Abstract Since the mid-1990s, Singapore’s Chinese religious landscape has seen the rapid development and popularisation of Netherworld spirit medium (tang-ki) cults based around the channelling and worship of two Underworld deities, Tua Ya Pek and Di Ya Pek. Emphasizing Earthly morality and post-mortal punishments in the Underworld, the tradition has developed a distinctive ritual and material culture. The Temple of Mysterious Virtue illustrates this culture, is broadly representative of successful tang-ki temples where both Underworld and Heaven deities are channelled in a multi-ethnic environment, and where orthodox Taoist priests and tang-ki mutually reinforce each other’s legitimacy through ritual cooperation.
{"title":"The Temple of Mysterious Virtue – 29th anniversary celebrations, December 27 2013 – Jan 31st 2014, Singapore","authors":"Fabian Graham, Fabian Graham","doi":"10.1515/CDC-2016-0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/CDC-2016-0003","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Since the mid-1990s, Singapore’s Chinese religious landscape has seen the rapid development and popularisation of Netherworld spirit medium (tang-ki) cults based around the channelling and worship of two Underworld deities, Tua Ya Pek and Di Ya Pek. Emphasizing Earthly morality and post-mortal punishments in the Underworld, the tradition has developed a distinctive ritual and material culture. The Temple of Mysterious Virtue illustrates this culture, is broadly representative of successful tang-ki temples where both Underworld and Heaven deities are channelled in a multi-ethnic environment, and where orthodox Taoist priests and tang-ki mutually reinforce each other’s legitimacy through ritual cooperation.","PeriodicalId":285588,"journal":{"name":"Cultural Diversity in China","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129450863","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Deciphering the number of Christians in China has been a particular fascination for Western scholars, church leaders, politicians, and journalists. Rodney Stark and Xiuhua Wang’s recent volume, A Star in the East: The Rise of Christianity in China, is the latest attempt to do just that. In addition, this slim volume (under 130 pages of text) attempts to provide a more precise demographic profile of Christians, both Protestant and Catholic, than population numbers alone reveal. The book begins with an overview of the state of religious belief in China in which Stark and Wang hope to avoid the “nonsense” offered by other authors by basing their discussion on “reliable statistics, properly interpreted” (pg. 2). The data from this initial chapter, which is actually based (over half of it verbatim) on a journal article by Stark and Eric Liu, discusses two recent surveys conducted in China in which the authors attempt to reconcile the fact that while many Chinese claim to have no religion, their actions may not support this assertion. After looking at religion in China in general, Stark and Wang focus on the state of Christianity. While a 2007 survey reports 2.5% of the population as Christian (about 30 million), the authors massage this number to suggest that there were “slightly more than 60 million” (p. 11) Christians in China at that time. Chapters two and three provide a bit of historical background on the situation of Christianity in China both before and after the founding of the PRC in 1949 and set the stage for Chapters four and five, which as the heart of the book look at factors such as education and urban or rural environments on the number of Chinese Christians. There are nuggets of novel statistical and analytical information found in these chapters. For example, survey results show that the religious revival in China is not predominantly rural, but that Christianity overall is growing among both rural and urban populations. As the authors summarize, “if there is an outbreak of religious fever in China, it is everywhere” (p. 95). Stark and Wang also provide statistics that reflect the role of family networks in rural conversions. As they aptly remark, “[i]n the most literal sense, in rural China, Christianity is a family affair” (p. 107). The authors further contend that higher education is positively correlated to being a Christian in today’s China. The sociological analysis of Chinese Christians is interesting, such as the assertion that conversion, as an act of conformity, usually follows social networks and family ties, or the refutation of the deprivation theory of conversion. However, these are the exact parts of the volume found in Stark’s other publications. It would be of interest for future scholars to apply such sociological analysis to local studies and actually show how conversion works along such lines in modern China. The final chapter offers projections of Chinese Christianity in the future and what this could mean for Chi
