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Wei Liu, MA thesis, 4-14-2017.pdf (1.07 MB)

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Political Myth and Religious Beliefs in a Ritual of Ancestor Worship in Huizhou, China

Liu, Wei
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492650853362116

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, East Asian Languages and Literatures.
Ancestor worship is a common tradition in Anhui, China and its relevant ritual practices constitute an important part of local popular religion. It is now experiencing revival along with a flourishing of popular religion across mainland China in the wake of the reform era. Cultural and religious researchers have generated much interest in this widespread social phenomenon. They explain it as an attempt to fill a “spiritual vacuum” or simply as an effort to garner political and economic benefits. But I argue that we should avoid lumping a great variety of beliefs and practices together under the name of “popular religion,” trying to explain them as a whole. Instead, we must address the variety of form and theoretical significance of these practices. Examination of a particular form of local ritual can yield new and different insights into a set of cultural and social values behind it. This paper studies the symbolic meanings of the objects and behaviors in a style of ritual performance of ancestor worship in a small village of Huizhou area in eastern China. To analyze the symbolic meanings of this ritual and its social meanings, I use the performance approach and social analysis of ideological discourse to point out that there are religious and political realities intertwined and embodied in these performances. Therefore, the revival of ancestor worship is actually a move to reenact the ancient Confucian tradition of respecting ancestors and its myth of kingly governance and, thus, to cause common people to comply with the dominant political power in the modern context. My analysis facilitates the understanding of the vernacular aspect of Confucian ritual practices in terms of its role in carrying on the tradition, negotiating with the dominant official discourse and maintaining social cohesion.
Mark Bender (Advisor)
Meow Hui Goh (Committee Member)
109 p.
Asian Studies; Folklore; Literature
Huizhou; popular religion; ancestor worship; ritual performance; China

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Liu, W. (2017). Political Myth and Religious Beliefs in a Ritual of Ancestor Worship in Huizhou, China [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492650853362116

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Liu, Wei. Political Myth and Religious Beliefs in a Ritual of Ancestor Worship in Huizhou, China. 2017. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492650853362116.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Liu, Wei. "Political Myth and Religious Beliefs in a Ritual of Ancestor Worship in Huizhou, China." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492650853362116

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.