Religion in Northeast China

For this reason the region has been a hotbed for folk religious and Confucian churches, which provide a structure, clergy, scriptures and ritual to the local communities.

[6] The Way of the Return to the One, the Universal Church of the Way and its Virtue (Shanrendao), and more recently the Falun Gong,[7] have been the most successful sects in Manchuria, claiming millions of followers.

[1] The reports didn't give figures for other types of religion; 90.12% of the population may be either irreligious or involved in worship of nature deities, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, folk religious sects, and small minorities of Muslims.

The Yiguandao (一貫道 "Consistent Way") had a strong presence in the area,[9] but were especially the Guiyidao (皈依道 "Way of the Return to the One") and the Universal Church of the Way and its Virtue (also called Shanrendao) to have millions of followers in northeastern China.

Among folk religious sects, the Falun Gong was founded in the 1990s in Jilin by Li Hongzhi, and was widespread mostly in northeastern China at the time when it was outlawed by the central government.

[2] The Universal Church of the Way and its Virtue ceased to exist as a social organisation recognised by political authorities the People's Republic of China since the Communist Revolution of 1949 until recent decades.

[15][16] Since the relaxation of antireligion policies in the 1980s the movement has resurfaced and it has grown back especially in its heartland, northeast China (Manchuria),[15] where the members preach filiality and Wang Fengyi's healing methods mostly organised in the form of house churches.

[16] Lineages of local healers are organised in "farms", and successfully employ storytelling, lectures on virtue, personal confessions, and a set of five chanted affirmations modeled on the five elements.

During the period of the Japanese occupation (1931) and the Manchukuo (1932–1945) the Japanese conducted scholarly research on the local folk religion[19] and established Shinto shrines, although without trying to impose Shinto on the native populations as it was the case in occupied Korea and occupied Taiwan, as the Manchurian State was conceived as a spiritually autonomous nation.