对于西方学者、教会领袖、政治家和记者来说，破解中国基督徒的数量一直是一个特别感兴趣的问题。罗德尼·斯塔克(Rodney Stark)和王秀华(Xiuhua Wang)最近的著作《东方之星:基督教在中国的兴起》(A Star in East: the Rise of Christianity in China)就是这样做的最新尝试。此外，这本薄薄的书(不到130页的文本)试图提供更精确的基督徒人口统计资料，包括新教徒和天主教徒，而不仅仅是人口数字。这本书首先概述了中国的宗教信仰状况，斯塔克和王希望避免其他作者提供的“废话”，因为他们的讨论基于“可靠的统计数据，适当地解释”(第2页)。这一章的数据实际上(超过一半的内容)是基于斯塔克和埃里克·刘的一篇期刊文章。讨论了最近在中国进行的两项调查，其中作者试图调和这样一个事实，即尽管许多中国人声称没有宗教信仰，但他们的行为可能并不支持这一说法。在考察了中国宗教的总体情况之后，斯塔克和王将重点放在了基督教的状况上。2007年的一项调查显示，中国有2.5%的人口是基督徒(约3000万)，但作者夸大了这个数字，认为当时中国的基督徒人数“略高于6000万”(第11页)。第二章和第三章提供了一些关于1949年中华人民共和国成立前后中国基督教状况的历史背景，并为第四章和第五章奠定了基础，第四章和第五章作为本书的核心，探讨了教育和城市或农村环境等因素对中国基督徒人数的影响。在这些章节中发现了一些新颖的统计和分析信息。例如，调查结果显示，中国的宗教复兴并不主要是在农村，但基督教在农村和城市人口中总体都在增长。正如作者总结的那样，“如果说中国爆发了宗教狂热，那么到处都是”(第95页)。斯塔克和王还提供了反映家庭网络在农村转变中作用的统计数据。正如他们恰当地评论的那样，“在最字面的意义上，在中国农村，基督教是一件家庭事务”(第107页)。作者进一步认为，在今天的中国，高等教育与成为基督徒正相关。对中国基督徒的社会学分析很有意思，比如认为归信是一种从众行为，通常遵循社会网络和家庭关系，或者对归信剥夺理论的反驳。然而，这些都是在斯塔克的其他出版物中发现的确切部分。未来的学者有兴趣将这种社会学分析应用于当地研究，并实际展示现代中国的转变是如何沿着这条线进行的。最后一章提供了中国基督教未来的预测，以及这对中国的意义。斯塔克和王预测，到2030年，中国的基督徒人数将接近3亿，到2040年这个数字将翻一番。对于这种增长对中国意味着什么，作者们的预测更为谨慎，但他们认为，这可能会鼓励更大程度的经济自由化和改革
{"title":"Counting Christians in China: A Critical Reading of “A Star in the East: The Rise of Christianity in China”","authors":"C. White, 白 克瑞","doi":"10.1515/CDC-2016-0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/CDC-2016-0001","url":null,"abstract":"Deciphering the number of Christians in China has been a particular fascination for Western scholars, church leaders, politicians, and journalists. Rodney Stark and Xiuhua Wang’s recent volume, A Star in the East: The Rise of Christianity in China, is the latest attempt to do just that. In addition, this slim volume (under 130 pages of text) attempts to provide a more precise demographic profile of Christians, both Protestant and Catholic, than population numbers alone reveal. The book begins with an overview of the state of religious belief in China in which Stark and Wang hope to avoid the “nonsense” offered by other authors by basing their discussion on “reliable statistics, properly interpreted” (pg. 2). The data from this initial chapter, which is actually based (over half of it verbatim) on a journal article by Stark and Eric Liu, discusses two recent surveys conducted in China in which the authors attempt to reconcile the fact that while many Chinese claim to have no religion, their actions may not support this assertion. After looking at religion in China in general, Stark and Wang focus on the state of Christianity. While a 2007 survey reports 2.5% of the population as Christian (about 30 million), the authors massage this number to suggest that there were “slightly more than 60 million” (p. 11) Christians in China at that time. Chapters two and three provide a bit of historical background on the situation of Christianity in China both before and after the founding of the PRC in 1949 and set the stage for Chapters four and five, which as the heart of the book look at factors such as education and urban or rural environments on the number of Chinese Christians. There are nuggets of novel statistical and analytical information found in these chapters. For example, survey results show that the religious revival in China is not predominantly rural, but that Christianity overall is growing among both rural and urban populations. As the authors summarize, “if there is an outbreak of religious fever in China, it is everywhere” (p. 95). Stark and Wang also provide statistics that reflect the role of family networks in rural conversions. As they aptly remark, “[i]n the most literal sense, in rural China, Christianity is a family affair” (p. 107). The authors further contend that higher education is positively correlated to being a Christian in today’s China. The sociological analysis of Chinese Christians is interesting, such as the assertion that conversion, as an act of conformity, usually follows social networks and family ties, or the refutation of the deprivation theory of conversion. However, these are the exact parts of the volume found in Stark’s other publications. It would be of interest for future scholars to apply such sociological analysis to local studies and actually show how conversion works along such lines in modern China. The final chapter offers projections of Chinese Christianity in the future and what this could mean for Chi","PeriodicalId":285588,"journal":{"name":"Cultural Diversity in China","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133840841","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Previous research has paid much attention to the conflicts between the Church of Almighty God and its exterior world but ignored the fact that the relationship between them is not always in high tension and that the church is only selectively destructive of the exterior world. By analyzing the relationships between its members and between CAG and other churches and society, this paper discusses how CAG uses high-tension practices, mainly expressed as rejecting and vandalizing the exterior world, as a development strategy to repudiate its background of Chinese traditional family ethics and obscure its sources in Western religions, thus also strengthening its followers’ commitment.
