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Religion and Religious Practices in Rural China

Religion and Religious Practices in Rural China

Paperback

Series: Routledge Religion in Contemporary Asia

AnthropologyGeneral Sociology

ISBN10: 1032085401
ISBN13: 9781032085401
Publisher: Routledge
Published: Jun 30 2021
Pages: 272
Weight: 0.85
Height: 0.57 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English

This book explores how, unlike in the West, the daily religious life of most Chinese people spreads without institutional propagation. Based upon more than a decade of field research in rural China, the book demonstrates the decisive role of rites of passage and yearly festival rituals held in every household in shaping people's religious dispositions. It focuses on the family, the unit most central to Chinese culture and society, and reveals the repertoire embodied in daily life in a world envisioned as comprising both the yin world of ancestors, spirits, and ghosts, and the yang world of the living. It discusses especially the concept of bai, which refers to both concrete bodily movements that express respect and awe, such as bowing, kneeling, or holding up ritual offerings, and to people's religious inclinations and dispositions, which indicate that they are aware of a spiritual realm that is separate from yet close to the world of the living. Overall, the book shows that the daily practices of religion are not a separate sphere, but rather belief and ritual integrated into a way of dwelling in a world envisaged as consisting of both the yin and the yang worlds that regularly communicate with each other.

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General Sociology