NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM IO9 



nations and of all tribes should get ready. The wonders will be of six kinds ; 



1. There will be severe earthquakes. 



2. The sun and the moon will be darkened for five days. 



3. Great stars will fall on the earth. 



4. There will be unusually great thunders, tempests, and hailstones. 



5. The oceans and seas will overflow their banks, and sinners will be drowned. 



6. Many angels and heavenly soldiers will descend to attack evil persons. 



N. B. Any enquiries about this doctrine may be sent to the International Union 

 of Religions of Six Sages, Tao Kwang Sou, Chengtu, Szechwan, China. 



REPRINTS ARE WELCOMED 



The day of the prophesied worldwide catastrophe arrived, but 

 nothing unusual occurred. Food prepared in too large quantities 

 molded and rotted, and had to be thrown away. Protests to the 

 government of Chengtu and of Szechwan began to pour in from all 

 over China, from people who had been disturbed or excited or 

 had been inveigled out of their money. T'ang Huan-chang was ar- 

 rested and executed. 



One would naturally suppose that the death of its founder would 

 bring to an end the International Union of the Religions of Six Sages. 

 However, the descendants and followers of T'ang explained his death 

 by saying that he went to heaven, just as Jesus did, and they con- 

 tinued to send messengers, publish and scatter literature, and to solicit 

 followers. They further developed his doctrines, and changed the 

 name of the religious sect to Mu-chiao, or the Mother Religion, 

 saying that Jesus is God's son, and God must be a mother since only 

 a mother can bear a son. The number of followers of this sect in 

 1948 was very few. 



THE POPULAR OR FOLK RELIGION OF 

 SOUTHWEST CHINA 



Some oriental scholars, realizing that the dominant religion of 

 China is found in the beliefs and practices of the common people, 

 have called that religion "animism." Instead of defining it in that way, 

 I shall simply describe what I believe to be the most important traits 

 and customs that I have observed. Some of the beliefs and assump- 

 tions underlying these customs are comparatively primitive, and for 

 that reason it may seem strange that they should persist among a 

 people as cultured as the Chinese, 



One explanation is that modern science, with its naturalistic ex- 

 planations of phenomena, had not penetrated Chinese society. An- 

 other is that 95 percent of the people were illiterate. This included 



