This project has developed from my research on seventeenth-century Chinese Buddhism, which focused on the rise of a new sect in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces. The regional development of this sect brought my attention to the geographical distribution of religious institutions and their relation to other cultural and social institutions. Although a large amount of data about these monasteries exists, no one has attempted to decipher the relationship among sacred geography, natural landscape, pilgrimage networks, and social and political institutions. GIS is an efficient tool to reveal the geographic pattern of religious distribution and it has the potential to add a new dimension to the way we study religion. Traditionally scholars of religion have relied on textual scholarship without the benefit of quantitative and computerized research methods. But through GIS, empirical patterns and spatial relationships hidden in massive amounts of data become evident and visualized. This project will not only provide a database of Buddhist institutions in China, but will also apply a new methodology to religious studies. ¡@ ¡@ |
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