Merit, Karma, and Exchange: Chinese Buddhist Mountain Tourism Company Listings on the Stock Market

Abstract

Abstract Since Mount Emei, one of the four famous Chinese Buddhist mountains, became associated with a publicly traded stock as a tourism company in 1997, other Chinese Buddhist sites in mainland China have announced plans for their own Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in China’s stock exchanges. This has elicited sharp criticism by Chinese officials and citizens denouncing these actions as greedy and against the spirit of Buddhism. However, Chinese Buddhist institutions have always extensively engaged in commercial economic activities. Attributing IPO plans’ agency to Buddhists is not straightforward due to the conflict between state actors, who control local tourist development, with others in how to present a public Buddhist image. There are differences in class perceptions of these IPOs. Examining mountain gazetteers, news articles, and public finance records, I argue Buddhist economies of merit, karma, and exchange offer alternative lenses for understanding the epitome of contemporary capitalism: engaging the stock market.