Buddhism and Buddhists in China

‘Buddhism and Buddhists in China’ is a book by Lewis Hodous, first published in 1924, that offers a missionary-scholar’s in-depth survey of Buddhism’s arrival, establishment, and adaptation within Chinese culture. Drawing from sixteen years of experience in Fujian Province, Hodous explores how Buddhism integrated with local folk beliefs, Confucianism, Taoism and ancestor worship.

He examines its role among peasants, families and society, outlines spiritual values such as salvation, future life beliefs and ethical ideals, and even reflects on dialogue between Christianity and Chinese Buddhism from both empathetic and comparative perspectives. Balanced for its time, Hodous’s work was part of a missionary-prepared series introducing Western readers to major world religions, and today it remains valued as both a historical ethnography and a record of lived Buddhism in early modern China.