Heathen Chinese is the son of Chinese immigrants and is a diasporic Chinese polytheist living in the San Francisco Bay Area (stolen Ohlone land). His pseudonym is derived from a disparaging phrase used by Westerners in the 1800s to refer to the Chinese.He practices ancestor veneration, which is an extremely important component in both traditional Chinese culture and in his own personal spirituality. He tries to bring honor to his ancestors by both word and deed.He is a worshiper of the warrior god Guan Di, who has had a presence in California since the mid-1800s, and of several other gods and spirits as well.
He is interested in contributing to interfaith discourse between practitioners of various ancestral polytheist religions as well as new religions and spiritualities that demonstrate respect for the land, the dead and old cultures (both those continuously surviving and those in the process of revival). He is also interested in the history of millenarianism and in the intersection between religion and current events.
He writes the Tiger’s Leap column for The Wild Hunt.
Heathen Chinese also writes at Gods and Radicals and at heathenchinese.wordpress.com.