KING OF YALU IN MASHAN, GUIZHOU: AN ‘‘EPIC’’ IN CONTEMPORARY CONTEXTS (original) (raw)

Living Epics of China and Inner Asia

Journal of American Folklore, 2016

The most vigorous traditions of oral epic poetry to be practiced in recent centuries have been ones cultivated by the peoples of Central Asia and Inner Asia. These traditions remain little known in the West despite their considerable potential interest to social historians, anthropologists, folklorists, and specialists in oral narrative and performance studies. The epic cycle known as 'Manas' and the 'Gesar' epic of Tibet are singled out for attention in the present essay collection. The essay served as the Introduction to a special issue of Journal of American Folklore on the same theme, 'Living Epics of China and Inner Asia', ed. J. Niles.

Narratives and Rituals: The Inheritance Context of Dai Epics

EPICS STUDIES, 2023

Abstract.The Dai (Tai) ethnic group in China boasts a rich tradition of poetry and folk narratives， often closely intertwined with folk ritual activities.Behind these folk events， there are usually the associated explanatory text. This paper is based on field research data collected from 2008 to 2016， including interviews with the local people，tracking folk events， and understanding narrative texts.Three cases were selected from the data to elaborate on the relationship between rituals and narratives.The first case is wedding， the pickled fish jars in the betrothal ceremony could be explained in the narrative poem“A-Luang Basom” and the ritual of Crossing-the-Bridge during weddings simulates the typical scene of a hero's return and marriage as portrayed in the A-Luang story. The second case is funeral， where people often transcribe and recite the scripture“GaP o”to express gratitude for the mother's childbirth.The third case involves the dedication of narratives“Ya Huan hao”or“Bu Huan hao” in Buddhist temples， narrating the story of the struggle between the rice sprite and the Buddha.The ritual of summoning“Ya Huan hao”or“Bu Huan hao”reflects deep respect for the rice sprite.Through these analyses, it becomes evident that folk narratives serve as interpretations of folk rituals.Different rituals, in turn, provide the context for the practice and transmission of narratives.Narratives and rituals complement eachother， reflecting the Dai people's profound understanding of traditional poetry.

Miaohui, the Temples Meeting Festival in North China

China Information, 2007

We examine the multiple purposes and modalities that converge during a circuit of festivals, miaohui, which temples organize in recognition of local gods and which are attended reciprocally by temple representatives from the surrounding area in North China. The festivals involve intense expressions of devotion to one or more deities, while offering an opportunity for representatives of other villages to seek recognition through rather boisterous drumming and prolonged choreographed dancing. We note also the emergence of Mao as a great god whose legacy as Chairman of the CCP is projected in order to legitimate current Party leadership and their policy of reform while concurrently acting as a powerful denial of those same policies from the perspective of villagers.

The Zhang Sanfeng Conundrum Taijiquan and Ritual Theater

Journal of Daoist Studies 12, 2019

This paper draws on theatrical expression, somatic experience, and historical analysis, to show that the art of taijiquan is a form of enlightenment theater and tells the story of Zhang Sanfeng’s canonization. This ritual incorporates inner alchemy as deity visualization, and presents violence as a transgressive path to becoming a Daoist immortal. Practitioners of taijiquan have been contesting the origins of the art since the early 20th century. One side argues that it is exclusively a functional combat art. The other side contends that it has Daoist origins and was invented by the Immortal Zhang Sanfeng. Both assign great importance to its mythology as a justification for the ways they practice and both agree that it is an internal martial art. However, there is serious disagreement about what exactly internal means. I propose to settle the debate by showing that taijiquan has its origins in theatrical rituals that incorporate martial skills and alchemy. Doing so, I also hope to contribute to the ongoing discussions about Daoism in popular culture. Somatic language often requires direct experience to fully comprehend. To address this problem, my analysis incorporates the paradigms of performance and expert mastery to reveal historic and cultural insights which might otherwise be invisible to readers.

