Resistance, Chaos and Control in China

Resistance, Chaos and Control in China PDF Author: Robert Paul Weller
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349132039
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Compares those active resistance movements which burst into public view in China and "cultural resistance", which instead lies unspoken in everyday action. This book argues that certain areas of life defuse attempts at cultural domination by resisting and dissolving all unified interpretation.

Resistance, Chaos and Control in China

Resistance, Chaos and Control in China PDF Author: Robert Paul Weller
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349132039
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Get Book

Book Description
Compares those active resistance movements which burst into public view in China and "cultural resistance", which instead lies unspoken in everyday action. This book argues that certain areas of life defuse attempts at cultural domination by resisting and dissolving all unified interpretation.

Moral Politics in a South Chinese Village

Moral Politics in a South Chinese Village PDF Author: Hok Bun Ku
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 1461639360
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Exploring sensitive issues often hidden to outsiders, this engaging study traces the transformation and economic development of a south China village during the first tumultuous decade of reform. Drawing on a wealth of intimate detail, Ku explores the new sense of risk and mood of insecurity experienced in the post-reform era in Ku Village, a typical hamlet beyond the margins of richer suburban areas or fertile farmland. Villagers' dissatisfaction revolves around three key issues: the rising cost of living, mounting agricultural expenses, and the forcible implementation of birth-control quotas. Faced with these daunting problems, villagers have developed an array of strategies. Their weapons include resisting policies they consider unreasonable by disregarding fees, evading taxes, and ignoring strict family planning regulations; challenging the rationale of official policies and the legitimacy of the local government and its officials; and reestablishing clan associations to supercede local Party authority. Using lively everyday narratives and compelling personal stories, Ku argues that rural people are not in fact powerless and passive; instead they have their own moral system that informs their everyday family lives, work, and political activities. Their code embodies concepts of fairness and justice, a concrete definition of the relationship between the state and its citizens, an understanding of the boundaries and responsibilities of each party, and a clear notion of what constitutes good and bad government and officials. On the basis of these principles, they may challenge existing policies and deny the authority of officials and the government, thereby legitimizing their acts of self-defense. Through his richly realized ethnography, Ku shows the reader a world of memorable, fully realized individuals striving to control their fate in an often arbitrary world.

Images of the Immortal

Images of the Immortal PDF Author: Paul R. Katz
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824862902
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
The Palace of Eternal Joy (Yongle gong) is a mammoth cult site dedicated to one of late imperial China’s most popular deities, Lu Dongbin. In one of the first book-length studies of a Chinese sacred site, Paul Katz focuses on the Palace’s role in the development of Lu's legend. This highly innovative approach takes into account the various "histories" of the Palace presented in different texts and surpasses previous scholarship by stressing the ways in which the site both reflected and produced cultural diversity. Katz breaks new ground by analyzing the texts in terms of the textuality--the processes by which they were produced, transmitted, and understood. The study begins with a detailed description of the Palace of Eternal Joy and a brief account of its history. The reader is then introduced to the cult of Lu Dongbin. Special consideration is given to various hagiographical traditions, particularly those that influenced the growth of his cult at Yongle. Throughout late imperial China, a growing number of worshipers (among them scholar-officials, Taoist priests, artisans, and dramatists) created an ever-burgeoning variety of images of Lu, ranging from a patron god of ink-makers and prostitutes to a member of that powerful yet rambunctious group of spirits known as the Eight Immortals. In this context, the author explores the Perfect Realization Taoist movement's adoption of Lu's cult during the Jin and Yuan dynasties and highlight the social and religious factors that led to Lu's immense popularity in north China during the late imperial era. Katz next looks at the four type of inscriptions found at the Palace (commemorative, official, hagiographical, and poetic) and identifies the Palace patrons who worshiped there and contributed to its growth. In the description and analysis of the Palace murals that follow, he divides these works into two types: those painted to provide a setting for, and even an object of, Taoist rituals performed at the Palace; and those used to instruct Perfect Realization Taoists and perhaps pilgrims. The final section traces the reception of the Palace texts among the people of Yongle and its environs. Here Katz examines the ways in which patrons tried to impose their representations of the Palace’s history and the cult of Lu Dongbin on other members of the community and assesses the extent to which these efforts succeeded. Images of the Immortal is richly informed by a wide reading in social, cultural, and literary theory as well as a thorough awareness of previous work in comparative and Chinese religion. Scholars of Taoism, Chinese popular religion, and art history will find it especially rewarding for its thought-provoking reinterpretation of an important religious figure and his cult.

America's Theologian Beyond America

America's Theologian Beyond America PDF Author: Victor Zhu
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197652697
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
New England theologian Jonathan Edwards came to prominence at the culmination of a dramatic paradigm shift in millennialism that had begun in the sixteenth century, declaring that a thousand-year earthly kingdom would arrive in the future. For Edwards, the land of Israel would be the ideal location of the millennial kingdom, and the people of Israel, after their restoration, would play critical and decisive roles in the millennium's commencement. Edwards's millennial vision was also cosmic, however, and included both Europe and China. Unlike his Protestant predecessors and his Puritan contemporaries, Edwards's millennialism de-centralized England and New England. Contrary to what many have argued, Edwards neither originated nor advocated the notion of the American redeemer nation. In America's Theologian Beyond America, Victor Zhu establishes the coherence of Edwards's Judeo-centric and cosmic vision of the millennial kingdom and argues that this vision is an indispensable part of Edwards's theological system. He highlights three theological loci in Edwards's millennialism: the greatness of God's divine sovereignty, the magnificence of His glory, and the capaciousness of His kingdom. Zhu demonstrates Edwards's conviction of the progressive realization of the kingdom, refuting the prevailing misinterpretation that Edwards thought the millennium was imminent. He explores Edwards's cosmic vision of the millennial kingdom, which extended from New England and Israel to China and other parts of the "heathen" world. In conclusion, Zhu examines the contemporary relevance of Edwards's millennialism in Chinese millennial movements.

