Religious Publishing and Print Culture in Modern China : : 1800-2012 / / ed. by Philip Clart, Gregory Adam Scott.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Contemporary Collection eBook Package
• MitwirkendeR: Berezkin, Rostislav,; Chi-on, Yau,; Chien-Chuan, Wang,; Chui-Shan Chow, Christie,; Clart, Philip,; Kam Wah Mak, George,; Katz, Paul R.,; Scott, Gregory Adam,; Tse-Hei Lee, Joseph,
• HerausgeberIn: Clart, Philip ,; Scott, Gregory Adam,
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin ;, Boston : : De Gruyter, , [2014]; ©2015
• Year of Publication: 2014
• Language: English
• Series: Religion and Society , 58
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (349 p.)

Scholarly interest in print culture and in the study of religion in modern China has increased in recent years, propelled by maturing approaches to the study of cultural history and by a growing recognition that both were important elements of China's recent past. The influence of China in the contemporary world continues to expand, and with it has come an urgent need to understand the processes by which its modern history was made. Issues of religious freedom and of religion's influence on the public sphere continue to be contentious but important subjects of scholarly work, and the role of print and textual media has not dimmed with the advent of electronic communication. This book, Religious Publishing and Print Culture in Modern China 1800-2012, speaks to these contemporary and historical issues by bringing to light the important and abiding connections between religious development and modern print culture in China. Bringing together these two subjects has a great deal of potential for producing insights that will appeal to scholars working in a range of fields, from media studies to social historians. Each chapter demonstrates how focusing on the role of publishing among religious groups in modern China generates new insights and raises new questions. They examine how religious actors understood the role of printed texts in religion, dealt with issues of translation and exegesis, produced print media that heralded social and ideological changes, and expressed new self-understandings in their published works. They also address the impact of new technologies, such as mechanized movable type and lithographic presses, in the production and meaning of religious texts. Finally, the chapters identify where religious print culture crossed confessional lines, connecting religious traditions through links of shared textual genres, commercial publishing companies, and the contributions of individual editors and authors. This book thus demonstrates how, in embracing modern print media and building upon their longstanding traditional print cultures, Christian, Buddhist, Daoist, and popular religious groups were developed and defined in modern China. While the chapter authors are specialists in religious traditions, they have made use of recent studies into publishing and print culture, and like many of the subjects of their research, are able to make connections across religious boundaries and link together seemingly discrete traditions.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Introduction: Print Culture and Religion in Chinese History -- Chapter One: The Colportage of the Protestant Bible in Late Qing China: The Example of the British and Foreign Bible Society -- Chapter Two: Publishing Prophecy: A Century of Adventist Print Culture in China -- Chapter Three: Navigating the Sea of Scriptures: The Buddhist Studies Collectanea, 1918–1923 -- Chapter Four: Printing and Circulating “Precious Scrolls” in Early Twentieth-Century Shanghai and its Vicinity: Toward an Assessment of Multifunctionality of the Genre -- Chapter Five: The Xiantiandao and Publishing in the Guangzhou-Hong Kong Area from the Late Qing to the 1930s: The Case of the Morality Book Publisher Wenzaizi -- Chapter Six: Morality Book Publishing and Popular Religion in Modern China: A Discussion Centered on Morality Book Publishers in Shanghai -- Chapter Seven: Illuminating Goodness – Some Preliminary Considerations of Religious Publishing in Modern C -- Bibliography -- Contributors -- Index