Violence in China: Essays in Culture and Counterculture (S U N Y Series in Chinese Local Studies)

In this volume, Lipman and Harrell explore the prevalence and ubiquity of violence in China, a society whose official norms value harmony and condemn conflict. The book investigates violence in a wide variety of situations through the sweep of history and in contexts ranging from the family to the national polity.The book explores motivations for violence from both a historical and a contemporary perspective. Historically, the authors cover bloody religious rebellions in premodern times, the depiction of violence in traditional popular novels, ethnic strife between Muslims and Han Chinese in the Northwest, and feuding local communities in the Southeast. Modern China is depicted by analyses of rural and urban violence in Mao's Cultural Revolution and an examination of continuing domestic violence. This depiction of the cultural themes and motivations for violence allow lessons drawn from specific contexts to be applied to the nature of Chinese culture in general.Jonathan N. Lipman is Associate Professor of History at Mount Holyoke College. Stevan Harrell is Professor of Anthropology and International Studies and Director of the Arts and Sciences Honors Program at the University of Washington. Lineage feuding in Southern Fujian and Eastern Guangdong under Qing rule / Harry J. Lamley -- Ethnic violence in modern China : Hans and Huis in Gansu, 1781-1929 / Jonathan N. Lipman -- Sectarian eschatology and violence / Richard Shek -- Violence and Buddhist idealism in the Xiyou novels / Frederick Brandauer -- Urban violence during the Cultural Revolution : who is to blame? / Anne F. Thurston -- The politics of revenge in rural China during the Cultural Revolution / Richard Madsen -- Violence against women in contemporary China / Christina Gilmartin. Edited By Jonathan N. Lipman And Stevan Harrell. Based On Papers Presented At A Panel Held At The Annual Meeting Of The Association For Asian Studies In Philadelphia In 1985. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.