{"title":"Female-Christ Warriors: A Study of the Church of Almighty God / 征战的女基督","authors":"Liu Ling","doi":"10.1515/CDC-2015-0013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/CDC-2015-0013","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Previous research has paid much attention to the conflicts between the Church of Almighty God and its exterior world but ignored the fact that the relationship between them is not always in high tension and that the church is only selectively destructive of the exterior world. By analyzing the relationships between its members and between CAG and other churches and society, this paper discusses how CAG uses high-tension practices, mainly expressed as rejecting and vandalizing the exterior world, as a development strategy to repudiate its background of Chinese traditional family ethics and obscure its sources in Western religions, thus also strengthening its followers’ commitment.","PeriodicalId":285588,"journal":{"name":"Cultural Diversity in China","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134464674","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Concept of Social Network in Chinese Christianity / 中国基督教的社会网络 概念","authors":"Jie Kang","doi":"10.1515/CDC-2015-0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/CDC-2015-0010","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":285588,"journal":{"name":"Cultural Diversity in China","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129384217","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article examines the processes by which North Korean migrants encounter and convert to Christianity in the Sino-Korean border area and en route to South Korea. Since the mid-1990s when North Korea began suffering from severe famine, many North Koreans began crossing the border into China in search of food. It is the Korean Protestant Church that not only established the Underground Railroad through which many of the border crossers travel via China to South Korea, but that also provides various religious and non-religious services for North Koreans when they settle in South Korea. With this “Christian passage,” as I call it, and settlement, a startling 80–90 percent of the migrants identify themselves as Protestant after reaching South Korea. My ethnography asserts that their conversion should not be considered as merely a matter of a liberal individual’s ontological transformation without also considering both institutional interventions (missionary networks) and specific geopolitical conditions (the Cold War, famine, and globalization). I argue that Christianity serves as a window through which we can better understand how the complex ideological, political, and cultural tensions (i.e., nationalism, imperialism, freedom, human rights, etc.) all meet in the reconfiguration of the migrants’ identities. More precisely, through an examination of conversion as a cultural project joined with citizen making, this article sheds light on the ways in which religion both creates and demolishes North Korean-ness in favor of a national future—a Christianized reunified nation.
{"title":"Underground Railroads of Christian Conversion: North Korean Migrants and Evangelical Missionary Networks in Northeast Asia / 皈依基督教的地下通道: 北朝鲜1移民与东北亚的 新教传教","authors":"Jin-Heon Jung","doi":"10.1515/CDC-2015-0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/CDC-2015-0012","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article examines the processes by which North Korean migrants encounter and convert to Christianity in the Sino-Korean border area and en route to South Korea. Since the mid-1990s when North Korea began suffering from severe famine, many North Koreans began crossing the border into China in search of food. It is the Korean Protestant Church that not only established the Underground Railroad through which many of the border crossers travel via China to South Korea, but that also provides various religious and non-religious services for North Koreans when they settle in South Korea. With this “Christian passage,” as I call it, and settlement, a startling 80–90 percent of the migrants identify themselves as Protestant after reaching South Korea. My ethnography asserts that their conversion should not be considered as merely a matter of a liberal individual’s ontological transformation without also considering both institutional interventions (missionary networks) and specific geopolitical conditions (the Cold War, famine, and globalization). I argue that Christianity serves as a window through which we can better understand how the complex ideological, political, and cultural tensions (i.e., nationalism, imperialism, freedom, human rights, etc.) all meet in the reconfiguration of the migrants’ identities. More precisely, through an examination of conversion as a cultural project joined with citizen making, this article sheds light on the ways in which religion both creates and demolishes North Korean-ness in favor of a national future—a Christianized reunified nation.","PeriodicalId":285588,"journal":{"name":"Cultural Diversity in China","volume":"86 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123429010","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Despite having been sharply criticized and ridiculed on ecological and/or theological grounds by people both in and outside the Buddhist community for decades, fangsheng (animal release) is still one of the most popular devotional acts among Chinese Buddhists, especially urban Buddhists. In fact, to the dismay of those enlightened critics, this controversial practice may well be one of the key factors that have made Buddhism the fastest-growing religion in China in recent decades. This paper thus attempts to explain why Chinese urban Buddhists persistently favor fangsheng. It begins with a brief review of the process by which famous Buddhist monks and pious emperors constructed the classical form of animal release in China from the late fifth through the eleventh century. Then it describes several styles of animal release that are currently practiced in Nanjing, especially those being reformed and enthusiastically organized by numerous jushi (Buddhist laity) groups. After that, it discusses why fangsheng has become one of the most popular devotional practices in Nanjing. Based on participant observation and in-depth interviews, the author argues that the most remarkable advantage of fangsheng is the dramatic, sensational effects it can produce easily and reliably, which may explain why it is an invincible method of Buddhist spiritual cultivation. More precisely, fangsheng in practice is the enactment of a sensational ritual drama that represents the pilgrimage of all mortals from hell (the marketplace) to heaven (a park). Many practitioners and attendants appear to be deeply moved by witnessing the creatures chosen for fangsheng, onto which those practitioners often project themselves, saved from torture and tragic death.
