Jiang Wu director, Center for Buddhist Studies and professor, Department of East Asian Studies, College of Humanities, The University of Arizona, USA.

Based on years of data compilation and analysis of religious sites, this book explores the formation of Regional Religious Systems (RRS) in Greater China in unprecedented scope and depth. It addresses quantitatively the enduring historical and contemporary issues of China's deep-rooted regionalism.

Introduction: Exploring Regional Religious Systems (RRS): Theoretical and Methodological Considerations. Part One: RRS and the Spread of Religious Sites in Medieval China. 1. Making and Marking Buddhist Sacred Space: Wuyue Buddhism and its Influence in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). 2. On the Spatio-temporal Analysis of Religious Institutions: A Study of the Jinhua Prefectural Gazetteer of 1480. Part Two: RRS and the Buddhist Pilgrimage Network in Late Imperial China. 3. Traversing the "Pilgrimage Square" of Northern China in the 19th Century. 4. The Ways of Travelling: A Historical GIS Examination of the Pilgrimage Routes Centered on Mt. Jiuhua in Late Imperial China. 5. Regional Systems of Guanyin Pilgrimages in the Lower Yangtze Delta during the Ming-Qing Period (1368-1912). Part Three: Regional Analysis of Modern and Contemporary Chinese Religions. 6. Mapping the Growth of Early Yiguandao Buddha-halls. 7. Churches at the Margin: Mapping the Establishment of Protestant and Catholic Churches in China, ca. 1949-2004. 8. Spatio-temporal Analyses of Changing Religious Landscapes in China. Part Four: Regional Formation in Periphery. 9. Historical GIS and the Study of Southeast China and the Southeast Asian Chinese Diaspora. 10. Using Geospatial Technologies to Study Regional Folk Religions: The Taiwan Religion Database and Two Case Studies. 11. A Regional Systems Approach to the Origin and Spread of the Bon Religion of Tibet. Dedication. Acknowledgement. Preface by Lewis Lancaster. List of Major Chinese Administrative Regions.Chronology of Chinese history.