ABSTRACT
The tension between respectability and the reputation for efficacy was particularly acute for Gao Bineng. As very much a local man, his sense of public duty was closely bound up with being effective and strong for the people of his part of Shiding, and that eventually included Shiding’s temple, the Ji Shun Miao. Yet both the regimes he served attempted to curb festivals, and he supported their measures, considering them to be respectable and modern.
