-Western cultural exchanges (J. Zhang 2020, pp. 508–21). Owing to space constraints, we cannot provide a detailed discussion of this issue in the present editorial1. Few scholars would deny that China possesses rich religious cultures and enduring traditions of faith that extend far back into its history. This Special Issue brings together cutting-edge research by contemporary scholars on the historical traditions of religious culture in China.

China’s diverse religious traditions have played critical roles in shaping the development of ancient Chinese civilization and constitute an indispensable body of knowledge for understanding traditional Chinese culture. “Throughout history, religion has always served as a forerunner and guide for cultural exchanges” (Xu 2020, pp. 10–11). Chinese religion also serves as an important carrier of culture. This Special Issue centers on two dimensions of China’s religious culture: historical traditions and modern interpretations. With regard to historical traditions, Chinese religious cultures have a long and continuous history and encompass the religions of the Pre-Qin period, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, and various folk religions. Understanding the historical traditions of Chinese religions offers valuable insights into both ancient and modern Chinese society, as well as the enduring cultural exchanges between civilizations. The modern interpretations encompass perspectives informed by modern academic disciplines, methodologies, and research questions. For people living in the present age, understandings of historical traditions are inevitably shaped by modernity, which provides the framework through which these traditions are interpreted. Drawing upon contemporary specialized theories, research paradigms, and academic perspectives as analytical tools to reorganize, analyze, and interpret religious texts, ideas, rituals, and belief traditions across successive dynasties in China distinguishes this mode of scholarship from the exegetical commentaries and informal reflective writings of premodern literati. Therefore, modern interpretations of Chinese religious cultures contribute to a deeper understanding of the distinctive characteristics of Chinese civilization and the role religion has played in Chinese society and everyday life.

Religious studies in China emerged relatively late, and the academic community is currently developing modern interpretive paradigms through continuous dialogue with international peers. Over two decades ago, Mou Zhongjian 牟鐘鑒 pointed out: “In terms of the theoretical development of religious studies, Western religious studies has evolved over the past century based on research into religious histories across the globe, drawing on abundant and extensive materials. Its obvious deficiency, however, lies in the scarcity of sources on the history of Chinese religions” (Mou and Zhang 2000, pp. 2–3). Owing to years of effort, Chinese scholarship in this field has achieved remarkable progress. Nevertheless, numerous challenges remain in current research, which are summarized as follows: First, research has long adopted Western religious studies paradigms, while insufficient attention has been devoted to the development of indigenous theories. Second, while research on religious philosophy is relatively abundant, insufficient attention has been paid to related fields such as religious architecture, art, and literature. Third, academic focus has long centered on Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism, with inadequate exploration of folk religions. Finally, research perspectives remain relatively narrow. Comparative studies are rare, and international engagement is limited. This Special Ossue collects 36 original research articles contributed by scholars worldwide. Adopting interdisciplinary perspectives from religious studies, philosophy, history, literature, art, and cross-cultural communication, the papers broadly cover the core components of Chinese religious culture, including Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism), Islam, and folk religions. To a certain extent, these contributions provide supplementary perspectives and academic insights focused on the aforementioned challenges. Eleven articles address religious philosophy, four examine religious texts, six explore diverse folk beliefs, and nine engage with cross-cultural religious comparison and dialogue. In addition, the authors of six papers discuss religion in relation to literature, art, and architecture2. These researchers re-examined classic religious texts, ritual systems, ideological transformations, social functions, and cross-cultural interactions. They fill multiple research gaps concerning the historical inheritance and modern interpretation of Chinese religions and provide new theoretical and empirical references for contemporary intercultural dialogue. In terms of research themes, we broadly categorize these thirty-six papers into the following areas:

