NEW PUBLICATIONS IN 2003

Aijmer, Göran, New Year Celebrations in Central China in Late Imperial Times. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2003.

Allio, Fiorella, "Spatial Organization in a Ritual Context: A Preliminary Analysis of the Koah-hiu(n) Processional System of the Tainan Region and Its Social Significance." In: Lin Mei-rong [ed.], Xinyang, yishi yu shehui: Di san jie guoji Hanxue huiyi lunwenji (renleixue zu) = Belief, Ritual and Society: Papers from the Third International Conference on Sinology (Anthropology Section). Taipei: Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, 2003. Pp.131-178.

Baptandier, Brigitte, "Façonner la divinité en soi: À la recherche d'un lieu d'énonciation." Ethnologies 25(2003)1: 109-151. (Note: On female mediums [xiangu] in Fujian province.)

Boas, Taylor C., "Falun Gong and the Internet: Evangelism, Community, and Struggle for Survival." Nova religio 6(2003)2: 277-293.

Bohr, P. Richard, "Jesus, Christianity, and Rebellion in China. The Evangelical Roots of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom." In: Roman Malek [ed.], The Chinese Face of Jesus Christ. Vol.2. Sankt Augustin: Institut Monumenta Serica and China-Zentrum; Nettetal: Steyler Verlag, 2003. Pp.613-661.

Boretz, Avron A., "Righteous Brothers and Demon Slayers: Subjectivities and Collective Identities in Taiwanese Temple Processions." In: Paul R. Katz and Murray A. Rubinstein [eds.], Religion and the Formation of Taiwanese Identities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Pp.219-251.

Brown, Melissa J. "The Cultural Impact of Gendered Social Roles and Ethnicity: Changing Religious Practices in Taiwan." Journal of Anthropological Research 59(2003)1: 47-67.

Bruun, Ole, Fengshui in China: Geomantic Divination Between State Orthodoxy and Popular Religion. Foreword by Stephan Feuchtwang. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2003.

Chao, Shin-yi. "Zhenwu: The Cult of a Chinese Warrior God from the Song to the Ming Dynasties (960-1368)." Ph.D. dissertation, University of British Columbia, 2003.

Abstract: This study explores the interaction between Daoism and popular religion in China by focusing on the development and evolution of a cult that centered on a deity called the Perfected Warrior (Zhenwu). His cult has flourished across China since the eleventh century and is still alive in mainland China, Taiwan and overseas Chinese communities. To explore the diversity and complexity of this cult I employ a wide range of primary sources in my study including religious scriptures, stone inscriptions, official documents, private anecdotes, local gazetteers, and vernacular literature; many of them have never been introduced to the English-speaking world. In this study, I argue that the popularity of the Zhenwu cult is a result of a combined process of canonization and localization that transformed a deity of warrior origin into a multi-faceted and multi-functional god. This thesis is divided into two parts. Part I gives a general framework of the Zhenwu cult from ancient to late imperial times. In Chapter One, I trace the Zhenwu cult to his predecessor, Xuanwu (section 1), and outline the development of the Zhenwu cult among the people (section 2) as well as the imperial patronage bestowed on the deity from the Song to Ming dynasties (section 3). Chapter Two portrays Daoist images of Zhenwu presented in liturgical instruction manuals for Offering rituals (jiao), exorcism, inner alchemy, and military rituals. The chief mountain of the Zhenwu cult, Wudang shan, is discussed in section 2. Part II contains textual studies and case studies. In Chapter Three, I closely examine two "precious volumes" or baojuan (section 1) and one hagiographic fictional account of Zhenwu from the late sixteenth century, the Journey to the North (section 2). Chapter Four presents three case studies: the Zhenwu cult in Fujian, Foshan (in Guangdong), and Taiwan. These three case studies will demonstrate that the popularity of Zhenwu was not simply a result of a wide geographic spread of the cult but, more importantly of an enduring existence that resulted from successful localization.

Chan Yuk Wah, "Packaging Tradition: Chinese Death Management in Urban Hong Kong." Asian Anthropology 2(2003): 139-159.

Chau, Adam Yuet, "Popular Religion in Shaanbei, North-Central China." Journal of Chinese Religions 31(2003): 39-79.

Chen, Nancy N., Breathing Spaces: Qigong, Psychiatry, and Healing in China. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.

