Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Katz, Paul R.

Titel

Ritual Alliances of the Putian Plain. Volume One: Historical Introduction to the Return of the Gods; Volume Two: A Survey of the Village Temples and Ritual Activities. (Handbook of Oriental Studies.)

Ist Teil von

• Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2012, Vol.75 (1), p.198-200

Ort / Verlag

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Erscheinungsjahr

2012

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Dean and Zheng further contribute to our understanding of Chinese social life by vividly demonstrating the vital roles of temples and festivals as "living cultural centers ... [that] are continuing successfully to negotiate the forces of capitalism and nationalism while preserving a vibrant space for the celebration of local cultural difference" (p. 3; see also pp. 8, 210-18). Another noteworthy accomplishment of Ritual Alliances is its holistic view of Chinese networks of power and the ways in which they are continuously being shaped and reshaped by lineages, commercial associations, ritual specialists, irrigation networks and local cults (pp. 8-11, 86-102, 118-37, 194-200, 221-7 and 285-339 (Zheng's essay on lineage and religion)). The authors pay special attention to the significance of Putian villagers' involvement in transnational religious networks (including those consisting of spirit-medium cults), the presence of which effectively challenges conventional wisdom on the insularity of village society (pp. 10, 39, 230-53).