Miaohui (simplified Chinese: 庙会; traditional Chinese: 廟會; lit. 'temple gatherings'; trans. "temple fairs"), also called yíngshén sàihuì (迎神赛会; 迎神賽會; "collective rituals to greet the gods"), are Chinese religious gatherings held by Miao shrines for the worship of the Chinese gods and immortals. Large-scale miaohui are usually held around the time of the Chinese New Year, or in specific temples at the birthday of the god enshrined in the temple itself. Since the development of society with importation of different cultures, the characteristic of miaohui for each dynasty also vary from time to time. For instance, in the Han dynasty, as Buddhism and Taoism has gradually formed, temple fair became a way to attract more newcomers to their community by adding performances. Activities usually include rituals celebrated in the temple, opera on a stage facing the temple, processions of the gods' images on carts throughout villages and cities, performance of musical and ritual troupes (of Taoists, sects and Confucian ritualists), blessing of offerings brought to the temple by families, and various economic activities. Besides, various foods and snacks selling in the miaohui also an attractive part for people, especially for children to join in.

Geography and local customs lead to great differences in the nature of festivals dedicated to the gods. In northern China, miaohui are usually week-long, with ceremonies held in large temples, and attended by tens of thousands of people; while in southern China, they are a much more local practice, organized by village temples or clusters of temples of different villages. In worldwide, not only China has miaohui but also other places such as Malaysia has such temple fair with similar forms and activities.

In the ancient time, the dates of temple fair were various that some would be held on the first day of the lunar new year, some temples hold the temple fair every month at the fixed date. For example, during the end of the Qing dynasty, LongFu temple had a temple fair on the first, second, ninth, and tenth day every month. The ancestor tended to schedule the temple fair as well as the "birth date" of gods during the period that farmers were not busy after harvesting, such as between spring and summer, or at the beginning of the year, or the end of the year. This is because making a celebration at that time is not only for ensuring people have leisure time to pray for gods, but also convenient for farmers and people to do the trades with each other. However, recently, along the society the date is comparatively fixed to Spring festival and Lantern Festival.

Ancestors started to hold the sacrificial rite nearby the temple in order to seek the blessing of gods. The main purpose of forming Miaohui at that time is to bring spiritual sustenance to people and benefit for social stability by exchanging mutual senses between gods and human beings. This is because people would treated god as their resident guardian and the god would protect them well if residents reciprocate by worshipping the god. Meanwhile, people would render the atmosphere by singing and dancing. Thus, at that period, Miaohui was called "Shexi".

During the Han dynasty, as while Buddhism has been transported to China, Taoism, a fundamental Chineses religious which emphasizes living in harmony with Dao, also gradually built and formed. Increasing number of people started to value and realize the importance of sacrificial rites and Miaohui. The phenomenon that appeared during the time of two religious co-existing was the competition between Buddhism and Taoism had been raised, which compete for the number of temples each religious had, the more temple they built, the more powerful they were. Thus, the increasing number of temples had been constructed, and meanwhile, more and more temple fairs had been held by each temple. Also, temple fairs would attract the masses to get more believers. Then, in its religious ceremony, the entertainment content of the audience has been added, such as dance, drama, parade, etc. In this way, not only believers would enjoy visiting temple fairs, but also many ordinary people, who were targeted as "candidates" for the religion, were willing to join for fun. Furthermore, in order to attract more people, Buddhism and Taoism even expand their influence by going out of the temple to hold the temple fair.

In the Tang dynasty, it was the openest period of China since different kinds of cultures, especially Hu people's culture, had swarmed into China massively. The purpose of Miaohui had gradually transformed from entirely sacrificing to entertainment. At the same time, Buddhist culture has an unprecedented great influence, and even becomes the most important factor in the ruling class' culture and political life, both in the South and the North. With the prevalence of Buddhism, the worship of Buddhism has become the mainstream of folk beliefs, and Buddhism has infiltrated into the temple fair, making the temple fair culture shows with more religious characteristics. Besides, in the Tang dynasties, with the rapid economic development, the Central Plains was in the leading position in the country and had a great economic and cultural prosperity. Taoist culture flourished more quickly after the emperor's advocacy. Thus, because of all these factors and developments temple fairs became prosperous.

In the Ming dynasty, the purpose of Miaohui changed dramatically, which more similar to the form of Miaohui nowadays. Promoting business development is the goal of Miaohui in this period of time. Fewer people came for sacrifice, and instead, most of the people were intended to entertain and buy and sell products, mostly were hand-made such as kites, clay figurine, and windmill. Besides, the scale of Miaohui had been expanded at that time, and then, Miaohui became more regulated and ruled by specific guilds. The norm at that period separated urban organized temple fair with countryside organized temple fair, even though the Hongwu Emperor (Emperor of Ming dynasty) did not make such rule. Since the most important and the most admired gods only in the urban temples located nearby the royal residences. Then, the orthodox and official sacrifice of the royal family only holds in the urban so that the urban had a higher hierarchy than the temple fair in the countryside.

Each temple may be dedicated to one or more gods. The most traditional and important activity to celebrate a god's birthday during Miaohui is putting statues of the god on floats and parading them around the temple. Another typical type of sacrificial ceremony is to pray for children. Women would take human or monkey-like figures made of clay to the temple to pray. Such emphasis on praying for children came from the importance of having a son to carry on the family name in feudal China.