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Business & Economics

EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES IN MAINLAND CHINA AND TAIWAN
Li-Chen Chou, Shiue-Hung Lin, Kun-Dang Chen, Wan-Hao Zhang

ABSTRACT. In this study, we applied the database from the 2010 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) and the 2009 Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS) to investigate and compare the similarities and differences of cross-strait religious activities and contributions. The empirical results show that religious belief instilled since childhood, religious believers, and people's attitude towards religion have significant impact on participation frequency of religious activities. The results also show that personal income and household economic situation have significant impacts on religious contributions. Sample grouping estimates indicate that Taiwanese men with unemployment experiences have higher participation rate in religious activities than men without such experience. As age increases, Taiwanese women's participation rate in religious activities becomes higher but the age impact on participation rate in Mainland is not significant. In addition, the empirical data collected in Taiwan show that there is a trade-off relationship between people's income and their participation in religious activities as well as their contributions made. That is, the higher the personal income of an individual, the lower his/her participation in religious activities, but this correlation is not significant in the Chinese society.

KEYWORDS: religious participation, religious contributions, tradeoff relationship, China, Taiwan.