The first area comprises research on religious philosophy. Among the thirty-six papers, discussions concerning religious philosophy are the most numerous, totaling eleven articles. These studies mainly concentrate on the philosophies of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism. With respect to Buddhism, the contributions cover the following: Peng Zhou discusses the key concept of “discerning the zong” (bianzong, 辨宗) in the development of Chinese Buddhism (P. Zhou 2024). The author took the Sanlun School and Tiantai School as examples, clarifies the connotation of “discerning the zong” in the process of Buddhist sect formation, and analyzed its influence on the localization and evolution of Chinese Buddhism. Guo-Qing Wang focused on the core doctrine of the Huayan School—the four dharmadhātus (G.-Q. Wang 2025). The author first elaborated on the conceptual implications of the four dharmadhātus, then analyze interpretations of the one true dharmadhātu and the four dharmadhātus by patriarchs of the Huayan School. Yu Liu and Christoph Anderl traced the reinterpretation of the Buddhist “∴” symbol from Tiantai, Huayan, and Chan traditions to its culminating synthesis by the late Ming philosopher Fang Yizhi (Liu and Anderl 2025). The study’s key contribution is showing how Fang Yizhi reformulated this Buddhist symbol by integrating the cosmology of the Zhouyi 周易 (The Book of Changes)—specifically the Hetu and Luoshu diagrams and the concepts of the Great Ultimate and Two Modes—thereby creating a “Perfect ∴” theory that offers a novel conceptual foundation for harmonizing the Three Teachings (Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism) in late imperial China. Xunqi Zhang contributes to the academic debate over the transcendence of contemporary Humanistic Buddhism (X. Zhang 2025). Centering on the theories of Master Hsing Yun (星雲, 1927–2023), the author analyzed three dimensions of transcendence: spiritual faith, inner consciousness, and innovative inheritance of tradition. The author illustrates how Humanistic Buddhism realizes the unity of humanity and transcendence through the Middle Way and daily practice, while clarifying its theoretical system and direction of modern development. With regard to Daoist philosophy, researchers examined the following: Tiantian Yu selected Zhuangzi’s outlook on life and death as the research object (Yu 2025). The author analyzed the philosophical implications of “the transformation of all things” (wuhua, 物化) in Zhuangzi’s thought. Yu further compared Zhuangzi’s life philosophy with Henri Bergson’s theories, pointing out their similarities and differences in views on time and subjectivity. Cheng Wang studied the theoretical innovation of modern scholars integrating Buddhism and Daoism (C. Wang 2024). Wang analyzed Zhang Taiyan’s (章太炎, 1869–1936) interpretation of “chengxin” 成心 in Zhuangzi with Yogācāra consciousness-only theory and discussed the application of the “matching concepts” method in cross-religious interpretation. Lili Zhang and Peiwei Wang reinterpreted Daoist yin–yang theories and internal alchemy via feminist theories, putting forward the core concept of “the body of androgyny” (cixiongtongti 雌雄同體) (Zhang and Wang 2025). They challenge the gender essentialism and biased ecofeminist readings of Daoism and constructed a unique ontological framework that highlights the interdependence and dynamic transformation of masculine and feminine forces in Daoist cosmology and embodied practices. Yuerong Xin and Tao Xu analyzed core Daoist female alchemy (nüdan, 女丹) texts and constructed a unique pre-sexual body theory rooted in yin–yang cosmology and alchemical practices (Xin and Xu 2026). Paulos Huang and Chenqing Zhao critically challenge the essentialist assumption that tianren heyi 天人合一 (the unity of Heaven and humanity) is an inherent and unchanging virtue of traditional Chinese culture, as argued by scholars such as Lu Guolong (Huang and Zhao 2026). With regard to Confucian philosophy, the contributions cover the following Jun Zhang traced the origin and evolution of the Confucian concept of the Mandate of Heaven (Tianming, 天命) from the Shang and Zhou dynasties (c. 1600–221 BCE) to later Confucian ideological development, distinguishing its religious and humanistic dual dimensions (J. Zhang 2026). This study clarifies how the two intertwined interpretations of Tianming coexisted and functioned for the intellectual elite and the common people. Yongyong Sun and Zhenyu Zeng constructed a theoretical framework of Confucian bidirectional transcendence based on Paul Tillich’s theory of human finitude, interpreting “revering Heaven and following ancestors” (jingtian fazu 敬天法祖) as outward historical transcendence and “being serious in order to straighten one’s inner life” (jing yi zhi nei 敬以直內) as inward spiritual transcendence (Sun and Zeng 2026). Among these eleven papers, we encounter both traditional themes such as discerning the zong in Buddhism, the four dharmadhātus of Huayan philosophy, and the Confucian notion of the Mandate of Heaven, as well as modern perspectives including Daoism and gender, Zhuangzi and the philosophy of life, and transcendence in Buddhism. These themes fully embody the integration of historical traditions and modern interpretations. Notably, the Yu Liu and Christoph Anderl moved beyond conventional textual philology and revealed the encounter and intermingling of Western and Chinese thought within Buddhist interpretive frameworks. They offer a highly innovative semiotic perspective for understanding the intellectual transformation during the transition from the Ming to the Qing dynasties.

