The Path to Sun Village: Gods, Ghosts, and People in a Post-Revolutionary Society
（《孙村的路：后革命时代的人鬼神》）
Author：Chongqing Wu
Translator：Matthew A. Hale
Publisher： Brill（10 July 2017）
ISBN：978-90-04-34872-1
【About the book】
This book is a product of over ten years of work. It addresses intermarriage circles, transformations of customs, the rise and fall supernatural forces, power relations among gods, ghosts and people in “synchronic communities,” and tongxiangtongye (same hometown, same industry) economies based on rural sociocultural networks in the author’s native Sun Village in Putian. The author explores the details of microhistory by examining changes and continuities in everyday life to show the grand through the minute. This exciting book possesses important theoretical significance, including reflections on binary frameworks such as state vs. society and tradition vs. modernity or revolution, along with new arguments about commonly used concepts such as “the cultural nexus of power” and “the hollowing-out of the rural.”
【Biographical note】
Wu Chongqing, Ph.D. (1991), Sun Yat-sen University, is Professor in the Department of Philosophy at that university,Director of South China Rural Research Centre, and Editor-in-Chief of Open Times. He has edited Mapping China: Peasants, Migrant Workers and InformalLabor (Brill, 2016).
【Table of contents】
Preface:A Village Path alongside China’s Highway of Development
List of Illustrations
1. Intermarriage Spheres and Affinal Networks
Part 1: Intermarriage Spheres: Social Change and the Expansion and Contraction of Intermarriage Regions
The Rural Social Space of Sun Village
The Situation of Intermarriage and Its Revisionof “Common Sense”
Why the Distance of Intermarriage is Shrinking
Part 2: Affinal Networks: Continuity andTransformation in the Conventions of Marriage and Affinal Relations
Old Conventions in the Mao Era: ProtectingTraditional Core Values of Marriage and the Family
“Walking Rites”: The Goodness of Uniting Two Surnames
Changing Conventions in the “Era of Black Marriages”and Thereafter
Conclusion: From “Many Branches”to “Deep Roots”
2. The Realms of Yin and Yang
Part 1: Synchronic Communities: Gods,Ghosts, and People in a Post-revolutionary Era
From the Imperial to the Post-revolutionary Era
“We are Both Wretched Vagabonds in a Strange Land”
“Fallen to the Earth and Crushed to Dust, Onlythe Fragrance Remains”
When the Boundary between Yin and Yang isBreached: The Persistence of Affective Bonds between Ghosts and the Living
Synchronic Communities
Appendix to Part 1 of Chapter 2
part 2: Efficacy Depending on Faith: TheScope and Cycles of Tongji Power
The Vast Distance between Heaven and the Living
“My Identity as a Woman”
Preference for Secular over SupernaturalDecision-Making
The Authority of Each Medium Lasts Two or ThreeYears
Part 3: Pretending that Gods Exist:Relations between People and Gods in Collective Rituals
Block Divination
Yuanxiao at Yongjin Temple
Welcoming the Gods
“Going Out to Run around the Territory”
“Running Across the Arena”and “Calming Down to Dismount”
“Selecting the Next Year’s Ritual Heads”
Distributing “Boy Biscuits”
The Utilitarianization of Supernatural Relationsin Collective Rituals
Part 4: A Thin Interface: The “Balanced Rationality”among Gods, People, and Horses
Keeping Pace to Entertain Gods: From “Using Horses for Work”to “Using Horses for Ritual”
The Tracks of a Thousand Troops and Ten ThousandHorses: “Horse Agents”and “Horse-Leaders”
In the Spring, Hooves Gallop Gaily:Horse-Leaders, Horse Markets, and Clients during Yuanxiao
Those on Horseback Cannot See the Situation onthe Ground: Horse-Leaders, Horses, and Gods
Society and Culture as Matrix
3 .Building Roads: “The Cultural Nexus of Power”
Accounting and the State
The Weakening of Popular Authority before 1949
Political Consolidation and the Resurgence ofReligious Authority (1949–1985)
The Interaction between Popular Authorities andState Brokers (1986 to the Present)
4. “Beyond the Boundary”: A Countermovement to the Hollowing-out ofRural China
Social Networks in a Peripheral Region
From Periphery to Center: The On-siteConcentration of Dajin Resources
Gaining the Upper Hand through Hometown-BasedEconomic Networks
The Mutual Activation of Rural Social Resourcesand Tongxiang Tongye Economy
A Countermovement against the “Hollowing-Out”of Rural China
Appendix: A Micro-History of Rural Society: Sun Village before and during theRevolutionary Period
i Livelihood
ii Epidemics
iii Clans
iv Water Resource Management
v “People’s Schools”
vi “Able-Bodied Men”
vii “Personages”
viii Modern Schools
ix Bandits
x Land Reform
xi “Fording the Famine”
xii The “Socialist Education”Campaign
xiii The Cultural Revolution
Post
Bibliography