Abstract: The charismatic form of healing called qigong, based on meditative breathing exercises, has achieved enormous popularity in China during the last two decades. Qigong served a critical social organizational function, as practitioners formed new informal networks, sometimes on an international scale, at a time when China was shifting from state-subsidized medical care to for-profit market medicine. The emergence of new psychological states deemed to be deviant led the Chinese state to "medicalize" certain forms while championing scientific versions of qigong. By contrast, qigong continues to be promoted outside China as a traditional healing practice. Breathing Spaces brings to life the narratives of numerous practitioners, healers, psychiatric patients, doctors, and bureaucrats, revealing the varied and often dramatic ways they cope with market reform and social changes in China. [Source: publisher's website]

Chen, Nancy N., "Healing Sects and Anti-Cult Campaigns." The China Quarterly 174(2003): 505-520.

Chun, Allen, "The Changing Times of a Village Temple Alliance System in the New Territories of Hong Kong: An Analysis of a Tianhou Cult." In: Lin Meirong, Chang Hsun & Cai Xianghui [eds.], Mazu xinyang de fazhan yu bianqian: Mazu xinyang yu xiandai shehui guoji yantaohui lunwenji. Taipei: Taiwan zongjiao xuehui; Beigang: Chaotian Gong, 2003. Pp.57-78.

Clart, Philip, "Moral Mediums: Spirit-Writing and the Cultural Construction of Chinese Spirit-Mediumship." Ethnologies 25(2003)1: 153-190.

Clart, Philip & Charles B. Jones [eds.], Religion in Modern Taiwan: Tradition and Innovation in a Changing Society. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2003.

Clart, Philip, "Chinese Tradition and Taiwanese Modernity: Morality Books as Social Commentary and Critique." In: Philip Clart & Charles B. Jones [eds.], Religion in Modern Taiwan: Tradition and Innovation in a Changing Society. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2003. Pp.84-97.

Clart, Philip, "Confucius and the Mediums: Is There a 'Popular Confucianism'?" T'oung Pao: International Journal of Chinese Studies 89(2003)1-3: 1-38.

Cook, Ryan J. "News Media and the Religious Use of UFOs: The Case of Chen Tao&emdash;True Way." In: James R. Lewis [ed.], Encyclopedic Sourcebook of UFO Religions. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2003. Pp. 301-320.

De Meyer, Jan, "From beyond the Grave: Remarks on the Poetical Activities of Tang Dynasty Ghosts." In: Angela Schottenhammer (ed.), Auf den Spuren des Jenseits. Chinesische Grabkultur in den Facetten von Wirklichkeit, Geschichte und Totenkult. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2003. Pp.141-166.

Dean, Kenneth, "Local Communal Religion in Contemporary South-east China." The China Quarterly 174(2003): 338-358.

Dean, Kenneth, "Lineage and Territorial Cults: Transformations and Interactions in the Irrigated Putian Plains." In: Lin Mei-rong [ed.], Xinyang, yishi yu shehui: Di san jie guoji Hanxue huiyi lunwenji (renleixue zu) = Belief, Ritual and Society: Papers from the Third International Conference on Sinology (Anthropology Section). Taipei: Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, 2003. Pp.87-129.

Dean, Kenneth, "Alternative Approaches to Chinese Ritual." Journal of Chinese Religions 31(2003): 151-166. [Note: This is a review of Robert Hymes' 2002 publication, Way and Byway (University of California Press).]

Dell'Orto, Alessandro, "Narrating Place and Tudi Gong in Taiwan." In: Lin Mei-rong [ed.], Xinyang, yishi yu shehui: Di san jie guoji Hanxue huiyi lunwenji (renleixue zu) = Belief, Ritual and Society: Papers from the Third International Conference on Sinology (Anthropology Section). Taipei: Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, 2003. Pp.37-86.

Ebner von Eschenbach, Silvia Freiin, "In den Tod mitgehen. Die Totenfolge in der Geschichte Chinas." In: Angela Schottenhammer (ed.), Auf den Spuren des Jenseits. Chinesische Grabkultur in den Facetten von Wirklichkeit, Geschichte und Totenkult. Frankfurt / M.: Peter Lang, 2003. Pp.167-191.

Edelman, Bryan & James T. Richardson, "Falun Gong and the Law: Development of Legal Social Control in China." Nova religio 6(2003)2: 312-331.