The second area of research centers on religious texts. This Special Issue includes four studies where the authors examined religious texts, focusing primarily on Buddhist scriptures and texts associated with folk beliefs. Shengtao Deng explored Huai’gan (懷感)’s doctrinal arguments in his Treatise on Resolving Doubts about the Pure Land (Shi jingtu qunyi lun 釋淨土群疑論), which refuted the objections from the Yogācāra school and the Three Stages Teaching regarding ordinary beings’ eligibility for rebirth in Amitābha’s Pure Land during early Tang China (618–683 CE) (Deng 2026). This study demonstrates that Huai’gan inherited and developed Shandao’s Pure Land thoughts, reconciled scriptural discrepancies on rebirth qualifications, highlighted the central role of bodhicitta, and ultimately established a universal, inclusive Pure Land doctrine that paved the way for the popularization of Pure Land Buddhism in medieval China. Yun Wang and Yulu Lv reinterpreted the classic motif of “Snake-Slaying” in Chan koans (gong’an, 公案) from a cultural evolution perspective (Wang and Lv 2025). The authors traced the semantic changes of this symbol across imperial narratives, folk religions, aristocratic cultivation, and Chan practice. They clarified how the folk custom of snake worship and taboo gradually evolved into a spiritual practice for eliminating delusions and attachments in Chan Buddhism. Taking Yaodi Pao Zhuang (Monk Yaodi Distills the Essence of the Zhuangzi, 藥地炮莊) as the core text, Qing Wu examined Fang Yizhi’s (方以智, 1611–1671) re-elaboration of “storehouse consciousness” (alaya-vijnana, 阿賴耶識) and his proposition that “consciousness is wisdom” (Wu 2024). Ruofei Zhou adopted an interdisciplinary approach combining religious studies, art history, and legal history to analyze the image-text system of the Qing Dynasty (1636–1911) folk belief work Yuli Baochao 玉歷寶鈔. Zhou explored its legal attributes and social governance functions as a typical “underworld legal code” (R. Zhou 2026). This study reveals how Yuli draws on real judicial symbols and establishes core legal ideas such as crime–punishment correspondence and universal equality. The authors of all four articles selected religious texts as their objects of inquiry and conducted relatively in-depth explorations of the ideas and values articulated within these works, offering valuable references for the modern interpretation of premodern texts. Notably, Ruofei Zhou’s study on the Yuli Baochao largely fills a research gap in scholarship concerning this genre of texts.

