Folk Literati, Contested Tradition, and Heritage in Contemporary China

Folk Literati, Contested Tradition, and Heritage in Contemporary China PDF Author: Ziying You
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253046394
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
In this important ethnography Ziying You explores the role of the "folk literati" in negotiating, defining, and maintaining local cultural heritage. Expanding on the idea of the elite literati—a widely studied pre-modern Chinese social group, influential in cultural production—the folk literati are defined as those who are skilled in classical Chinese, knowledgeable about local traditions, and capable of representing them in writing. The folk literati work to maintain cultural continuity, a concept that is expressed locally through the vernacular phrase: "incense is kept burning." You's research focuses on a few small villages in Hongtong County, Shanxi Province in contemporary China. Through a careful synthesis of oral interviews, participant observation, and textual analysis, You presents the important role the folk literati play in reproducing local traditions and continuing stigmatized beliefs in a community context. She demonstrates how eight folk literati have reconstructed, shifted, and negotiated local worship traditions around the ancient sage-Kings Yao and Shun as well as Ehuang and Nüying, Yao's two daughters and Shun's two wives. You highlights how these individuals' conflictive relationships have shaped and reflected different local beliefs, myths, legends, and history in the course of tradition preservation. She concludes her study by placing these local traditions in the broader context of Chinese cultural policy and UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage program, documenting how national and international discourses impact actual traditions, and the conversations about them, on the ground.

Folk Literati, Contested Tradition, and Heritage in Contemporary China

Folk Literati, Contested Tradition, and Heritage in Contemporary China PDF Author: Ziying You
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253046394
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this important ethnography Ziying You explores the role of the "folk literati" in negotiating, defining, and maintaining local cultural heritage. Expanding on the idea of the elite literati—a widely studied pre-modern Chinese social group, influential in cultural production—the folk literati are defined as those who are skilled in classical Chinese, knowledgeable about local traditions, and capable of representing them in writing. The folk literati work to maintain cultural continuity, a concept that is expressed locally through the vernacular phrase: "incense is kept burning." You's research focuses on a few small villages in Hongtong County, Shanxi Province in contemporary China. Through a careful synthesis of oral interviews, participant observation, and textual analysis, You presents the important role the folk literati play in reproducing local traditions and continuing stigmatized beliefs in a community context. She demonstrates how eight folk literati have reconstructed, shifted, and negotiated local worship traditions around the ancient sage-Kings Yao and Shun as well as Ehuang and Nüying, Yao's two daughters and Shun's two wives. You highlights how these individuals' conflictive relationships have shaped and reflected different local beliefs, myths, legends, and history in the course of tradition preservation. She concludes her study by placing these local traditions in the broader context of Chinese cultural policy and UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage program, documenting how national and international discourses impact actual traditions, and the conversations about them, on the ground.

Folk Literati, Contested Tradition, and Heritage in Contemporary China

Folk Literati, Contested Tradition, and Heritage in Contemporary China PDF Author: Ziying You
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253046386
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
In this important ethnography Ziying You explores the role of the "folk literati" in negotiating, defining, and maintaining local cultural heritage. Expanding on the idea of the elite literati—a widely studied pre-modern Chinese social group, influential in cultural production—the folk literati are defined as those who are skilled in classical Chinese, knowledgeable about local traditions, and capable of representing them in writing. The folk literati work to maintain cultural continuity, a concept that is expressed locally through the vernacular phrase: "incense is kept burning." You's research focuses on a few small villages in Hongtong County, Shanxi Province in contemporary China. Through a careful synthesis of oral interviews, participant observation, and textual analysis, You presents the important role the folk literati play in reproducing local traditions and continuing stigmatized beliefs in a community context. She demonstrates how eight folk literati have reconstructed, shifted, and negotiated local worship traditions around the ancient sage-Kings Yao and Shun as well as Ehuang and Nüying, Yao's two daughters and Shun's two wives. You highlights how these individuals' conflictive relationships have shaped and reflected different local beliefs, myths, legends, and history in the course of tradition preservation. She concludes her study by placing these local traditions in the broader context of Chinese cultural policy and UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage program, documenting how national and international discourses impact actual traditions, and the conversations about them, on the ground.

