Download or read book Chinese Religiosities written by Mayfair Mei-hui Yang and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2008-11-04 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Extraordinarily timely and useful. As China emerges as an economic and political world power that seems to have done away with religion, in fact it is witnessing a religious revival. The thoughtful essays in this book show both the historical conflicts between state authorities and religious movements and the contemporary encounters that are shaping China's future. I am aware of no other book that covers so much ground and can be used so well as an introduction to this important field." —Peter van der Veer, University of Utrecht

Download or read book Chinese Religiosities written by Mayfair Mei-hui Yang and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2008-11-04 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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

Download or read book The Religious Question in Modern China written by Vincent Goossaert and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2011-03-15 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent events—from strife in Tibet and the rapid growth of Christianity in China to the spectacular expansion of Chinese Buddhist organizations around the globe—vividly demonstrate that one cannot understand the modern Chinese world without attending closely to the question of religion. The Religious Question in Modern China highlights parallels and contrasts between historical events, political regimes, and cultural movements to explore how religion has challenged and responded to secular Chinese modernity, from 1898 to the present. Vincent Goossaert and David A. Palmer piece together the puzzle of religion in China not by looking separately at different religions in different contexts, but by writing a unified story of how religion has shaped, and in turn been shaped by, modern Chinese society. From Chinese medicine and the martial arts to communal temple cults and revivalist redemptive societies, the authors demonstrate that from the nineteenth century onward, as the Chinese state shifted, the religious landscape consistently resurfaced in a bewildering variety of old and new forms. The Religious Question in Modern China integrates historical, anthropological, and sociological perspectives in a comprehensive overview of China’s religious history that is certain to become an indispensible reference for specialists and students alike.

Download or read book Miraculous Response written by Adam Yuet Chau and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2008-07-21 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book-length ethnography of the revival of a popular religious temple in contemporary rural China examines the organizational and cultural logics that inform the staging of popular religious activities. It also explores the politics of the religious revival, detailing the relationships of village-level local activists and local state agents wtih temple associations and temple bosses. Shedding light on shifting state-society relationships in the reform era, this book is of interest to scholars and students in Asian Studies, the social sciences, and religious and ritual studies.

Download or read book Gendering Chinese Religion written by Jinhua Jia and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2014-07-31 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gender-critical consideration of women and religion in Chinese traditions from medieval to modern times. Gendering Chinese Religion marks the emergence of a subfield on women, gender, and religion in China studies. Ranging from the medieval period to the present day, this volume departs from the conventional and often male-centered categorization of Chinese religions into Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, and popular religion. It makes two compelling arguments. First, Chinese women have deployed specific religious ideas and rituals to empower themselves in various social contexts. Second, gendered perceptions and representations of Chinese religions have been indispensable to the historical and contemporary construction of social and political power. The contributors use innovative ways of discovering and applying a rich variety of sources, many previously ignored by scholars. While each of the chapters in this interdisciplinary work represents a distinct perspective, together they form a coherent dialogue about the historical importance, intellectual possibilities, and methodological protocols of this new subfield.

Download or read book The White Lotus Teachings in Chinese Religious History written by Barend ter Haar and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-09-13 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a new hypothesis for understanding the real nature of the term White Lotus Teachings. The author argues that there are actually two different phenomena covered by similar terms: from c. 1130 until 1400, a real lay Buddhist movement existed, which can be called the White Lotus movement. It enjoyed the respect of contemporary literati and religious elites. The movement used the autonym White Lotus Society, which came to be prohibited in the early Ming and was discarded as a result. After 1525, the name reappeared in the form White Lotus Teachings, but now only as a derogatory label, used by officials and literati rather than by believers themselves. As a result of this hypothesis, the history of the "White Lotus Teachings" changes from one of religious groups and magicians into one of elite ideology and religious persecution. The book is therefore important both for historians and anthropologists of Chinese religion and society, and for comparative historians interested in the ideological and social construction of "heterodoxy".