The Dark Emperor’s law: a Daoist temple and its codification of rituals in Hunan

Studies in Chinese Religions

This article investigates different types of rituals that constitute the Daoist repertoire of Yangyuan Village in Hunan (PRC). I first show that the ‘indigenous’ Meishan rituals represent an older – possibly non–Han – stratum of the Yangyuan repertoire. Revolving around mountains, grottoes and other landmarks of the local sacred geography, it nonetheless bears the traces of inter-regional exchange between Hunan, Jiangxi, and Fujian – an exchange that can be situated in a historical context. Secondly, I show that the local liturgies of Yangyuan are permeated with references to the codifying authority of the regional Daoist institution called Yuxu Gong, and that its rituals were synthesized under the judicial aegis of this temple’s main divinity, the Dark Emperor. It is this exorcist god to whom the divine offices of the law enforcers of Tianxin report. Finally, I make a case for reconsidering the role commonly attributed to Ming dynasty ‘vernacular fiction.’ Instead of serving solely as a source of narrative entertainment, it provided knowledge about ritual traditions and the authoritative institutions associated with them, such as the Yuxu Gong.

State Ritual in Late Imperial China

Religion Compass, 2009

Until recently scholars have tended to view the Chinese imperial tradition from a human-centred perspective. However, in the last two decades, the importance of ritual and state religion in imperial China has become better appreciated and more fully explored. This article focuses on research of late imperial China, from the tenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, with a particular focus on the last two dynasties: the Ming (1368 -1643) and Qing (1644 -1911). This article is divided into four sections: a definition of Chinese ritual and its essential texts; its relationship to other religious ritual systems (Buddhism, Daoism and folk religions); an examination of three central reign periods: Hongwu (Zhu Yuanzhang, reign 1368-1398), Jiajing (Zhu Houcong, reign 1521-1567), and Qianlong (Hongli, reign 1735 -1796); and the aesthetics of state ritual, including literature, art history and music.

Dancing with the Gods: Daoist Ritual and Popular Religion in Central Hunan

The Daoists of Yangyuan Village (central Hunan Province, P.R.C.) offer important insights into the relationship between so-called " popular religion " (or " local religion "), on the one hand, and institutional religions with greater interregional coherence such as Daoism, on the other. I argue that the concept of " popular religion " does not do justice to the situation in central Hunan, especially not in its common usage as a sphere of culture that can be studied separately from national traditions such Daoism. Focusing on Yangyuan Village, I show that Daoists there have incorporated local traditions into their liturgies, particularly in a constellation whereby local gods protect canonical divinities. From a reverse perspective, I show that local ritualists who are not nominally " Daoist " have nonetheless constructed their own ritual traditions in reference to the mythology and liturgy of Daoism. In particular, the deified manifestation of Lao Zi , entitled Most High Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun), is presented as authoritative source of the local village ritual traditions. Although this paper is primarily written in order to provide a comprehensive introduction of the religious repertoire that the Daoists in Yangyuan represent (as was the motivation behind the conference for which this paper was originally written), my secondary motivation is to go beyond a mere survey and formulate the case of Yangyuan Village as an argument about ways in which disparate elements of Chinese religion may have to be understood as parts in a coherent cultural framework. Because ritual constitutes the most comprehensive venue for individual and communal engagement with specific gods, it is thus a main focus throughout this paper. In order to situate my exploration of ritual interactions with gods within a particular academic debate, I start out in this section with a brief discussion of the limits of the concept of " popular religion. " Then, in section 2, I map out the variegated world of local gods and ancestors that are worshiped throughout Yangyuan 1 This term is widely used in reference to some sort of autonomous category within the whole of Chinese religious phenomena. Among the earlier generations of scholars who took this cultural sphere seriously, C.K. Yang posits a theory that is at once sophisticated and flawed – and that has greatly influenced the field. Yang understands " popular religion " as a set of " diffused " beliefs and practices that have been derived from " institutional " religion. While Yang's model is useful for understanding the correspondences between Chinese religious traditions, it is less accurate in the assumption of some sort of mainstream " Great Tradition " of ancestor worship that has influenced all of the disparate " Little Traditions. " It seems to be more accurate to understand Chinese religious phenomena as built upon a stratum of shared beliefs and practices that have been reconfigured or reemphasized within different contexts. For a general overview of the way in which the term " popular religion " has been used in modern scholarship, see Stephen Teiser, " Popular

To Please Those on High: Ritual and Art in Ancient China

Liu Yang, Homage to the Ancestors: Ritual Art from the Chu Kingdom, Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2011

Ancestral rites: temples, vessels, music and banquets We proceed to make spirits and prepare viands, For offerings and sacrifice;

Funerary ritual and the building of lineages in late imperial China

Harvard journal of Asiatic studies, 1989

Shifts in gentry taste in funerary ritual at first glance might seem to deserve little more than passing mention as a curiosity in the cultural history of the Ming-Qing period. Yet this particular shift is an interesting anomaly, given other trends from the late Ming. First, the gentry at this time ...