The sacred village : social change and religious life in rural north China

Until recently, few villagers of rural North China ventured far from their homes. Their intensely local view of the world included knowledge of the immanent sacred realm, which derived from stories of divine revelations, cures, and miracles that circulated among neighboring villages. These stories gave direction to private devotion and served as a source of expert information on who the powerful deities were and what role they played in the human world. The structure of local society also shaped public devotion, as different groups expressed their economic and social concerns in organized worship. While some of these groups remained structurally intact in the face of historical change, others have changed dramatically, resulting in new patterns of religious organization and practice. __The Sacred Village__ introduces local religious life in Cang County, Hebei Province, as a lens through which to view the larger issue of how rural Chinese perspectives and behaviors were shaped by the sweeping social, political, and demographic changes of the last two centuries. Thomas DuBois combines new archival sources in Chinese and Japanese with his own fieldwork to produce a work that is compelling and intimate in detail. This dual approach also allows him to address the integration of external networks into local society and religious mentality and posit local society as a particular sphere in which the two are negotiated and transformed. The Sacred Village Is The First Study In English To Discuss The Entirety Of North Chinese Local Religion In A Holistic Manner And Over An Extended Period Of Time. It Adds A New Dimension To Classic Studies Of The Area That Will Be Appreciated By Students And Scholars Of Modern Chinese History And Society And Adds To Our Larger Understanding Of How Local Religion Is Changed By Forces From Both Within And Without.--book Jacket. Background : Rural Cang County -- Religious Life And The Village Community -- Spirits, Sectarians, And Xiangtou : Religious Knowledge In Local Culture -- Monastic Buddhism : The Limits Of Institutional Religion -- Pseudomonastic Sectarians : The Li Sect In Town And Country -- Apocalyptic Sectarians : The Way Of Penetrating Unity And The End Of Days -- Village Sectarians : The Most Supreme And Heaven And Earth Teachings. Thomas David Dubois. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 255-269) And Index. 00 DuBois FM ppF.i-xii.pdf 2 00a DuBois INtroppF.1-13 14 01 DuBois Ch 1 ppF.14-38 27 02 DuBois Ch 2 ppF.39-64 52 03 DuBois Ch 3 ppF.65-85 78 04 DuBois Ch 4 ppF.86-105 99 05 DuBois Ch 5 ppF.106-126 119 06 DuBois Ch 6 ppF.127-151 140 07 DuBois Ch 7 ppF.152-186 165 08 DuBois Con ppF.187-196 200 09 DuBois App ppF.197-210 210 10 DuBois Not...s ppF.211-246 224 11 DuBois Ind...x ppF 271-276 284