Miraculous Response Doing Popular Religion in Contemporary China [Hardcover]

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. More than an ethnographic case study on the revival of a local temple cult in Northern China,Miraculous Responseis an intellectually stimulating engagement with the anthropological approach to Chinese local society, politics, and religion... Clearly written, with an engaging personal touch,Miraculous Responseis an important contribution at several levels: it provides a detailed local case study of contemporary state-religion relations, describes the complex dynamics at work in rural elite politics in the post-Mao era, and provides a feast of new concepts and insights of broader relevance to anthropological history. [Chau] shows in a pertinent manner that religious activities are narrowly interwoven with the social and political milieu, and from this fact acquire some legitimacy that otherwise would be denied. . . . The study is conducted with rigour and mastery. Adam Yuet Chau's book provides an engaging and accessible account of Chinese popular religion in Longwanggou, a community in rural northern Shaanxi, focusing on its Black Dragon King Temple .... This book is a major achievement: an important and accessible contribution to the literature of religion in China today that deserves to be widely read. This well-written and clearly organized study is a fascinating ethnography, a rare glimpse into the workings of a popular religious temple in contemporary China. Based onl3½