Download or read book Chinese Religion written by Xinzhong Yao and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2010-05-25 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new introduction To The field of Chinese religion and culture ideally suited to undergraduate students.

Download or read book The Religious Ethic and Mercantile Spirit in Early Modern China written by Ying-shih Yü and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2021-03-23 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why did modern capitalism not arise in late imperial China? One famous answer comes from Max Weber, whose The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism gave a canonical analysis of religious and cultural factors in early modern European economic development. In The Religions of China, Weber contended that China lacked the crucial religious impetus to capitalist growth that Protestantism gave Europe. The preeminent historian Ying-shih Yü offers a magisterial examination of religious and cultural influences in the development of China’s early modern economy, both complement and counterpoint to Weber’s inquiry. The Religious Ethic and Mercantile Spirit in Early Modern China investigates how evolving forms of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism created and promulgated their own concepts of the work ethic from the late seventh century into the Qing dynasty. The book traces how religious leaders developed the spiritual significance of labor and how merchants adopted this religious work ethic, raising their status in Chinese society. However, Yü argues, China’s early modern mercantile spirit was restricted by the imperial bureaucratic priority on social order. He challenges Marxists who championed China’s “sprouts of capitalism” during the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries as well as other modern scholars who credit Confucianism with producing dramatic economic growth in East Asian countries. Yü rejects the premise that China needed an early capitalist stage of development; moreover, the East Asian capitalism that flourished in the later half of the twentieth century was essentially part of the spread of global capitalism. Now available in English translation, this landmark work has been greatly influential among scholars in East Asia since its publication in Chinese in 1987.

Download or read book The Fifty Years That Changed Chinese Religion 1898 1948 written by Paul R. Katz and published by Association for Asian Studies. This book was released on 2020-09-30 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book demonstrates that transformative processes occurred in Chinese religions during the last decade of the Qing dynasty and the entire Republican period. Focusing on Shanghai and Zhejiang, it delves into the workings of social structures, religious practices, and personal commitments as they evolved during this period of wrenching changes.

Download or read book Popular Religious Movements and Heterodox Sects in Chinese History written by Hubert Michael Seiwert and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annotation In rough chronological order from antiquity to the 19th century, Seiwert (comparative religion, Leipzig U.) identifies and describes religious communities and movements outside the official religion. For the period before the Ming dynasty, he looks at prophecies and messianism in Han Confucianism, popular sects and the early Daoist tradition, heterodox movements in medieval Buddhism, and popular sectarianism during the Song and Yuan dynasties. He devotes the second half of the book to the Ming and Qing dynasties. Ma Xisha (world religions, Chinese Academy for the Social Sciences) collaborated on the work. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Download or read book Religion in China written by Adam Yuet Chau and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-07-12 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, there has been an astonishing revival of religious practices in China. Looking beyond numerical counts of religious practitioners, temples, and churches, anthropologist Adam Yuet Chau's vivid study explores how religion is embedded in contemporary Chinese lives and society, from personal devotion to community-wide festivals. Covering Buddhism, Daoism, and folk religion, as well as Christianity and Islam, this ethnographically rich book provides insights into the contemporary relevance of religious traditions in Chinese societies. By considering the ways in which Chinese people ‘do’ religion, Chau reveals how religious practice plays a critical role in establishing and maintaining a wide range of relationships: between people, spirits, and places; ritual service providers and their customers; the state and religious groups. He argues that relationality is the key anchor of religious lifeworlds, and this insight demands an entirely new way of approaching religion everywhere. This lively account will appeal to those studying or curious about Chinese or East Asian religions, and serves as a perfect gateway to understanding religious practices in China today.

