Qi Yi

How do sacred objects—traditionally created through highly ritualized and laborious processes—maintain their spiritual efficacy as they become mass-produced, digitally mediated, and embedded in global trade networks? In China’s state-regulated religious landscape, many lay practitioners bypass the institutionalized temple economy by turning to pan-Theravāda Buddhist amulets and digital rituals from Thailand. This transnational trade has reshaped Thai amulet production itself, with the emergence of mass-produced outsourcing led by Chinese industries. These shifts signal not a decline of the sacred, but its transformation through new forms of production, mediation, and practice. Amid global commerce—seen in platforms like Shein, Temu, and trading hubs like Yiwu, China—the sacred economy navigates tensions between authenticity and accessibility. This project investigates the fabrication, commodification, and digital mediation of sacred objects—particularly two-sided amulets made of clay or metal, featuring sacred figures alongside talismanic diagrams—and online rituals such as livestreamed votive ceremonies that emerged during COVID-19, when in-person worship was impossible. By tracing the lifecycle of sacred objects across transnational networks of Thai fabricators and Chinese dealers, consumers, and factory owners, alongside digital infrastructures, this research advances anthropological understandings of how authenticity transforms as sacred commodities blur boundaries between religion, market, and digital mediation.