Bai People - Religion

Religion

Although the Bai people believe in Buddhism, they also respectively worship their village god ('Benzhu'), Nature god, the Prince of the Nanzhao regime, or even a hero of folklore. The Bai people believe in many different religions. Some of them believe in Daoism and Christianity. Most people believe in Buddhism and Benzhu Wish. Benzhu Wish is a village god that is considered to be the guardian of the village. There are a number of villages in Yunnan whose residents, based on their language and customs, would be considered Bai, if not for the fact that they are Muslim. These people are officially classified by PRC authorities as belonging to the Hui nationality, and call themselves Bai Hui ("Bai Muslims"). They usually say that their ancestors were Hui people, who fled to Bai communities after the defeat of the Panthay Rebellion in the 1860s, and have since assimilated to the Bai language and culture.

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