Superstitious regimes : religion and the politics of chinese modernity / Rebecca Nedostup.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nedostup, Rebecca, 1966- author.

Series:

Harvard East Asian monographs ; 322.

Harvard East Asian monographs ; 322

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Secularism--China--History--20th century.

Secularism.

Religion and politics--China--History--20th century.

Religion and politics.

Church and state--China--History--20th century.

Church and state.

China--Politics and government--1928-1937.

China.

China--History--1928-1937.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 459 p. :) ill., maps ;

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Asia Center, [2009]

Summary:

We live in a world shaped by secularism--the separation of numinous power from political authority and religion from the political, social, and economic realms of public life. Not only has progress toward modernity often been equated with secularization, but when religion is admitted into modernity, it has been distinguished from superstition. That such ideas are continually contested does not undercut their extraordinary influence.These divisions underpin this investigation of the role of religion in the construction of modernity and political power during the Nanjing Decade (1927-1937) of Nationalist rule in China. This book explores the modern recategorization of religious practices and people and examines how state power affected the religious lives and physical order of local communities. It also looks at how politicians conceived of their own ritual role in an era when authority was meant to derive from popular sovereignty. The claims of secular nationalism and mobilizational politics prompted the Nationalists to conceive of the world of religious association as a dangerous realm of "superstition" that would destroy the nation. This is the first "superstitious regime" of the book's title. It also convinced them that national feeling and faith in the party-state would replace those ties--the second "superstitious regime."

Contents:

Preliminary Material / Rebecca Nedostup

Introduction: Religion, Modernity, Nationalism / Rebecca Nedostup

Inventing Religion / Rebecca Nedostup

Temples and the Redefinition of Public Life / Rebecca Nedostup

Jiangsu Temples as Target and Tactic / Rebecca Nedostup

Idealized Communities and the Religious Remainder / Rebecca Nedostup

Embodying Superstition / Rebecca Nedostup

Affective Regimes / Rebecca Nedostup

Superstition's Legacy / Rebecca Nedostup

Three Major KMT Laws on Temples / Rebecca Nedostup

Notes / Rebecca Nedostup

Works Cited / Rebecca Nedostup

Index / Rebecca Nedostup

Harvard East Asian Monographs / Rebecca Nedostup.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [385]-428) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-68417-495-3

OCLC:

1132228512

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9781684174959 DOI