The third area includes research on cross-cultural religious comparison and dialogue. Comparative approaches remain relatively under-represented in scholarship on Chinese religious culture. Nine papers in this Special Issue center on cross-cultural religious comparison and dialogue. Zhejia Tang mainly examines the criticism by the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) of the “Unity of the Three Teachings” trend in the late Ming Dynasty (Tang 2024). The author discusses the cultural collision and dialogue between Western monotheism and Chinese pluralistic religious traditions in the late Ming Dynasty (1506–1644 CE). Yijing Zhang and Thierry Meynard examined the 17th-century Jesuit Niccolò Longobardo (龍華民, 1565–1654)’s Aristotelian–Scholastic interpretation of the Neo-Confucian concepts of li (理, principle) and qi (氣, material substance), which led him to conclude that Confucianism is a form of materialism and atheism incompatible with Christianity (Zhang and Meynard 2025). The authors’ main contribution is critically reassessing this historical interpretation, arguing that Longobardo’s decontextualized reading, which reduced li to an accident and qi to prime matter, missed meaningful philosophical comparisons. They propose an alternative perspective that finds the Neo-Confucian first cause (li) to be more compatible with the Aristotelian and Christian notion of a first principle than Longobardo allowed. Wenping Li and Jing Jing re-examined Sino-Jesuit intellectual exchanges in the late Ming Dynasty (1506–1644 CE) and shifted their focus from missionary strategies to the internal theoretical logic behind the reception of Catholicism by followers of Wang Yangming’s school (陽明學派) (Li and Jing 2026). They reveal the profound theoretical convergence between Augustine’s theories of good and evil and Wang Yangming’s ethics, and they clarify that Catholic doctrines concerning the punishment of evil and final judgment compensated for the deficiencies of Confucianism in restraining wrongdoing. Wei Mo explored the editorial work, translation theories, and translation practices of the Chinese Catholic priest and scholar Xu Zongze (徐宗澤, 1886–1947) when he served as the editor-in-chief of the Revue Catholique (shengjiaozazhi, 聖教雜誌) (Mo 2025). Mo further examined his translation ideology, terminology standardization methods, and plans for talent cultivation. Zhimei Wu and Tao Xu adopted historical and logical analytical methods to explore the formation, textual expressions, and core ideological connotations of poeticizing theology developed by T. C. Chao (趙紫宸, 1888–1979), a leading Chinese Protestant theologian (Wu and Xu 2026). They also summarized three major features of his theology: contextualization, ethicalization, and indigenization. This study reveals the unique path he took to integrate Christianity with traditional Chinese culture, providing valuable references for contemporary cross-cultural communication and the indigenization of religion. Yong Qian and Yuehua Chen systematically reviewed over fifty years (1970s–present) of Chinese research on Korean Christianity, dividing its development into three phases and analyzing core research themes, achievements, and existing methodological deficiencies (Qian and Chen 2025). The researchers constructed new theoretical models for cross-cultural religious transmission and indigenization and puts forward interdisciplinary, empirical, and international collaborative research directions to promote East Asian religious studies. Fang Du and Zhen Sun conducted a comparative historical study on the different development paths of Christianity in modern China and Korea from the 19th century to the establishment of modern nation states. Du and Sun analyzed the interactions between Christianity and local dominant ideological traditions in the two nations (Du and Sun 2026). The researchers innovatively introduced the core analytical concepts of “ontological culture” and “cultural inertia” as well as constructed a typological model of indigenous and derived ontological culture to explain the divergent localization outcomes of Christianity. Mark Kevin S. Cabural studied Confucian ethics (Cabural 2025). Starting from Matteo Ricci’s (利瑪竇, 1552–1610) On Friendship (交友論), the author discussed how the concept of love in friendship expands the ethical system based on filial piety in Confucianism. Cabural revealed the integration and collision between Western ethical thought and traditional Confucian concepts in the late Ming Dynasty (1506–1644 CE). Pan Jia examined the complex attitudes of several representative Western observers toward the Confucian Association in the early Republic of China (Jia 2025). By investigating historical material such as Kong jiao lun 孔教論 (On the Confucian Religion) and 孔教會雜誌 (The Confucian Association Monthly), the author states that Westerners’ praise for Confucianism was driven by religious integration ideas, political speculation, and translation packaging. The author reconstructed the misuse and adaptation of Western scholars’ viewpoints by Chinese scholar Chen Huanzhang (陳煥章1881–1933) and explained the complex interplay among Confucianism, the modernization process, and Western forces during the early period of the Republic of China (1912–1949 CE). Comparative religious dialogue constitutes a widely adopted methodology within international religious studies; yet, the uptake of this approach has been delayed among Chinese academic circles. The nine papers collected in this Special Issue advance the research on comparative religious dialogue from diverse perspectives and disciplinary domains. Particular attention is paid to comparisons between Confucianism and Catholicism, dialogues between Catholicism and folk religions, and comparative inquiries into Chinese and Korean Protestant studies. These topics not only facilitate the international dissemination of China’s religious culture but also provide reliable case references for transnational and cross-cultural research on religions across Southeast Asia. Notably, Zhejia Tang employed the original “Cultural Interaction and Transformation Theory” proposed by Chinese scholar Wang Xiaochao to analyze the interactions between Matteo Ricci and the Teaching of Three-in-One. Tang substantially expands the global outreach and application of indigenous theoretical frameworks developed by Chinese scholars.

