ABSTRACT

First published in 2001, Popular Religion in China: The Imperial Metaphor was written to bring together both the previously unpublished and published results of fieldwork in the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan and to put them into an historical, political, and theoretical context.

The book presents Chinese popular religion as a distinctive institution and describes its content as an ‘imperial metaphor’. In doing so, it explores a wide range of topics, including both official and local cults, local festivals, Daoism, Ang Gong, the politics of religion, and political ritual.

chapter Chapter One|26 pages

History, identification and belief

chapter Chapter Two|36 pages

The annual apocalypse

chapter Chapter Three|33 pages

Official and local cults

chapter Chapter Four|39 pages

Local festivals and their cults

chapter Chapter Five|26 pages

The incense-burner: communication and deference

chapter Chapter Six|33 pages

Daoism and its clients

chapter Chapter Seven|20 pages

Ang Gong, or the truth of puppets

chapter Chapter Eight|37 pages

The politics of religion and political ritual