>>1079Chinese folk religion does have an afterlife, and what approximates "demigods" in classical religions.
The afterlife consists of a Celestial Bureaucracy that everyone joins after death, essentially a job you have for all eternity like watching over the grain harvest in a certain field etc. This is why ancestors are revered (similar to how Catholic Saints are prayed to for mundane issues) because your ancestor has a job managing nature stuff in our world. This "bureaucracy" is why ancestors are often depicted holding stamps, for the paperwork in the hereafter.
There are a a select few that escaped this gate– the 8 immortals– who are a popular design theme in Chinese restaurants etc. They are 'jobless' and wander around performing miracles, inventing things, testing people's, or just having fun based on their tasks. 6 men 2 women.