The fourth category of research encompasses diverse folk beliefs. Chinese folk beliefs and their associated practices constitute a tradition stretching back thousands of years, whereas the term “religion” was introduced into China only a little over a century ago. Consequently, institutional and noninstitutional religions coexist within Chinese society (Fan et al. 2018, pp. 110–16). Folk beliefs3 have long constituted a vital, heterogeneous component of Chinese religious culture, marked by deep historical roots, widespread social influence, and multifaceted content. Yet, they have lacked systematic scholarly inquiry in modern academia. “Indigenous Chinese folk beliefs are excluded from ‘institutional religions’ or the ‘five major religions’.” (Z. Zhang 2018, pp. 14–18+157). Additionally, issues including inter-religious relations, state–religion dynamics, religion–society interactions, and religion–culture intersections were not only a core preoccupation of intellectuals in traditional Chinese society but are also embedded in the religious and philosophical foundations of folk beliefs. In short, folk religions constitute an essential component of the religious and cultural diversity of China, and academic research in this field has been neglected. This Special Issue features six papers on folk religions and early beliefs. Di Wang discusses the deep religious logic behind frequent capital relocations (qiandu, 遷都) in early China (D. Wang 2025). Unlike the eternal-city ideal of ancient Rome, ancient Chinese capitals were characterized by deliberate mobility, which was closely linked to religious beliefs, the Mandate of Heaven, and political legitimacy. Combining archaeological findings and historical documents, Wang reveals how religion assisted royal governance and public persuasion during capital migrations. Wang expands the research horizon of the intersection between ancient politics and religion. Xiangyu Liu focused on Kitchen God Beliefs (Liu 2025). Combining cultural relics, images, and documents, Liu studied the symbiotic development of the Kitchen God Belief and stove culture in the Han Dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE). Liu clarified the evolution of the Kitchen God’s identity from ancestral god to household patron god, revealling how folk beliefs were rooted in daily material life, laying a foundation for subsequent folk religious traditions. Yu Sun studied the human-headed bird motifs on Eastern Han (25–220 CE) pictorial stones from northern Shaanxi and Shandong, identifying them as the Blue Birds serving the Queen Mother of the West (西王母) and correcting previous misinterpretations of such images (Sun 2025). Drawing on the “chaîne opératoire” method and theory as well as historical records of Silk Road exchanges, Sun proves that this hybrid icon combined local owl imagery and Greco-Roman Siren elements, offering new evidence for cross-cultural artistic and mythic communication in ancient East Asia. Tingting Wang and Shanmeng He traced the three-stage transformation of Daoji’s (Jigong 濟公) image from an unorthodox Southern Song (1127–1279 CE) monk to an Uninhibited Sage and finally a recognized Arhat (Wang and He 2025). They revealed the two-way interaction between orthodox Chan Buddhism and folk religions during the Sinicization of Buddhism. Based on participant observation and interviews conducted from 2023 to 2025 in Zoucheng, Fanmeng Meng and Jinguo Chen explored the contemporary Mencius Shidian Ritual (shidian li, 釋奠禮), a provincial intangible cultural heritage, and regards its annual commemorative ceremony as a typical practice of belief-folklorism (xinsu zhuyi, 信俗主義), shaped by orthoprax performance and the construction of local heritage memory (Meng and Chen 2026). Hao Zhang and Hua Cai conducted an in-depth ethnographic study on the Yi (彝族) people’s xiō bū (ꑭꁮ) ritual in Liangshan, interpreting its religious connotations, symbolic systems, and social functions via religious anthropology and social memory theories (Zhang and Cai 2026). This study reveals the Yi’s special relational ontology and ecological wisdom, and the authors analyzed how traditional rituals adapt to modern challenges. Examining the rich and diverse folk belief traditions across China from multiple perspectives, these studies cover early primitive beliefs, the Kitchen God Belief, Yi ethnic (彝族) beliefs, human-headed bird motifs, folk religious literature, and other topics. These studies substantially fill the existing gaps in the study of folk religions. The