Emmons, Deirdre. Dieux de la Chine. Le panthéon populaire du Fujian de J.J.M. de Groot. Lyon: Musée d'histoire naturelle/Un, deux, ... quatre Editions, 2003.

Fan Lizhu, "The Cult of the Silkworm Mother as a Core of Local Community Religion in a North China Village: Field Study in Zhiwuying, Boading, Hebei." The China Quarterly 174(2003): 373-394.

Fan Lizhu, "Popular Religion in Contemporary China." Social Compass 50(2003)4: 449-457.

Feuchtwang, Stephan, "The Avenging Ghost: Paradigm of a Shameful Past." In: Lin Mei-rong [ed.], Xinyang, yishi yu shehui: Di san jie guoji Hanxue huiyi lunwenji (renleixue zu) = Belief, Ritual and Society: Papers from the Third International Conference on Sinology (Anthropology Section). Taipei: Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, 2003. Pp.7-36.

Feuchtwang, Stephan, "An Unsafe Distance." In: Charles Stafford [ed.], Living with Separation in China: Anthropological Accounts. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. Pp.85-112. [Note: On death, ghosts, and the living.]

Fisher, Gareth, "Resistance and Salvation in Falun Gong: the Promise and Peril of Forbearance." Nova religio 6(2003)2: 294-311.

Formoso, Bernard. "Les adeptes de Ji Gong le 'bonze fou' en Malaise et a Singapour." Aseanie 12(2003): 73-104.

Geiger-Ho, Martie Jo. “Pathways of Transmission: Investigating the Influence of Chinese Kiln God Worship and Mythology on Kiln God Concepts and Rituals as Observed by American Ceramists.” Ph.D. dissertation, Texas Tech University, 2003.

Abstract: Designed to be an inquiry into both the past and living traditions and mythology of Chinese kiln god worship, this study investigates the manner by which these folk traditions and means of worship have been viewed and worked into discourse by Western historians and ceramists in the United States. Furthermore, by examining this research from the assumption that Western discourse on Chinese kiln gods has been recorded with a bias known as Orientalism that presents a biased view of the Far East, this study endeavors to present new insights into the possible motivations for why American potters would appropriate and engage in various aspects of Chinese kiln god worship. This study discusses issues concerning the control of Chinese cultural material by Western scholars, through research gathered from discourse, interviews, and my own ethnographic field observations of Chinese kiln god practices. Collectively the outcome of this research has yielded a study of Chinese kiln gods with a strong focus on the history of the kiln god deity Feng Huo Hsien, or Genius of the Fire-Blast who is still worshiped in Jingdezhen, China today. The legend of how Feng Huo Hsien lived his life as T'ung Bun, a Jingdezhen potter, and then earned his immortal namesake through the incredible act of sacrificing his body and soul in the fire of the kiln, is a tale that is central to the religious beliefs and practices of the ceramists of Jingdezhen. Additionally, I believe that the presence of Feng Huo Hsien's myth in American literature has also influenced the development of kiln god rituals among studio potters in the United States.

 

Gerritsen, Anne, "A Thirteenth-Century Cult in the Village of Ji'an (Jiangxi), or 'Fieldwork for Historians'." Journal of Song-Yuan Studies 33 (2003): 181-185. (Note: On the cult of Kang Wang.)

Goossaert, Vincent, "Le destin de la religion chinoise au 20ème siècle." Social Compass 50(2003)4: 441-448.

Goossaert, Vincent. "Destruction et récupération d’un patrimoine religieux : les temples de Pékin."In Regards croisés sur le patrimoine dans le monde à l’aube du XXIe siècle, ed. Maria Gravari-Barbas & Sylvie Guichard-Anguis. Paris: Presses de l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 2003. Pp. 667-682.

Guest, Kenneth J., God in Chinatown: Religion and Survival in New York's Evolving Immigrant Community. New York: New York University Press, 2003.

Abstract: God in Chinatown is a path breaking study of the largest contemporary wave of new immigrants to Chinatown. Since the 1980s, tens of thousands of mostly rural Chinese have migrated from Fuzhou, on China's southeastern coast, to New York's Chinatown. Like the Cantonese who comprised the previous wave of migrants, the Fuzhou have brought with them their religious beliefs, practices, and local deities. In recent years these immigrants have established numerous specifically Fuzhounese religious communities, ranging from Buddhist, Daoist, and Chinese popular religion to Protestant and Catholic Christianity.

