Mediums, Mobility, Migration: The Religion of Compassion in Southeast Asia

The Cijiao is a Chinese sectarian religion founded during the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960). Contrary to the common perception of East Asia as the cradle of Chinese religious movements, this study examines a movement that originated in colonial Malaya and subsequently spread to North America and China since the latter half of the twentieth century. This article proposes that different forms of migration and mobility among Malaysians and Singaporeans were quintessential to the Cijiao’s development within Southeast Asia and abroad. It argues that these diverse channels, methods, and periods of travel not only offered new avenues for the movement’s expansion but also generated novel dynamics and reshaped this religious network. As such, the extension of the Cijiao’s global reach cannot be solely understood through the lens of a single locality. Instead, it must be seen as arising from prolonged engagement with cultural currents and competing interests spanning diverse global regions.