Temples and the religious economy

Abstract

Temples in China participate in the competition for believers and are active players in the religious economy. The managers of the most successful new temples engage in strategic decision making about marketing, promotion, innovation, and public activities to increase the visibility and appeal of their temples. We illustrate with examples and data from our studies of eight new temples to the deity Wong Tai Sin (Huang Daxian) in Guangdong and Zhejiang between the late 1980s and 2004.