section_path: Terminology/Attributes
section_name: Attributes
paragraph_text: Attributes
  
  Contemporary Chinese scholars have identified what they find to be the essential features of the ancient (or indigenous—ethnic) religion of China. According to Chen Xiaoyi (Chinese: 陳曉毅) local indigenous religion is the crucial factor for a harmonious "religious ecology" (Chinese: 宗教生態), that is the balance of forces in a given community. Professor Han Bingfang (Chinese: 韓秉芳) has called for a rectification of distorted names (Chinese: 正名). Distorted names are "superstitious activities" (Chinese: 迷信活動; pinyin: míxìn huódòng) or "feudal superstition" (Chinese: 封建迷信; pinyin: fēngjiàn míxìn), that were derogatorily applied to the indigenous religion by leftist policies. Christian missionaries also used the propaganda label "feudal superstition" in order to undermine their religious competitor. Han calls for the acknowledgment of the ancient Chinese religion for what it really is, the "core and soul of popular culture" (pinyin: sú wénhuà de héxīn yǔ línghún).
  
  According to Chen Jinguo (Chinese: 陳進國), the ancient Chinese religion is a core element of Chinese cultural and religious self-awareness (Chinese: 文化自覺, 信仰自覺; pinyin: wénhuà zìjué, xìnyǎng zìjué). He has proposed a theoretical definition of Chinese indigenous religion in a trinity (Chinese: 三位一體; pinyin: sānwèiyītǐ), apparently inspired to Tang Junyi 's thought: