Abstract
This research examines the diffusion process of the religious institutions of Buddhism, Daoism, and Christianity in coastal China, using the case study of Zhejiang Province since 1949. The spatial distribution dynamics and diffusion process associated with the religious establishments are presented and discussed in the GIS environment. The results reveal that the development of the religious establishments followed a hierarchical diffusion process. In addition, spatiotemporally significant agglomerations of the studied religious institutions are successfully detected.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allaway, A. W., Berkowitz, D., & D’souza, G. (2003). Spatial diffusion of a new loyalty program through a retail market. Journal of Retailing, 79(3), 137–151.
Anselin, L. (1995). Local indicators of spatial association—LISA. Geographical Analysis, 27(2), 93–115.
Chan, K. K. (2004). China’s socioeconomic changes and the implications for the religion state dynamic in China. Brigham Young University Law Review, 24(2), 325–356.
Cliff, A. D., & Ord, J. K. (1975). Space time modeling with an application to regional forecasting. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 64, 119–128.
Dean, K. (2003). Local communal religion in contemporary south east China. The China Quarterly, 174, 338–358.
Demurger, S., Sachs, J. D., Woo, W. T., Bao, S., Chang, G., & Mellinger, A. (2002). Geography, economic policy, and regional development in China. Asian Economic Papers, 1(1), 146–197.
Gregory, D., & Urry, J. (1985). Suspended animation: The stasis of diffusion theory. In D. Gregory & J. Urry (Eds.), Social relations and spatial structures (pp. 296–336). New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Hägerstrand, T. (1966). Aspects of the spatial structure of social communication and the diffusion of information. Regional Science Association: Papers, XVI, Cracow Congress 27–42.
Hägerstrand, T. (1967). Innovation diffusion as a spatial process (Postscript and translation by Allan Pred; Translated with the assistance of Greta Haag, OCLC 536383). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Jasso, H., Hodgkiss, W., Baru, C., Fountain, T., Reich, D., & Warner, K. (2009). Using 9-1-1 call data and the space-time permutation scan statistic for emergency event detection. Government Information Quarterly, 26(2), 265–274.
Kendall, D. G. (1965). Mathematical models of the spread of infection. In Medical Research Council (Ed.), Mathematics and computer sciences in biology and medicine (pp. 213–255). London: H.M. Stationary Office.
Knoke, D. (1982). The spread of municipal reform: Temporal, spatial, and social dynamics. American Journal of Sociology, 87(6), 1314–1339.
Kulldorff, M., et al. (2005). A space-time permutation scan statistic for disease outbreak detection. Plos Medicine, 2(3), 216–224.
Lam, N. S. N., Fan, M., & Liu, K. (1996). Spatial-temporal spread of the AIDS epidemic, 1982-1990: A coorelogram analysis of four regions of the United States. Geographical Analysis, 28(2), 93–107.
Land, K., Deane, G., & Blau, J. (1991). Religious pluralism and church membership: A spatial diffusion model. American Sociological Review, 56(2), 237–249.
Lee, J., Lay, J. G., Chin, W. C. B., Chi, Y. L., & Hsueh, Y. H. (2014). An experiment to model spatial diffusion processes with nearest neighbor analysis and regression curve estimation. International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research, 4(1), 1–15.
Levine, G. (1986). On the geography of religion. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 11(4), 428–440.
Morril, R., Gaile, G. L., & Threall, G. I. (1988). Spatial diffusion. SAGE scientific geography series 10. Newbury Park: SAGE Publications Inc.
Park, C. (2004). Religion and geography. In J. Hinnells (Ed.), Routledge companion to the study of religion. London: Routledge.
Rogerson, P., & Sun, Y. (2001). Spatial monitoring of geographic patterns: An application to crime analysis. Computers, Environment and Urban System, 25(6), 539–556.
Schutte, S., & Weidmann, N. B. (2011). Diffusion patterns of violence in civil wars. In L. Sanders (Ed.), Political analysis (pp. 127–157). Newport Beach: ISTE.
Stefanescu, F. (2009). Demographic evolutions between religion and politics. Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies, 8(24), 284–310.
Tita, G., & Cohen, J. (2004). Measuring spatial diffusion of shots fired activity across city neighborhoods. In M. F. Goodchild & D. G. Janelle (Eds.), Spatially integrated social science (pp. 171–204). New York: Oxford University Press.
Xie, X. (2010). Religion and modernity in China: Who is joining the three-self church and why. Journal of Church and State, 52(1), 74–93.
Yang, F. (2004). Between secularist ideology and desecularizing reality: The birth and growth of religious research in communist China. Oxford Journals, 65(2), 101–119.
Yang, F. (2006). The red, black and gray markets of religion in China. The Sociological Quarterly, 47(1), 93–122.
Ye, X. (2005). China’s religions: Retrospect and prospect. Chinese Journal of International Law, 4(2), 441–453.
Acknowledgments
This study was partially funded by the National Science Foundation (1416509).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Human and animal rights
This chapter does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhao, H., Lee, J., Ye, X. et al. Spatiotemporal analyses of religious establishments in coastal China. GeoJournal 82, 971–986 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-016-9726-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-016-9726-y