|
“Where there is a Daoist, there is a temple” 先有道士後有廟. So goes the proverb. Indeed, the modern history of Chinese temples and that of the Daoists seem to go hand in hand. Yet, while both temples and Daoists serve urban society, the relationship between the two has yet to be thoroughly analyzed. Most temples operate without a Daoist, and many Daoists do not work in temples. So, are temples and Daoists two independent aspects of modern Chinese religion, or are they indissolubly linked?
Our project attempts to shed new light on this issue through an interdisciplinary approach combining historical research and fieldwork. The research project is organized around three field sites: Hangzhou, Guangzhou, and the Han river valley area (Wuhan and Nanyang). While historical and field data will be collected separately, a major aim of the project is through comparison between our three sites, as well as with published evidence and research on other Chinese cities, in order to reach larger conclusions as to how modern history has changed the structure and social organization of religious life in Chinese cities.
Our research team is made up of both historians and anthropologists, who will examine the evolution of urban religious life in modern China, particularly the ways in which temple communities, lay urbanites, and professional Daoists interact. We look at major Daoist sacred sites (both Quanzhen monasteries and Zhengyi temples) and their function as central institutions structuring local religious systems (training other clerics, organizing the large-scale festivals, etc.), but also at clerics working for neighborhood temples either as resident specialists or as occasional guests. While there is a trend among lay temple leaders to marginalize religious professionals like Daoists, the latter still manage to retain control over important material and symbolical resources. The political changes during the twentieth-century have deeply changed relationships between lay institutions and clerics; yet, the question remains of whether lay people or Daoist clerics can or should control temple life.
sponsors
This project is funded over the period 2007-2010 by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange and the Agence Nationale de la Recherche.
|
