Declining of Chinese popular religion in the totalitarian era: the case of nuo
In the early reform era, various forms of popular religion regained their role in maintaining moral order and low-level social control in rural communities. It was one of the main reasons that the Chinese Communist Party, a political party espousing state atheism, allowed and even endorsed the reviv...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Taylor and Francis Group
2021
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| In: |
Culture and religion
Year: 2021, Volume: 22, Issue: 3, Pages: 299-323 |
| Further subjects: | B
rural socio-political control
B Chinese popular religion B grassroots autonomous organisations B sanctioning power of nuo B totalitarian party-state |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | In the early reform era, various forms of popular religion regained their role in maintaining moral order and low-level social control in rural communities. It was one of the main reasons that the Chinese Communist Party, a political party espousing state atheism, allowed and even endorsed the revival and flourishing of popular religion. Following on from that, though, the profound socio-economic transformation of the Economic Reform era began to reshape the landscape of Chinese rural society. As a consequence, the divine sanctioning power and communal function inherent in popular religion weakened, and thereby the undermining of the socio-religious function of enforcing moral and social norms derived from it. This then contributed to the decline of rural grassroots autonomous organisations which in turn allowed the authoritarian party-state to strengthen its autocratic power and exercise direct and uncompromising political control over Chinese rural populations. This article addresses the phenomenon from a socio-anthropological perspective, using the example of nuo, a form of popular religion commonly practiced in south-west China. This work is based on the author’s continuous decades-long fieldwork and research on Chinese popular religion. |
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| ISSN: | 1475-5629 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Culture and religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/14755610.2023.2260016 |