Download or read book Chinese Christians in America written by Fenggang Yang and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2010-11-01 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christianity has become the most practiced religion among the Chinese in America, but very little solid research exists on Chinese Christians and their churches. This book is the first to explore the subject from the inside, revealing how Chinese Christians construct and reconstruct their identity--as Christians, Americans, and Chinese--in local congregations amid the radical pluralism of the late twentieth century. Today there are more than one thousand Chinese churches in the United States, most of them Protestant evangelical congregations, bringing together diasporic Chinese from diverse origins--Taiwan, Hong Kong, mainland China, and Southeast Asian countries. Fenggang Yang finds that despite the many tensions and conflicts that exist within these congregations, most individuals find ways to creatively integrate their evangelical Christian beliefs with traditional Chinese (most Confucian) values. The church becomes a place where they can selectively assimilate into American society while simultaneously preserving Chinese values and culture. Yang brings to this study unique experience as both participant and observer. Born in mainland China, he is a sociologist who converted to Christianity after coming to the United States. The heart of this book is an ethnographic study of a representative Chinese church, located in Washington, D. C., where he became a member. Throughout the book, Yang draws upon interviews with members of this congregation while making comparisons with other churches throughout the United States. Chinese Christians in America is an important addition to the literature on the experience of "new" immigrant communities.

Download or read book Popular Religion in Modern China written by Lan Li and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-03-23 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the early 1980s, China's rapid economic growth and social transformation have greatly altered the role of popular religion in the country. This book makes a new contribution to the research on the phenomenon by examining the role which popular religion has played in modern Chinese politics. Popular Religion in Modern China uses Nuo as an example of how a popular religion has been directly incorporated into the Chinese Community Party's (CCP) policies and how the religion functions as a tool to maintain socio-political stability, safeguard national unification and raise the country's cultural 'soft power' in the eyes of the world. It provides rich new material on the interplay between contemporary Chinese politics, popular religion and economic development in a rapidly changing society.

Download or read book Chinese Religious Life written by David A. Palmer and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-09-13 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offering an introduction to religion in contemporary China, the essays in this volume consider many diverse themes including religion in urban, rural and ethnic minority settings and the historical, sociological, economic and political aspects of religion on the country as a whole.

Download or read book Gendering Chinese Religion written by Jinhua Jia and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2014-07-30 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gendering Chinese Religion marks the emergence of a subfield on women, gender, and religion in China studies. Ranging from the medieval period to the present day, this volume departs from the conventional and often male-centered categorization of Chinese religions into Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, and popular religion. It makes two compelling arguments. First, Chinese women have deployed specific religious ideas and rituals to empower themselves in various social contexts. Second, gendered perceptions and representations of Chinese religions have been indispensable to the historical and contemporary construction of social and political power. The contributors use innovative ways of discovering and applying a rich variety of sources, many previously ignored by scholars. While each of the chapters in this interdisciplinary work represents a distinct perspective, together they form a coherent dialogue about the historical importance, intellectual possibilities, and methodological protocols of this new subfield.

Download or read book The Religious Condition of the Chinese written by Joseph Edkins and published by . This book was released on 1859 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book China written by John Lagerwey and published by Hong Kong University Press. This book was released on 2010-12-01 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last 40 years, our vision of Chinese culture and history has been transformed by the discovery of the role of religion in Chinese state-making and in local society. The Daoist religion, in particular, long despised as "superstitious," has recovered its place as "the native higher religion." But while the Chinese state tried from the fifth century on to construct an orthodoxy based on Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, local society everywhere carved out for itself its own geomantically defined space and organized itself around local festivals in honor of gods of its own choosing-gods who were often invented and then represented by illiterate mediums. Looking at China from the point of view of elite or popular culture therefore produces very different results.--John Lagerwey has done extensive fieldwork on local society and its festivals. This book represents a first attempt to use this new research to integrate top-down and bottom-up views of Chinese society, culture, and history. It should be of interest to a wide range of China specialists, students of religion and popular culture, as well as participants in the ongoing interdisciplinary dialogue between historians and anthropologists.--John Lagerwey is professor of Daoist history at the ?cole Pratique des Hautes ?tudes and of Chinese studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is author of Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society and History and editor of the 30-volume "Traditional Hakka Society Series" as well as the recently published four-volume set Early Chinese Religion.-----