Taiping Theology

Taiping Theology PDF Author: Carl S. Kilcourse
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137537280
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
This book examines the theological worldview of the Taiping Rebellion (1850–64), a Chinese revolutionary movement whose leader, Hong Xiuquan (1814–64), claimed to be the second son of God and younger brother of Jesus. Despite the profound impact of Christian books on Hong’s religious thinking, previous scholarship has neglected the localized form of Christianity that he and his closest followers created. Filling that gap in the existing literature, this book analyzes the localization of Christianity in the theology, ethics, and ritual practices of the Taipings. Carl S. Kilcourse not only reveals how Confucianism and popular religion acted as instruments of localization, but also suggests that several key aspects of the Taipings’ localized religion were inspired by terms and themes from translated Christian texts. Emphasizing this link between vernacularization and localization, Kilcourse demonstrates both the religious identity of the Taipings and their wider significance in the history of world Christianity.

Religion and Chinese Society Vol. 2

Religion and Chinese Society Vol. 2 PDF Author: John Lagerwey
Publisher: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
Thirty years ago, Hu Shih's views of Chinese society and history were representative of Sinology in general: China itself had no native religion, just local customs; its only real religion was an import, Buddhism. These views have now been completely overturned, with massive implications for our understanding not only of China but also of humanity as a whole: it is no longer possible to imagine that at least one major traditional society constructed and construed itself without reference to a non-mundane world that permeated every facet of society, and it therefore becomes indispensable for students of China to take the history of Chinese religion into account and for students of religion to take into account the Chinese experience of and Chinese categories for dealing with religious phenomena. The present volumes contain a selection of twenty-one essays presented in a conference convened jointly by the Ecole francaise d'Extreme-Orient and the Centre for the Study of Religion and Chinese Society of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, on "Religion and Chinese Society: The Transformation of a Field and Its Implications for the Study of Chinese Culture" held on May 29-June 2, 2000. The collection aims at providing as wide a coverage as possible of recent research in the history of Chinese religion and seeks to draw some tentative conclusions about the implications for the study of Chinese religion and society in general.

Transition from Communism in China

Transition from Communism in China PDF Author: Edwin A. Winckler
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
ISBN: 9781555878085
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
Looks at China's transition in comparison to other transitions from communism, going beyond comparisons of whole countries to comparisons of institutional sectors, and compares differing theoretical approaches to regime type and regime change. Subjects include Leninist adaptability in China and Taiwan, military dimensions of regime transition, economic crisis and market transition in the 1990s, principal-agent analysis of fiscal decentralization, state birth planning, and reconstituting the arts and sciences. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Social Movements in China and Hong Kong

Social Movements in China and Hong Kong PDF Author: Khun Eng Kuah
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
ISBN: 9089641319
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
Het uitgangspunt van dit boek is dat Chinese individuen van hun eigen inzet uit moeten kunnen gaan, ongeacht de beperkingen die hen door de staat worden opgelegd. Om hun belangen beter te kunnen verdedigen sluiten sommige individuen zich aan bij sociale bewegingen, die tot sociale protesten kunnen leiden.

Chinese Religiosities

Chinese Religiosities PDF Author: Mayfair Mei-hui Yang
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520916204
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 473

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Book Description
The long twentieth century in China and Taiwan has seen both a dramatic process of state-driven secularization and modernization and a vigorous revival of contemporary religious life. Chinese Religiosities explores the often vexed relationship between the modern Chinese state and religious practice. The essays in this comprehensive, multidisciplinary collection cover a wide range of traditions, including Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, Confucianism, Protestantism, Falungong, popular religion, and redemptive societies. Contributors: José Cabezón, Prasenjit Duara, Ryan Dunch, Dru C. Gladney, Vincent Goossaert, Ji Zhe, Ya-pei Kuo, Richard Madsen, Rebecca Nedostup, David Palmer, Benjamin Penny, Mayfair Mei-hui Yang

Contemporary Religions in China

Contemporary Religions in China PDF Author: Shawn Arthur
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 042981254X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Folk and popular religion is a very significant part of Chinese religious life, especially in rural areas. Contemporary Religions in China focuses on the religious activities of the lay people of contemporary China and their ideas of what it means to be "religious" and to practice "religion". Throughout, the discussion is illustrated with case studies, textboxes, images, thought questions, and further reading, which help to capture what religion is like, how and why it is practiced, and what ‘religion’ means for everyday people across China in the twenty-first century. Contemporary Religions in China is an ideal introduction to religion in China for undergraduate students of religion, Chinese studies, and anthropology.