studies on folk beliefs included in this Special Issue cover a wide range of topics, including the relationship between religion and politics, interactions between Buddhism and folk beliefs, ethnic minority faith traditions, folklore and dietary culture, as well as rituals and folk religious practices. Many of these topics remain underexplored in contemporary folk belief studies. Accordingly, these studies not only enrich the existing literature on folk beliefs but also provide empirical cases for the contemporary re-evaluation of their social functions and significance. Furthermore, these studies provide valuable references for international scholars seeking to understand the historical traditions and evolutionary changes of folk beliefs in China. For instance, research on the worship of Mencius in the Zoucheng area expands scholarly understanding of the religious nature of Confucianism and its contemporary influence.

The fifth area comprises interdisciplinary research on religion, literature, art, and architecture. Interdisciplinary inquiry poses considerable challenges to the study of Chinese religious culture, which explains why such study has long remained peripheral within mainstream academic research. This Special Issue assembles six relevant articles that explore the influences of religion on architecture, literature, and art. The studies on religion and architecture include the following: Ye Xiong re-examined the murals and inscriptions of Mogao Cave 285, verifying that the north preaching scene on the cave’s east wall features the Medicine Buddha, whose iconographic scheme is primarily derived from the Guanding Jing 《灌頂經》 rather than traditional Pure Land scriptures (Xiong 2026). This study identifies the earliest existing Medicine Buddha images dating back to the Western Wei Dynasty (535–556 CE) at the Mogao Grottoes, revises the established timeline of the Medicine Buddha cult in Dunhuang, and prompts a re-evaluation of the textual foundations for the artistic design of Mogao Cave 285. Rong Wang et al. selected Hangzhou Phoenix Mosque (fenghuangsi, 鳳凰寺) as the central case to analyze its color system, architectural features, and cultural origins, comparing it with other famous Chinese mosques to summarize regional aesthetic differences (Wang et al. 2025). This study fills the research gap in the systematic analysis of color application in Chinese Islamic architecture, recommends targeted protection and inheritance strategies, and provides valuable theoretical and practical references for the preservation and innovative development of relevant architectural heritage. Studies on religion and literature include the following: Enhai Lei and Xudong Hu drew on poems from the Song and Jin dynasties (960–1368) to analyze the idea of “three teachings syncretism” (sanjiao heyi, 三教合一) (Lei and Hu 2025). The authors classified poetic expressions of three teachings syncretism, explored the social and intellectual background of this trend, and confirmed the inclusive and harmonious value of this traditional idea for contemporary cultural construction. Ran Wei explored the infiltration of Buddhist ideological trends into literary works (Wei 2025). Wei traced the evolution of Buddhist ideas in works centered on Xuanzang’s pilgrimage for scriptures from the Tang to the Ming dynasties, verifying that the Journey to the West fully reflects the mainstream trend of “integration of Zen and Pure Land” in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty (1436–1644 CE). Wei analyzed the expression of Pure Land faith and Chan concepts in the novel, demonstrating the interactive relationship between religious trends and literary creation. Studies on religion and art chiefly cover the following: Qingling Lu et al. explored how Chan “emptiness contemplation” permeates the landscape paintings of early Qing (1636–1735 CE) monk-painter Hongren (弘仁, 1610–1663), analyzing his artistic language including forms, brushwork, composition, and poetic inscriptions to reveal the deep integration of his religious practice and artistic creation (Lu et al. 2026). Jia Xu explored how Chinese folk religion, including the worship of tian and tianming 天命 (Mandate of Heaven), traditional rituals, Confucian funeral norms, and underworld beliefs, reshapes religious connotations in the Peking opera of Hamlet (Xu and Qian 2025). The authors of these six articles examined Chinese religious culture from architectural, literary, and artistic perspectives. By adopting interdisciplinary methodologies, these