Unruly Gods : : Divinity and Society in China / / ed. by Robert P. Weller, Meir Shahar.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Archive (pre 2000) eBook Package
• MitwirkendeR: Baptandier, Brigitte,; Hymes, Robert,; Katz, Paul,; Sangren, P. Steven,; Shahar, Meir,; Sutton, Donald,; Weller, Robert,
• HerausgeberIn: Shahar, Meir,; Weller, Robert P.,
• Place / Publishing House: Honolulu : : University of Hawaii Press, , [1996]; ©1996
• Year of Publication: 1996
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (304 p.)

The first study in English to offer a systematic introduction to the Chinese pantheon of divinities. It challenges received wisdom about Chinese popular religion, which, until now, presented all Chinese deities as mere functionaries and bureaucrats. The essays in this volume eloquently document the existence of other metaphors that allowed Chinese gods to challenge the traditional power structures and traditional mores of Chinese society. The authors draw on a variety of disciplines and methodologies to throw light on various aspects of the Chinese supernatural. The gallery of gods and goddesses surveyed demonstrates that these deities did not reflect China's socio-political order but rather expressed and negotiated tensions within it. In addition to reflecting the existing order, Chinese gods shaped it, transformed it, and compensated for it, and, as such, their work offers fresh perspectives on the relations between divinity and society in China.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Introduction: Gods and Society in China -- 2. Personal Relations and Bureaucratic Hierarchy in Chinese Religion: Evidence from the Song Dynasty -- 3. Enlightened Alchemist or Immoral Immortal? The Growth of Lü Dongbin’s Cult in Late Imperial China -- 4. The Lady Linshui: How a Woman Became a Goddess -- 5. Myths, Gods, and Family Relations -- 6. Vernacular Fiction and the Transmission of Gods’ Cults in Late Imperial China -- 7. Transmission in Popular Religion: The Jiajiang Festival Troupe of Southern Taiwan -- 8. Matricidal Magistrates and Gambling Gods: Weak States and Strong Spirits in China -- Glossary -- Index -- Contributors