Returning to the Local Pantheon: The Cult of the Neo-Confucian Scholar Wang Yangming in Contemporary China

This article explores the tension between the dual roles of Neo-Confucianism in contemporary China—as a state-sponsored cultural ideology and as a living religious tradition—through the revival of the Wang Yangming cult in Jiufeng, Fujian. In response to the nationwide promotion of Wang’s Neo-Confucianism, local residents reconstructed Wang’s shrine and revived his worship as a local deity in the fashion of popular religion. This contemporary practice departs from premodern conventions and stands in tension with the state’s framing of Wang as a secular symbol of cultural nationalism. This case study reveals the dynamic interplay between state power and local society in shaping religious life, while also highlighting the porous boundary between cultural heritage and popular religion in contemporary China. It argues that the secularization of a religious tradition may paradoxically facilitate its re-religionization, generating forms of religious practice that are unexpected from the perspective of the state.