The De teaching (
Chinese: 德教 ''Dejiao'', "teaching of virtue", the concept of
De), whose corporate name is the Church of Virtue (德教会 ''Déjiàohuì''), is a
sect
A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political, or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger group. Although the term was originally a classification for religious separated groups, it can now refer to any organization that ...
rooted in
Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...
, that was founded in 1945 in
Chaozhou,
Guangdong
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
. It is popular both in
China and amongst
expatriate Chinese populations.
[Formoso 2010.]
History
Originally a reaction of
Chaozhou shaman
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spir ...
s to the
Japanese occupation of
Chaozhou, it blossomed in the wave of religious innovation after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
.
[Formoso 2007.] After the communist takeover in
Mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
in 1949 the De faith spread to
Overseas Chinese communities in
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
and
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
.
In recent decades, it has spread back to
China and started a worldwide expansion effort.
References
Bibliography
* Bernard Formoso.
De Jiao - A Religious Movement in Contemporary China and Overseas: Purple Qi from the East'. National University of Singapore, 2010.
* Bernard Formoso
''A Wishful Thinking Claim to Global Expansion? The Case of De Jiao (德教)''. Asia Research Institute Working Paper No. 96, Université Paris X Nanterre, Sept. 2007, 27 pp.
* Kazuo Yoshihara.
Dejiao: A Chinese Religion in Southeast Asia'. ''Japanese Journal of Religious Studies'', Vol. 15, No. 2/3, ''Folk Religion and Religious Organizations in Asia'' (Jun. - Sep., 1988), pp. 199–221. Published by: Nanzan University
* Chee Beng Tan.
The Development and Distribution of Dejiao Associations in Malaysia and Singapore, A Study on a Religious Organization'. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Occasional Paper n. 79. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1985.
External links
Main website
{{Authority control
Chinese salvationist religions
East Asian religions
Religion in Taiwan