This research focuses on the revival of Mahayana Buddhist communities in contemporary Shanghai under the state-planned urbanization since two decades ago. The comparative study uses the “ecological model,” acknowledges the debates on religious ecology and the theories on gentrification in Chinese and American scholarship. The research has aimed to provide new insights into the dynamic reconfiguration of a diverse Buddhist revival under the condition of urbanization in Shanghai. Gentrification is a shift in an urban community toward wealthier residents and/or businesses and increasing property values.

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It is important to comprehend how existing socio-structural changes affect faith-based groups in current Shanghai. Established Mahayana Buddhist temples are pressed to find new niches when they encounter changing patterns of religious and urban identity brought on by gentrification since China’s opening up in the late 1990s. Buddhist temples are challenged to widen their offerings, find innovative ways of collaborating in their neighborhoods and with the urban Shanghai, and take on new roles and responsibilities as they engage in commercial activities, such as real estate development.

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Among the approximately 112 current recovered/revival Buddhist temples in all of Shanghai (both proper and rural), prof. Huang has conducted ethnography on major Buddhist networks involving more than 20 sites in 6 districts (Jiangan, Baoshan, Cangning, Jiading, Minhang, and Songjia). This research will also include data on both monasteries and neighborhoods in Shanghai city center.

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The project is funded by the Hong Kong Research Grant Council (2015-2018).