Consists chiefly of papers presented at a conference sponsored by the Subcommittee on Research on Chinese Society of the Joint Committee on Contemporary China and held at the Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove, Calif., Oct. 11-15, 1971.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [351]-358) and index.

On the sociological study of Chinese religion / Maurice Freedman -- Religion and ritual in Lukang / Donald R. Deglopper -- Religious organization in the history of a Chinese town / Wang Shih-Ch'ing -- Village alliance temples in Hong Kong / John A. Br im -- Domestic and communal worship in Taiwan / Stephan Feuchtwang -- Gods, ghosts, and ancestors / Arthur P. Wolf -- Taiwanese architecture and the supernatural / Wang Sung-Hsing -- When a ghost becomes a god / C. Stevan Harrell -- Cantonese shamanism / Jack M. Potter -- Cosmic antagonisms: a mother-child syndrome / Marjorie Topley -- Ancestor worship and burial practices / H.G.H. Nelson -- Affines and the rituals of kinship ./ Emily M. Ahern -- The written memorial in Taoist ceremonies / Kristofer M. Schipper -- Orthodoxy and heterodoxy in Taoist ritual / Michael Saso -- Afterword / Robert J. Smith.