Page 16 - A Study of Traditional Chinese Religions in Malaysia: The Decline and the Path Towards Revitalization

who conducted the census were not able to classify TCR conclusively. The classifications
changed from one census to the other. For example, in the 1911 census, all TCR were

classified as Confucian. Such classification was not accurate since it did not represent the
other components of TCR. Subsequently, in the 1921 and 1931 censuses, British officials
did not create a category for TCR. This had caused 98.5 percent of Chinese who lived in

Malaya to be labelled as believers of "other religions" (A. B. Tan 2015). Such irregularities
indicate the British officials’ failure to understand the religious worldview of the majority of

Chinese.

Their religious worldview was not unitary and straightforward, unlike the Malays who
were Muslims or the Indians who were generally Hindus. As discussed earlier, most Chinese

have adopted a unique perspective that allows them to believe in Buddhism, Confucianism
and Taoism since ancient times. The religions’ fundamentals are different. Therefore,
classifying the religions of the Chinese has never been a straightforward affair. The

misconceptions found in the censuses of the British era might also be caused by the nature
of Chinese folk religions. This practice did not fit into the British officials' understanding of

religions (C. B. Tan 2018). They were using their Eurocentric and Abrahamic religion
standards to classify religion. In short, the Chinese religious practices were beyond their
comprehension. Consequently, there were no proper classifications for TCR.

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Table 1.1 Percentage of Chinese's religions in Federated Malay States in 1911,

1921 and 1931

Year 1911 1921 1931

Christian 1.38% 1.4% 1.3%

Islam 0.16% 0.1% 0.2%

Hinduism 0.04%

Other Religion 0.03% 98.5% 98.5%

Confucian 95.76%

Did not Respond 2.63%

Source: Adapted from Tan Ai Boay, “Who are Buddhists? The Premilinary Study Of Buddhist Faith Among the
Malaysian Chinese." The World Religious Cultures 2, 2015, 71.（陈爱梅：《谁是佛教徒？佛教徒是谁？马来西
亚华人佛教信仰探析》，《世界宗教文化》，2015 年第 2 期，第 71 页。） (A. B. Tan 2015)

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