section_path: Features/Places of worship/Temple networks and gatherings
section_name: Temple networks and gatherings
paragraph_text: Temple networks and gatherings
  
  Chinese: 分香 Fēnxiāng, meaning an "incense division", is a term that defines both hierarchical networks of temples dedicated to a god, and the ritual process by which these networks form. These temple networks are economic and social bodies, and in certain moments of history have even taken military functions. They also represent routes of pilgrimage, with communities of devotees from the affiliated temples going up in the hierarchy to the senior temple (zumiao).
  
  When a new temple dedicated to the same god is founded, it enters the network through the ritual of division of incense. This consists in filling the incense burner of the new temple with ashes brought from the incense burner of an existing temple. The new temple is therefore spiritually affiliated to the older temple where the ashes were taken, and directly below it in the hierarchy of temples.
  
  Chinese: 廟會 Miàohuì, literally "gatherings at the temple", are "collective rituals to greet the gods" (Chinese: 迎神賽會 yíngshén sàihuì) that are held at the temples on various occasions such as the Chinese New Year or the birthday or holiday of the god enshrined in the temple. In North China they are also called Chinese: 賽會 sàihuì ("communal ritual gatherings") or Chinese: 香會 xiānghuì ("incense gatherings"), while a Chinese: 賽社 sàishè ("communal ritual body") is the association which organises such events and by extension it has become another name of the event itself.
  
  Activities include rituals, theatrical performances, processions of the gods' images throughout villages and cities, and offerings to the temples. In north China temple gatherings are generally week-long and large events attracting tens of thousands of people, while in south China they tend to be smaller and village-based events.