{"title":"Animal Release: The Dharma Being Staged between Marketplace and Park# / 放生：在市场和公园间上演的佛法#","authors":"Der-Ruey Yang","doi":"10.1515/CDC-2015-0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/CDC-2015-0008","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Despite having been sharply criticized and ridiculed on ecological and/or theological grounds by people both in and outside the Buddhist community for decades, fangsheng (animal release) is still one of the most popular devotional acts among Chinese Buddhists, especially urban Buddhists. In fact, to the dismay of those enlightened critics, this controversial practice may well be one of the key factors that have made Buddhism the fastest-growing religion in China in recent decades. This paper thus attempts to explain why Chinese urban Buddhists persistently favor fangsheng. It begins with a brief review of the process by which famous Buddhist monks and pious emperors constructed the classical form of animal release in China from the late fifth through the eleventh century. Then it describes several styles of animal release that are currently practiced in Nanjing, especially those being reformed and enthusiastically organized by numerous jushi (Buddhist laity) groups. After that, it discusses why fangsheng has become one of the most popular devotional practices in Nanjing. Based on participant observation and in-depth interviews, the author argues that the most remarkable advantage of fangsheng is the dramatic, sensational effects it can produce easily and reliably, which may explain why it is an invincible method of Buddhist spiritual cultivation. More precisely, fangsheng in practice is the enactment of a sensational ritual drama that represents the pilgrimage of all mortals from hell (the marketplace) to heaven (a park). Many practitioners and attendants appear to be deeply moved by witnessing the creatures chosen for fangsheng, onto which those practitioners often project themselves, saved from torture and tragic death.","PeriodicalId":285588,"journal":{"name":"Cultural Diversity in China","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133864093","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract In the Lisu village of Fugong, Yunnan, Christianity does not merely serve as a theological resource with which villagers seek personal redemption. It also saturates every corner of their private and family lives, engaging directly with various issues including important ceremonies of life and other daily matters. More important, as a community itself, the local church becomes a public place. It is also an organizational foundation and resource for communal interaction and rural governance.
{"title":"Faith as Lived in Private Life and Public Space: A Lisu Village Christian Church in Fugong / 私人生活、公共空间与信仰实践——以云南福贡基督教会为中心的考察","authors":"Huang Jianbo, L. Qi","doi":"10.1515/cdc-2015-0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/cdc-2015-0014","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In the Lisu village of Fugong, Yunnan, Christianity does not merely serve as a theological resource with which villagers seek personal redemption. It also saturates every corner of their private and family lives, engaging directly with various issues including important ceremonies of life and other daily matters. More important, as a community itself, the local church becomes a public place. It is also an organizational foundation and resource for communal interaction and rural governance.","PeriodicalId":285588,"journal":{"name":"Cultural Diversity in China","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129948445","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The family is the most essential socialorganization form of traditional Yi people. With a huge number of Yi people flowing to the Pearl River delta for work, such families and their meetings have been emerging and developing in this region. A new kind of family system, based on the foreman model, represents the effect of the temporary labor market on Yi social relations. It also shows that Yi people are strengthening their social unity in response to unstable intra- or intergroup tensions by resisting the further marketization of labor forces. Therefore, the social connotation of Yi families and family meetings in the Pearl River delta has largely broken away from that in traditional Yi residential areas and is instead something new.
