Incense smoke curling skyward in a village courtyard, the rhythmic clack of wooden fish gongs in a city temple—these are just a couple of ways practitioners tap into the divine conversation of Chinese Folk Religion. Hands folded before an altar, believers often light bundles of incense as fragrant “telephone lines” to deities and ancestors. Each rising wisp carries prayers for health, fortune, or guidance.

Offerings of fruit, tea, rice cakes and even modern treats like soft drinks find their place on ancestral tablets and goddess statues. Sharing morsels with the spirit world is akin to inviting a friend to the table—harmony and respect are the name of the game. During Qingming this spring, families in Guangdong left fresh bamboo shoots next to ancestral shrines, blending age-old tradition with seasonal harvests.

Divination tools play a starring role, too. Moon blocks (jiaobei)—two crescent-shaped wooden pieces—get tossed to seek yes-or-no answers, while fortune sticks (qian) drawn from bamboo cylinders reveal poetic guidance. In Taiwan’s Longshan Temple, crowds still flock each Lunar New Year to pull these sticks, hoping for that auspicious “dragon” omen.

Spirit mediums may fall into trance, their voices channeling messages from gods like Mazu or Earth Mother. In some Fujian villages, these mediums ride sedan chairs during festivals, parading through rice paddies to bless new crops—an ancient practice that’s gamely survived modern pressures.

Rice-paper petitions, written with brush and red ink, get burned so that smoke becomes a literal carrier of wishes. Lately, livestreamed temple ceremonies have popped up on Douyin, letting overseas communities join in real time. Virtual incense? The trend’s taken off especially after the pandemic, when digital devotion bridged distances and kept the ancestral flame alive.

Dreams also serve as clandestine bulletin boards: a sudden appearance of a deity in slumber might spark a new temple offering or ritual. Whether through incense, divination, or a whispered prayer beneath lantern light, these varied channels weave together a tapestry of communication that’s as dynamic today as it was a thousand years ago.