Webinar2: Mapping Religions in China
Center on Religion and the Global East (CRGE)
Mapping Religions in China Webinar Series
Thursday April 13th, 8pm EDT (Friday April 14th 8am HKT)
Yunping Tong — Religious Geography and County-Level Sex Ratios in ChinaThis study explores the linkage between religious geography and county-level child sex ratios using the 2000 China Population Census and the 2004 China Economic Census, the most complete and recent data available on religious presence in China. Applying spatial analyses of 2,685 counties (over 90% of all counties), we find that counties with a greater presence of Daoist temples have more imbalanced (male-biased) sex ratios among children, whereas a greater presence of Buddhist temples and Islamic mosques is associated with less imbalanced sex ratios.
Brian McPhail — Local Religious Environments and the Physical Health of Older Adults in China
This study examines whether local religious environments affect the individual health of older adults in China. Using merged data from the Online Spiritual Atlas of China (OSAC) and the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), I conducted multilevel analyses to determine whether the prefecture-level presence of religion—measured by the number of religious sites—has contextual effects on individual health outcomes. The results indicate that all the major religions in China have a significant ecological effect on the self-rated health and number of chronic illnesses reported by older adults, even after accounting for individual religious identities.