ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author sketches some pertinent dimensions to such subjects, illustrating them with reference both to the comparative work on the subject and by reverting to a personally experienced case study – unusual, or is it – which presents a challenge to linguistic research and analysis. The subject in certain of its dimensions attracts immense interest and in some ways a vast literature surrounds it with a constant stream of compilations and commentaries. The conventional ethnographic viewpoint privileges a short-scale, local focus. So too, surprisingly, do studies of the Chinese or the ancient classical world where the author tried to contextualize contemporary snapshots by a longer vision. The stories that followed on the author's dreams came as he visited, unplanned, a dream world of others’ experiences – his own too, and those of his culture.