{"title":"Variations of Tradition: Re-creating Yi Families in the Pearl River Delta / 流变的传统：珠三角的彝人家支再造","authors":"Li Dongxu","doi":"10.1515/cdc-2015-0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/cdc-2015-0009","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The family is the most essential socialorganization form of traditional Yi people. With a huge number of Yi people flowing to the Pearl River delta for work, such families and their meetings have been emerging and developing in this region. A new kind of family system, based on the foreman model, represents the effect of the temporary labor market on Yi social relations. It also shows that Yi people are strengthening their social unity in response to unstable intra- or intergroup tensions by resisting the further marketization of labor forces. Therefore, the social connotation of Yi families and family meetings in the Pearl River delta has largely broken away from that in traditional Yi residential areas and is instead something new.","PeriodicalId":285588,"journal":{"name":"Cultural Diversity in China","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116615620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The English term “Confucianism” may refer to three different concepts in the Chinese language: the school of Confucianism, scholastic tradition of Confucianism, and the religious tradition of Confucianism. From a sociological perspective, Confucianism as an official political orthodoxy no longer exists. However, Confucianism as a cultural tradition remains, and it is expressed in various aspects of the Chinese social life, which echoes the diffused characteristics of a typical Chinese religion. In this research, we try to demonstrate that the religiousness of Confucianism fulfills the cultural and ethical needs of the on-going new religious movement in China. Also, it helps modern people in their search for a life of meaning in times of cultural crisis and social anomie.
{"title":"The Religiousness of “Confucianism”, and the Revival of Confucian Religion in China Today / 关于“儒”的宗教性与儒教在当代中国的复兴","authors":"Fan Lizhu, C. Na","doi":"10.1515/CDC-2015-0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/CDC-2015-0005","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The English term “Confucianism” may refer to three different concepts in the Chinese language: the school of Confucianism, scholastic tradition of Confucianism, and the religious tradition of Confucianism. From a sociological perspective, Confucianism as an official political orthodoxy no longer exists. However, Confucianism as a cultural tradition remains, and it is expressed in various aspects of the Chinese social life, which echoes the diffused characteristics of a typical Chinese religion. In this research, we try to demonstrate that the religiousness of Confucianism fulfills the cultural and ethical needs of the on-going new religious movement in China. Also, it helps modern people in their search for a life of meaning in times of cultural crisis and social anomie.","PeriodicalId":285588,"journal":{"name":"Cultural Diversity in China","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128632380","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Apart from their mother tongue, most Ersu people can speak their two neighboring languages, Mandarin and the Nuosu Yi language, fluently. Therefore, the Ersu people have three languages. In the beginning of the 1980s, two ethnic identities among the Ersu people emerged. Some of them recognize themselves as being of Tibetan nationality, while others requested to be recognized as a distinct minzu (nationality or ethnic group). The writing system used by the Ersu people played an essential role in the dispute. The Tibetan canons used by the religious practitioners of the Ersu people, Shuvuer, strengthened the Ersu people’s identification with the Tibetans, while the Shaaba hieroglyph used by another type of religious practitioners of the Ersu people, Shaaba, stressed the uniqueness of the Ersu culture. Focusing on the use of the two writing systems of the Ersu people, this paper offers an analysis of this kind of ethnic dispute which is based on “subjective identification” and “imagined communities” from the perspective of reconstructionist ethnic theory in anthropology.
{"title":"Three Tongues and Two Identities: A Case Study of Ersu Ethnic Identities in Sichuan, China / 三种语言和两种认同 中国四川藏族尔苏人族群认同的个案研究","authors":"Wu Da","doi":"10.1515/CDC-2015-0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/CDC-2015-0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Apart from their mother tongue, most Ersu people can speak their two neighboring languages, Mandarin and the Nuosu Yi language, fluently. Therefore, the Ersu people have three languages. In the beginning of the 1980s, two ethnic identities among the Ersu people emerged. Some of them recognize themselves as being of Tibetan nationality, while others requested to be recognized as a distinct minzu (nationality or ethnic group). The writing system used by the Ersu people played an essential role in the dispute. The Tibetan canons used by the religious practitioners of the Ersu people, Shuvuer, strengthened the Ersu people’s identification with the Tibetans, while the Shaaba hieroglyph used by another type of religious practitioners of the Ersu people, Shaaba, stressed the uniqueness of the Ersu culture. Focusing on the use of the two writing systems of the Ersu people, this paper offers an analysis of this kind of ethnic dispute which is based on “subjective identification” and “imagined communities” from the perspective of reconstructionist ethnic theory in anthropology.","PeriodicalId":285588,"journal":{"name":"Cultural Diversity in China","volume":"205 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133224392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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