Periodic Fasting and Religious Calendars in China, 1700–1950

Abstract: A major form of meat abstinence in modern China was the observance of periodic fasting, as distinct from permanent vegetarianism. This article explores the various forms of such observances and their evolution from late imperial times to the Republican period. It describes the religious calendars that circulated widely from the late Qing onward and identifies the most common fasting regimens (and the associated gods) that people selected from a large choice of fasting days. It then draws on narrative material to tease out how and why people adopted such regimens and to discuss debates and polemics about them. Finally, it shows that periodic fasting continued to be popular during the twentieth century, exhibiting more continuities than current studies of modern changes in the discourses about vegetarianism would suggest.