researxhers break the long-standing reliance on ideological interpretation and textual analysis that prevails in religious cultural research. In particular, Ye Xiong conducted meticulous iconographic analyses and chronological verification, providing valuable new material evidence for the stylistic evolution of Buddhist statues and offering crucial empirical support for the study of Sino-foreign cultural exchanges in medieval China. Furthermore, Qingling Lu et al. creatively analyzed how poetic inscriptions, seals, brushwork language, and pictorial structures embody Chan philosophical connotations. Their work provides a theoretical reference for addressing the persistent difficulties in international scholarship on Chan art, constituting an original contribution to the study of Chinese religious culture.

This Special Issue covers a wide range of themes and enriches contemporary research on Chinese religious culture. Moving beyond the typical research paradigm that focuses merely on the Three Teachings of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, the included studies acknowledge the diversity of Chinese religious beliefs and folk religions as well as their intricate interactive networks. This Special Issue presents a multidimensional, comprehensive, and vivid picture of traditional Chinese religious culture to the international academic community. Collectively, these studies advance the scholarly research on Chinese religious culture across diverse fields, with contributions to interdisciplinary and cross-cultural investigations. Despite the achievements presented in this Special Issue, certain limitations remain. Buddhist research constitutes the largest proportion of contributions, whereas considerable attention has also been devoted to Daoism, Protestantism, Catholicism, and Confucian religious culture. By contrast, only one study considered Islam. Although seven studies, including textual studies, explored folk beliefs, these studies remain insufficient to fully demonstrate the richness and far-reaching influences of Chinese folk traditions, given the nation’s extensive religious history and diverse regional cultures4. In addition, traditional research on religious philosophy continues to dominate the academic landscape, whereas interdisciplinary studies integrating religion with literature, architecture, and art remain relatively limited. Such multidimensional perspectives are irreplaceable for understanding the enduring impacts of Chinese religious culture in contemporary contexts. The study of religious culture has broader universal value and significance because of furthering our understanding of the complex histories of human cultures, nations, social orders, and intellectual life (Liang 2020, p. 29). As such, we plan to launch a second volume of this Special Issue in 2026. We aim to further expand its distinctive academic value in two major directions: (1) broadening the coverage of Chinese religions by incorporating more studies of local religious traditions, such as the Mazu belief, which is widespread in coastal regions, as well as religious traditions shaped through cross-cultural communication, such as Nestorian Christianity (known in Chinese as Jingjiao 景教); (2) advancing comparative research on the interactive dynamics between Chinese religious culture and religious cultures across the world. The focus will be on cross-regional, cross-lingual, and cross-temporal communication pathways and indigenization mechanisms, alongside specific cases of cultural exchange involving textual translation, religious rituals, architecture, costumes, and more. We welcome original research based on firsthand documents, fieldwork, and digital humanities methodologies. Our goal is to advance the study of Chinese religious cultures and elevate it from regional scholarship to global dialogue. With an inclusive mindset, we invite cross-cultural and interdisciplinary contributions that can foster a more diverse, multidimensional and vivid understanding of traditional Chinese religious cultures.

Finally, we would like to thank the Editor-in-Chief of the journal for providing a platform for this Special Issue. We would also like to express our gratitude to the staff of the journal’s editorial department for their tremendous support during the production of this special issue. In particular, we would like to thank Bella Xu, the assistant editor of this Special Issue. We would also like to express our heartfelt gratitude to every author for their contributions.