NEW PUBLICATIONS IN 2023
Cao, Meng. "The Flowing of the Sacred Space: How Reciprocal Exchanges with Deities Are Affected by Urbanization." Religions 14: 187. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/rel14020187
Abstract: Although there is a consensus on religious revival in China, it must be noted that popular religion and institutional religions such as Buddhism and Daoism adopt different strategies to survive the state’s regulations. Many temples that used to facilitate the worship of local deities have to establish some form of intangible cultural heritage or emphasize the deity’s history and folklore to de-religionize. During this process, a temple may earn its lawful place to survive, but risks its communality in the village. Based on studies of rural and urban temples in Henan and Shandong provinces, in this paper, I attempt to understand people’s religiosity and how they conduct the human–deity exchange under social transformation. Popular religion is characterized by the pursuit of efficacy and its embeddedness in rural life. The traditional binary exchange with deities could be used to maintain a relationship with deities as well as offer urgent solutions, while three‐party chains of exchange not only constitute a religious gift economy but also offer a religious agent to seek answers. I argue that temples are marginalized and excluded from village life, so people need to find new means by which to continue their religious practices beyond what the state sponsors, and this has led to the flowing of sacred places.
Goossaert, Vincent. "The Social Networks of Gods in Late Imperial Spirit‐Writing Altars." Religions 14 (2023): 217. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/rel14020217
Abstract: The late imperial‐educated Chinese interacted with a very large array of gods through various means, especially spirit‐writing, for which we have abundant detailed records. While a few prominent gods have been studied in this context, there are currently no comprehensive studies of the connections between humans and gods. Using the records of thirteen different spirit‐writing altars in various parts of the Chinese world between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, this paper maps the 478 gods involved using standard social network analysis visualizations, and identifies the types of gods that played central roles (connecting many different gods and humans) and those that had fewer, more exclusive sociabilities.
Homola, Stéphanie. The Art of Fate Calculation: Practicing Divination in Taipei, Beijing, and Kaifeng. New York: Berghahn Books, 2023.
Abstract: From housewives to students and high-ranking officials, people from all social backgrounds in China and Taiwan visit fate calculation masters to learn about their destiny. How do clients assess the diviner's skills? How does one become a fortune-teller? How is a person's fate calculated? The Art of Fate Calculation explores how conceptions of fate circulate in Chinese and Taiwanese societies while resisting uniformization and institutionalization. This is not only due to the stigma of "superstition" but also to the internal dynamic of fate calculation practice and learning.
Ly, Tuan Phong, and Xiuchang Tan. "Temple Keepers in Religious Tourism Development: A Case in Macao." Journal of Heritage Tourism 18, no. 1 (2023), https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873X.2022.2134019
Abstract: Temples are important religious sites within Chinese societies. While there is a considerable body of work on the development of religious tourism and the monastic community, little research has been conducted on the temple keeper community in Chinese folk-religion temples. Temple keepers are those who take care of daily temple operations and offer related secular services and cultural events to pilgrims and visitors. Meanwhile, they also have direct contact, communication, and interaction with visitors. It is argued that the temple keeper community plays important roles in religious tourism development. Macao, with a large number of folk temples of rich heritage value, has been chosen as the case context. Adopting qualitative research methods, this paper explores temple keepers’ services and roles in Macao’s temple site management and visitor experience. The study identified that temple keepers have four roles, which are temple attendant, temple representative, cultural knowledge broker, and destination ambassador. Suggestions are given for temple management and local government for adaptive strategies in cultural site management and to enrich the visitor experience in the destination.
Zhao, Lina, and De Zheng. "Re‐Exploring Origins of the Qixiang Sacrificial Rite Practiced by the Han Army Eight Banners in Northeast China." Religions 14: 195. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14020195.
Abstract: Qixiang is a unique sacrificial culture created by the Han army eight banners in northeast China. This culture not only has elements such as shamanism and Han people burning incense, but also has military sacrificial elements. This paper argues that Qixiang is the evolution and legacy of Maji, a military sacrificial ritual in ancient China. The Han military banner people in the Qing Dynasty took Maji as the main body, combined the Manchu Shamanism with the Han incense burning, and created a cultural symbol representing their own ethnic group. At present, the study of Qixiang not only helps to understand the complexity of the development and evolution of Manchu shamanism, but also helps to reveal the ethnic identity of Han bannermen under the Eight Banners system of the Qing Dynasty.