What Folklorists Do

What Folklorists Do PDF Author: Timothy Lloyd
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253058406
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
What can you do with a folklore degree? Over six dozen folklorists, writing from their own experiences, show us. What Folklorists Do examines a wide range of professionals—both within and outside the academy, at the beginning of their careers or holding senior management positions—to demonstrate the many ways that folklore studies can shape and support the activities of those trained in it. As one of the oldest academic professions in the United States and grounded in ethnographic fieldwork, folklore has always been concerned with public service and engagement beyond the academy. Consequently, as this book demonstrates, the career applications of a training in folklore are many—advocating for local and national causes; shaping public policy; directing and serving in museums; working as journalists, publishers, textbook writers, or journal editors; directing national government programs or being involved in historic preservation; teaching undergraduate and graduate students; producing music festivals; pursuing a career in politics; or even becoming a stand-up comedian. A comprehensive guide to the range of good work carried out by today's folklorists, What Folklorists Do is essential reading for folklore students and professionals and those in positions to hire them. Audio book narrated by Walter Brown. Produced by Speechki in 2021.

Chinese Folklore Studies Today

Chinese Folklore Studies Today PDF Author: Lijun Zhang
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253044111
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
Chinese folklorists are well acquainted with the work of their English-language colleagues, but until recently the same could not be said about American scholars' knowledge of Chinese folkloristics. Chinese Folklore Studies Today aims to address this knowledge gap by illustrating the dynamics of contemporary folklore studies in China as seen through the eyes of the up-and-coming generation of scholars. Contributors to this volume focuses on topics that have long been the dominant areas of folklore studies in China, including myth, folk song, and cultural heritage, as well as topics that are new to the field, such as urban folklore and women's folklore. The ethnographic case studies presented here represent a broad range of geographic areas within mainland China and also introduce English-language readers to relevant Chinese literature on each topic, creating the foundation for further cross-cultural collaborations between English-language and Chinese folkloristics.

Living in Heritage

Living in Heritage PDF Author: Lijun Zhang
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253070988
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 187

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Book Description
Yongding County in southeast China is famous for its large, multistory communal vernacular buildings known as tulou, translated "rammed earth building." These structures were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. Living in Heritage introduces readers outside of China to this classic example of local Chinese architecture in the context of contemporary heritage preservation and tourism. Focusing on the Yongding Hakka Tulou Folk Culture Village, which is part of Hongkeng Village, author Lijun Zhang examines the on-the-ground processes and effects of heritage-making, UNESCO-inspired tourism, and how locals negotiate the dramatic transformation of their daily, social, and economic lives. Within an age of cultural change beginning at the start of the 21st century, Living in Heritage explores how the tulou phenomenon as heritage has and continues to be transformed into cultural, economic, or political capital. Through her careful study, Zhang reveals how the blurring of formerly distinct domains—private and public, local and global—gives rise to a living museum that now relies on insiders and outsiders to preserve their way of life. Living in Heritage offers an in-depth ethnographic account of the people dwelling and working within traditional tulou architecture in the 21st century.

Rats, Cats, Rogues, and Heroes

Rats, Cats, Rogues, and Heroes PDF Author: Robert J. Antony
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538169347
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
History has many untold stories. In Rats, Cats, Rogues, and Heroes the author provides glimpses into China’s hidden past through the native’s point of view. Rather than simply writing about ordinary people, this book is written from the perspective of ordinary people, how they told their own stories about themselves, their communities, and their pasts. The author examines historical consciousness as revealed in people’s everyday lives and as expressed through customary rituals, sociocultural conventions, language, and the complex symbolism of common human experiences. The focus is on ethnic groups and individuals who have been routinely discriminated against in mainstream society and treated by officials as rogues and criminals. They were denizens of the underworld of “rivers and lakes” (jianghu), a sociocultural category that includes bandits, sorcerers, conmen, and prostitutes. To get at their silent history the author spent decades conducting field research in rural areas of southern China, collecting rarely used unconventional sources—folklore, legends, myths, rumors, and hearsay—that reveal nuggets of new information and insights not found in the conventional sources in libraries and archives. This book challenges many commonplace assumptions about how academics write history by offering alternative possibilities for China’s past.

