By analyzing a Taiwanese anti-pollution movement, this papertries to shed light on the elements of folk religion in collectiveaction. The Houchin protest took place in 1987 when localpeople opposed to the further expansion of the China PetroleumCompany (CPC). This case is an important milestone in thehistory of Taiwanese environmentalism and famous for itspersistent protest over three years. In order to see how a localcommunity sustains its solidarity through localistic folk reli-gion, it is worth taking a close look at the community struc-ture prior to the protest mobilization. The next section discussesHouchin people’s reaction to the CPC’s upgrading plan. Herethe anti-pollution protest is viewed as an emergency occasionto revive the communal solidarity. Religion permeates thewhole process of their collective action by supplying ritualizedforms of contention. Religion in action is more than an instru-ment for mobilization, but rather substantially affects the move-ment goal and meaning for the participants. These highlylocalistic messages often escape outsiders’ observation. In con-clusion, the paper discusses the discovery in the light of studyon Taiwanese environmental movement.
