Chinese Religions in France
This panel proposal derives from a collaborative project that aims at providing the first
comprehensive description and analysis of religious practices among a Chinese community in
a Western country, and their impact on the host society.
The current scholarly literature on Chinese religions in the West is heavily biased
towards North America (New York, Vancouver, San Francisco, that all have old and large
Chinatowns) where the best studies of religion among migrant Chinese outside of Southeast
Asia have been conducted. Yet, even there, macro-sociological approaches seem to us to
obscure the complexity of religious practices among migrants, while studies of Chinese
migrants on the one hand and studies of “Chinese religions” among natives (such as Buddhist
and Daoist practice groups) on the other are utterly disconnected. As far as Europe is
concerned, the field is basically virgin territory. This may be explained by the fact that most
Chinese religious groups do not make themselves highly visible and therefore, do not make
identity claims comparable to those of other migrant religious groups that grab headlines on a
regular basis. Yet, as scholars, we cannot avoid the conclusion that understanding the
religious and cultural dynamics of the large and growing Chinese population in France is a
key to grasping current developments in both French society, and in the Chinese world at
large.
The panel is comprised of four papers:
1) The social significance of the Guandi festival on Reunion Island.
Live Yu-sion, Université de la Réunion <yslive@univ-reunion.fr>
Traditionally celebrated within the family or within the Chinese community, the Guandi
festival at Saint Denis de la Réunion has since 2004 been opened to the larger public with the
organization of cultural events (acrobatics, traditional dances, calligraphy shows, exotic
products fair, fashion shows, massages, etc.). This paper explores the impact of this new type
of festival on the larger Reunion population’s understanding and representation of the
Chinese community. It shows that the community’s representation depends on how people
distort and reinvent the other’s religious practices.
2) Funerary practices among the Chinese in France
Caroline Gyss, CNRS, Groupe Sociétés-Religions-Laïcités (EPHE-CNRS)
<c_gyss@hotmail.com>
Chinese tombs in French cemeteries exemplify Chinese people’s choice to settle in
France. In Paris, they are either scattered in old cemeteries such as the Père-Lachaise, or
gathered in several large sections in the suburban Thiais cemetery; but in any case, the style,
decoration and graphic material linked with these tombs give many clues to the origin and
beliefs of people buried there. Moreover, the strong presence of Chinese families at their
relatives’ tombs on calenderical festivals testifies to their will to accommodate Chinese
traditions to diasporic contexts.
3) Chinese Buddhism in France: Religion, Immigration and Globalization
JI Zhe, INALCO <jizhechine@gmail.com>
Since the end of the 1980s, various types of Chinese Buddhist places of worship have
been established in France, as a result of both the increasing immigration from the Chinese
world and the expansion of transnational Buddhist organizations. This phenomenon raises
questions not only about the globalization of religion, but also about the socio-cultural effect
of religion on globalization.
4) Chinese Temples and Gods in France
FANG Ling, CNRS, Groupe Sociétés-Religions-Laïcités (EPHE-CNRS)
<ling.fang@gsrl.cnrs.fr>
Since the 1970s, the number of ethnic Chinese from China and Southeast Asia has
grown very rapidly in France. These people do not constitute a homogeneous population, but
are distinguished by their place of origin within China. Such distinctions are expressed in
dialects used but also in religious practices. Indeed, in Chinese culture, communities (notably
kin-based, local, regional and professional ones) are organized around the worship of their
own gods. Chinese migrants as a rule take their gods with them, and first place them in their
homes and shops. Then, Chinese people from a common origin start to organize and build
shrines for these gods. A further stage is reached when several such shrines cooperate for
festivals and processions, as is now the case in the Paris 13th district Chinese New Year
parade. This paper will retrace the process of Chinese gods settling in a migrant community
as it unfold in the case of Paris, show that it evinces a remarkable vitality of Chinese
traditional religion and raise the question of its acceptance within the local religious
landscape.
Chairperson & discussant: Vincent Goossaert, EPHE-CNRS