Ritual Alliances of the Putian Plain. Volume One
Historical Introduction to the Return of the Gods
Authors:Kenneth Dean and Zhenman ZHENG
Publisher： Brill（December 2009）
ISBN：978-90-47-42946-3
Description
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.
Contents
Preliminary Material
Chapter One. Introduction: The Survey And Its Main Findings
Chapter Two. Definitions Of Religion In China
Chapter Three. Historical Overview
Chapter Four. Contemporary Ritual Events In The Putian Plains: The Ritual Event
Chapter Five. Ritual Specialists
Chapter Six. Gods And Cults
Chapter Seven. Temples, Monasteries And Processions
Chapter Eight. Lineage And Territorial Connections
Chapter Nine. Transnational Networks
Chapter Ten. Conclusions: Ritual And Modernity
Lineage And Religion On The Putian Plains: An Analysis Based On Stone Inscriptions
Appendix One. Legends Of The Main Surnames Of The Putian Plain (Based On The Account In Zhang Qin’s Putian Xianzhi)
Appendix Two. A Recently Carved Stone Inscription From Shiting, Putian
Bibliography
Glossary
Index Of Key Terms, Proper Names, And Place Names
Maps
Images
