Ghosts and religious life in early China / Mu-Chou Poo, Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pu, Muzhou, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ghosts--China--History.

Ghosts.

Religion.

History.

China--Religion--History.

China.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

viii, 206 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2022.

Summary:

"For modern people, ghost stories are no more than thrilling entertainment. For those living in antiquity, ghosts were far more serious beings, as they could affect the life and death of people and cause endless fear and anxiety. How did ancient societies imagine what ghosts looked like, what they could do, and how people could deal with them? From the vantage point of modernity, what can we learn about an obscure, but no less important aspect of an ancient culture? In this volume, Mu-chou Poo explores the ghosts of ancient China, the ideas that they nurtured, and their role in its culture. His study provides fascinating insights into the interaction between the idea of ghosts and religious activities, literary imagination, and social life devoted to them. Comparing Chinese ghosts with those of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome, Poo also offers a wider perspective on the role of ghosts in human history. Mu-Chou Poo is Professor of History at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is the author of Wine and Wine Offering in the Religion of Ancient Egypt (2014), In search of Personal Welfare: A View of Ancient Chinese Religion, and Daily Life in Ancient China (1998)"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Ghost : the other side of humanity

The emergence of ghosts in early China

Imperial order and local variations

Stories that reveal the dark corner

Ghosts in early Daoist religious culture

The taming of ghosts in early Buddhism

Chinese ghosts in a comparative perspective.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 190-204) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Pu, Muzhou. Ghosts and religious life in early China

ISBN:

9781316514672

1316514676

9781009087346

1009087347

OCLC:

1268546106

Publisher Number:

99989829502