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Unruly Gods: Divinity and Society in China
The first study in English to offer a systematic introduction to the Chinese pantheon of divinities. It challenges received wisdom about Chinese popular religion, which, until now, presented all Chinese deities as mere functionaries and bureaucrats. The essays in this volume eloquently document the existence of other metaphors that allowed Chinese gods to challenge the traditional power structures and traditional mores of Chinese society. The authors draw on a variety of disciplines and methodologies to throw light on various aspects of the Chinese supernatural. The gallery of gods and goddesses surveyed demonstrates that these deities did not reflect China's socio-political order but rather expressed and negotiated tensions within it. In addition to reflecting the existing order, Chinese gods shaped it, transformed it, and compensated for it, and, as such, their work offers fresh perspectives on the relations between divinity and society in China.
302 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 17, 2020
This great collection of studies highlights the wild side of Chinese popular religion--featuring deities who are rebels, outlaws, comic tricksters, or shamanic queens. It's all very traditional in a society where rebellion, comedy, and religion all mix freely. I'd especially recommend Brigitte Baptandier's study of the Lady Linshui, otherwise known as the glorious fighting shamaness Chen Jinggu, with her band of sworn sisters. Give me movies and comic books about her.
July 5, 2019
The title is a give away. This is a collection of essays about all the wild and crazy gods in Chinese religion. It is an important stepping stone in conceptualizing why Chinese people have for generations watched theater and told stories about fighting gods and demons. And why martial arts were created around those ideas.
November 13, 2020
Collected volume in 1996; still a must-read. The introduction is fantastic.
July 26, 2016
An excellent anthology, edited by two notable experts in the field, of articles pertaining to 'Chinese gods', which is inclusive of Daoist, Buddhist, state and popular gods, gods which the introduction notes are "by no means distinct" (p. 3). If you are well read on Chinese religion and curious how all the various categories and hierarchies of gods in China fit together, this is a 'must' read. Individual chapters address individual popular gods that defy the Confucian elite in their popularity (Mazu who is not only female but unfilial in refusing to marry, Lu Dongbin who is a philandering drunk 'immortal'), seem to possess more status than their official bureaucratic position would avow (the Stove God), and martial arts gods (Guangong) more popular than scholars. Other deities focused on include some Daoist hierarchies, Tian Wangmu, Guanyin, Nezha, and the Lady Linshui. Other contributions discuss gods which represent family tensions, or how female gods have become popular in a patriarchal society, etc. Many references to vernacular Chinese fiction and folklore are included to demonstrate various hypotheses and observations, which is another strong point of this slim but rich volume.
Each chapter includes excellent notes, which should be read together with the text, plus an extensive bibliography at the end that enables further research. A glossary at the back of the volume provides the Chinese characters--a detail often neglected but much appreciated. The Index is also well done and includes conceptual topics as well as names and locales.
Perhaps not for the lay or casual reader, but that was not its intention. It was written by scholars, for scholars, academics and those with a serious interest in Chinese popular religion. All in all, an excellent little volume (well, perhaps at nearly 300 pages not so little) that I will assuredly be returning to often.
Each chapter includes excellent notes, which should be read together with the text, plus an extensive bibliography at the end that enables further research. A glossary at the back of the volume provides the Chinese characters--a detail often neglected but much appreciated. The Index is also well done and includes conceptual topics as well as names and locales.
Perhaps not for the lay or casual reader, but that was not its intention. It was written by scholars, for scholars, academics and those with a serious interest in Chinese popular religion. All in all, an excellent little volume (well, perhaps at nearly 300 pages not so little) that I will assuredly be returning to often.
June 7, 2012
The editors are Meir Shahar and Robert P. Weller. Both contribute articles in this volume.
The most illuminating aspect of this book is its deep understanding of the complexity of Chinese religion(s), there are not only the well-known Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism (not the kind of -isms you think you know) but also the religion of popular fiction. As it turns out fictions of the supernatural, combined with drama, ritual, performance (and the troupe that travel around to perform), oral culture had kept a sense of unity and continuity of "one" Chinese religion despite its unruly variations and diversities.
This book is a must-read for anyone who are interested in China because religion is not just products of power, it is also the producer of power, no matter how diffused that power is.
Nevertheless, I do have one disagreement, rather, a question. I am not sure whether it is appropriate to use "Chinese religion" to describe the plethora of religious sentiments and practices in China. Religion is already modern. To force a modern category on pre-modern China is a bit ... problematic. Maybe "Chinese religiosity" or religious sentiment can be a little better? or the Chinese supernatural? anyway, I don't know whether it is worth it to quibble about terminology. But, it would have been more satisfying had the editors at least warn their readers the ambiguities around the term "religion".
The most illuminating aspect of this book is its deep understanding of the complexity of Chinese religion(s), there are not only the well-known Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism (not the kind of -isms you think you know) but also the religion of popular fiction. As it turns out fictions of the supernatural, combined with drama, ritual, performance (and the troupe that travel around to perform), oral culture had kept a sense of unity and continuity of "one" Chinese religion despite its unruly variations and diversities.
This book is a must-read for anyone who are interested in China because religion is not just products of power, it is also the producer of power, no matter how diffused that power is.
Nevertheless, I do have one disagreement, rather, a question. I am not sure whether it is appropriate to use "Chinese religion" to describe the plethora of religious sentiments and practices in China. Religion is already modern. To force a modern category on pre-modern China is a bit ... problematic. Maybe "Chinese religiosity" or religious sentiment can be a little better? or the Chinese supernatural? anyway, I don't know whether it is worth it to quibble about terminology. But, it would have been more satisfying had the editors at least warn their readers the ambiguities around the term "religion".
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews