Simply not possible. There can't be a "vacuum left by institutional faith" for the simple reason that "faith" has never been firmly established in China.
Most of what some in the west might call a "religion" (Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism) in China are really not built around "faith" and are more philosophical in nature.
Buddha and Confucius are revered as great thinkers and philosophers but not for being "supernatural" in any way.
And there is no "boom" because superstition has always been a significant part of eastern culture and tradition. For example, symbolic or "lucky" colors.
https://travelchinawith.me/china-facts/lucky-colors-in-china...
This article is colored by a western/religious viewpoint.
Buddhism has a way of getting pulled into syncretistic practices so you might go to a famous Buddhist temple and find there is a room in the back where there is a Buddha statue which is inhabited by a fox spirit (see the link in my other post) which is believed to be more effective to ask things from than the other statues. When Christianity was outlawed in Japan, Christians prayed to statues of Cannon because Cannon is a goddess of compassion a lot like Mary.
You could make the case for Chinese experiencing a spiritual vacuum like this: not long ago individuals were living in rural areas where they had folk religion in addition to officially approved Buddhism-Taoism-Confucianism. When they move to city they are cut off for these roots and could be looking for something.
My son had a Chinese friend who had bad relations with his parents, particularly his friend would ridicule his mother for growing up in a rural village where she learned that mental illness is caused by demon possession and such.
Sorry to nitpick, but it's Canon, exactly like the printer company (as well as what Taoism has in addition to a ton of uh auxiliary tracts on divination). Judging by the thousand arms*, the compassion part must have been evolved too haha. Canon used to be a masculine "demigod" of the folk religion in India**
https://global.canon/en/corporate/logo/#:~:text=The%20logo%2...
*E.g. Shiva
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalokite%C5%9Bvara
>Some have suggested that Avalokiteśvara, along with many other supernatural beings in Buddhism, was a borrowing or absorption by Mahayana Buddhism of one or more deities from Hinduism, in particular Shiva or Vishnu.
**I find it highly likely that scripture was "Budsplaining" an extant superstition
PaulHoule•8mo ago
https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-cult-of-the-fox/9780231133...
which are almost exactly like ‘witch doctoring’ in Africa. Note it is illegal for a bodhisattva to reincarnate without permission in China, illegal for an animal spirit to possess someone, illegal to be possessed, etc. You might be busted for having a dowsing rod or similar paraphernalia, of course there are things like
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraudulent_Mediums_Act_1951
in the west too.
gsf_emergency•8mo ago
Geohot, no doubt a terrible Convo starter, e.g., sees the link between Chinese folk religion, Catholicism and AI lol
https://geohot.github.io/blog/jekyll/update/2024/12/07/elon-... https://old.reddit.com/r/Destiny/comments/16o16d7/george_hot...
Maybe in 1990 there could have been an essay, "Canon is Catholic & Brother is Brotestant"