Since the beginning of the century, the resurgence in Mainland China of what is referred to as "Confucianism" has included a "religious" dimension. The term "religious" is here used to characterise a variety of explorations where the quest for "inner peace" also echoes a concern for individual or collective destiny (anshen liming). In order to understand these phenomena better, this article first examines an individual story that provides insight into what a Confucian religious experience may be today. This example is then placed within the context of shifting categories (religion, philosophy, science) once accepted as self-evident but now being questioned by elites and other groups in society. Finally, to give a sense of various explicit projects oriented towards achieving recognition of Confucianism as an official and institutionalised religion, the article analyses three such efforts seeking to institute Confucianism either as a "religion on par with other official religions," as the "state religion", or as "civil religion".
目次
The varieties of religious experience 89 Appropriations of and challenges to modern categorisation 92 A teaching in search of categories 93 Fluidity reclaimed: The questioning of twentieth century categorisation 95 From fluidity to the dissolution of modern categories: The utopian perspective 99 A religion recognised by the state? 100 Unus inter pares: The emergence of a "sixth religion?" 100 Towards hegemony: A "state religion"? 103 A future "civil religion"? 104 Conclusion 105