Covid-19 Responses of Local Communities around the World

Covid-19 Responses of Local Communities around the World PDF Author: Khun Eng Kuah
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000787699
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
Presenting a wide range of international case studies, the contributors to this book study the impact of Covid-19 on the risks faced by communities around the globe. Examining cases from the Americas, Europe and Asia – including Mexico, Brazil, China, India, France, and Belgium – Kuah, Guiheux, Lim and their collaborators look at how communities have coped with the social and economic impacts of the pandemic, as well as the public health concerns. Using a framework of risks, fear, and trust, they evaluate how the global health crisis has both revealed and exacerbated a deep crisis of confidence in institutions and systems around the world. In reaction to this they also look at how individuals, social groups and communities have faced fears and built trust at a more local level. The units of spatial analysis in these cases include urban cities, neighbourhoods, slum settlements, migrant camps, schools, markets and homes, for a broad spectrum of case types and rich empirical data. Essential reading for social scientists including sociologists, anthropologists and scholars of other disciplines looking to understand the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic internationally and on a multi-scalar level.

Laws of the Land

Laws of the Land PDF Author: Tristan G. Brown
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691246726
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
A groundbreaking history of fengshui’s roles in public life and law during China’s last imperial dynasty Today the term fengshui, which literally means “wind and water,” is recognized around the world. Yet few know exactly what it means, let alone its fascinating history. In Laws of the Land, Tristan Brown tells the story of the important roles—especially legal ones—played by fengshui in Chinese society during China’s last imperial dynasty, the Manchu Qing (1644–1912). Employing archives from Mainland China and Taiwan that have only recently become available, this is the first book to document fengshui’s invocations in Chinese law during the Qing dynasty. Facing a growing population, dwindling natural resources, and an overburdened rural government, judicial administrators across China grappled with disputes and petitions about fengshui in their efforts to sustain forestry, farming, mining, and city planning. Laws of the Land offers a radically new interpretation of these legal arrangements: they worked. An intelligent, considered, and sustained engagement with fengshui on the ground helped the imperial state keep the peace and maintain its legitimacy, especially during the increasingly turbulent decades of the nineteenth century. As the century came to an end, contentious debates over industrialization swept across the bureaucracy, with fengshui invoked by officials and scholars opposed to the establishment of railways, telegraphs, and foreign-owned mines. Demonstrating that the only way to understand those debates and their profound stakes is to grasp fengshui’s longstanding roles in Chinese public life, Laws of the Land rethinks key issues in the history of Chinese law, politics, science, religion, and economics.

Chinese Looks

Chinese Looks PDF Author: Sean Metzger
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253015685
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
From yellow-face performance in the 19th century to Jackie Chan in the 21st, Chinese Looks examines articles of clothing and modes of adornment as a window on how American views of China have changed in the past 150 years. Sean Metzger provides a cultural history of three iconic objects in theatrical and cinematic performance: the queue, or man's hair braid; the woman's suit known as the qipao; and the Mao suit. Each object emerges at a pivotal moment in US-China relations, indexing shifts in the balance of power between the two nations. Metzger shows how aesthetics, gender, politics, economics, and race are interwoven and argues that close examination of particular forms of dress can help us think anew about gender and modernity.

Writing Diaspora

Writing Diaspora PDF Author: Rey Chow
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 9780253207852
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
" . . . this is no doctrinaire tract but rather a concerted attempt to look at important cultural problems from a fresh perspective. . . . Chow's book is an excellent example of its type."—Discourse & Society "I believe that Rey Chow has written a powerful set of essays which offer a critical strategy for approaching questions of otherness and other societies by forcing us to constantly reassess our position." —Harry Harootunian Writing Diaspora questions aspects of cultural politics, including the legacies of European imperialism and colonialism, the media, pedagogy, literature, literacy, sexuality, intellectual labor, the uses and abuses of theory, and popularized notions about "others."