Historical introduction to the return of the gods / by Kenneth Dean and Zheng Zhenman.

• Superior document: Handbook of Oriental studies Handbuch der Orientalistik. Section 4, China, v. 23/1
• Author: Dean, Kenneth.
• TeilnehmendeR: Zheng, Zhenman.
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Language: English
• Series: Handbuch der Orientalisk. China ; v. 23/1.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (453 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

Making ingenious use of a wide variety of sources, and old as well as modern technical resources, Kenneth Dean and Zheng Zhenman here set a new standard for an histoire totale for a coherently well-defined cultural region in China. At the same time it deals in-depth with the ongoing negotiation of modernity in Chinese village rituals. Over the past thirty years, local popular religion has been revived and re-invented in the villages of the irrigated alluvial plain of Putian, Fujian, China. Volume 1 provides a historical introduction to the formation of 153 regional ritual alliances made up of 724 villages. Early popular cults, Ming lineages, Qing multi-village alliances, late Qing spirit-medium associations, 20th century state attacks on local religion, and the role of Overseas Chinese and local communities in rebuilding the temple networks are discussed. Volume 2 surveys the current population, lineages, temples, gods, and annual rituals of these villages. Maps of each ritual alliance, the distribution of major cults and lineages, are included. Find information about a film related to the book here.

Table of Contents

pt. 1. The gods return / by Kenneth Dean -- pt. 2. Lineage and religion on the Putian Plains : an analysis based on stone inscriptions / by Zheng Zhenman ; translated by Kenneth Dean.