This ethnographic study examines the central role of these religious communities in the immigrant incorporation process in Chinatown's highly stratified ethnic enclave, as well as the transnational networks established between religious communities in New York and China. The author's knowledge of Chinese coupled with his extensive fieldwork in both China and New York enable him to illuminate how these networks transmit religious and social dynamics to the United States, as well as how these new American institutions influence religious and social relations in the religious revival sweeping southeastern China.

God in Chinatown is the first study to bring to light religion's significant role in the Fuzhounese immigrants' dramatic transformation of the face of New York's Chinatown. [Source: publisher's website]

Haar, Barend J. ter, "Whose Norm, Whose Heresy: The Case of the Song-Yuan White Lotus Movement." In: Irene Pieper, Michael Schimmelpfennig, and Joost van Soosten [ed.], Häresien. München: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2003. Pp. 67-93.

Haas, Robert, "Chinas Zivilisation des Todes (IV). Ahnenkult und mehr: Die Essenz einer Kultur." China heute 22(2003)1-2: 33-39.

Haas, Robert, "Chinas Zivilisation des Todes (V). Ahnenkult und mehr: Die Essenz einer Kultur." China heute 22(2003)3: 92-99.

Haas, Robert, "Chinas Zivilisation des Todes (VI). Ahnenkult und mehr: Die Essenz einer Kultur." China heute 22(2003)4-5: 179-185.

Haas, Robert, "Chinas Zivilisation des Todes (VII). Ahnenkult und mehr: Die Essenz einer Kultur." China heute 22(2003)6: 235-241.

Holm, David, "The Death of Taoxi (the 'Leaping Play') Ritual Theatre in the Northwest of China." Modern Asian Studies 37(2003)4: 863-884.

Irons, Edward, "Falun Gong and the Sectarian Religion Paradigm." Nova religio 6(2003)2: 244-262.

Jackson, Forrest. "April Fools: The Saucers Will not Be Landing." In: James R. Lewis [ed.], Encyclopedic Sourcebook of UFO Religions. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2003. Pp. 321-330.

Jing Jun, "Dams and Dreams: A Return-to-Homeland Movement in Northwest China." In: Charles Stafford [ed.], Living with Separation in China: Anthropological Accounts. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. Pp.113-129. [Note: On dislocations from ancestral lands caused by dam building projects.]

Jochim, Christian, "Carrying Confucianism into the Modern World: The Taiwan Case." In: Philip Clart & Charles B. Jones [eds.], Religion in Modern Taiwan: Tradition and Innovation in a Changing Society. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2003. Pp.48-83.

Johnson, Elizabeth Lominska, "Singing of Separation, Lamenting Loss: Hakka Women's Expressions of Separation and Reunion." In: Charles Stafford [ed.], Living with Separation in China: Anthropological Accounts. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. Pp.27-52. [Note: On separation laments sung by women at marriages and funerals.]

Jones, Charles B., "Religion in Taiwan at the End of the Japanese Colonial Period." In: Philip Clart & Charles B. Jones [eds.], Religion in Modern Taiwan: Tradition and Innovation in a Changing Society. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2003. Pp.10-35.

Katz, Paul & Murray Rubinstein [eds.], Religion and the Formation of Taiwanese Identities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Abstract: This volume examines the creation of forms of individual and group identity in Taiwan, the relationship between these forms of identity, and patterns of Taiwanese religion, politics, and culture. The contributors explore the Taiwanese sense of self, attempting to discern how Taiwanese identify themselves as individuals and as collectivities. Ranging from the local to the national level and within the larger Chinese cultural and religious universe, these essays explore the complex nature of identity/role and the processes of identity formation which have shaped Taiwan's multi-leveled past and its many faceted present. [Source: publisher's web site]

 

Katz, Paul R., "Identity Politics and the Study of Popular Religion in Postwar Taiwan." In: Paul R. Katz and Murray A. Rubinstein [eds.], Religion and the Formation of Taiwanese Identities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Pp.157-180.

Katz, Paul R., "Religion and the State in Post-war Taiwan." The China Quarterly 174(2003): 395-412.

Katz, Paul R., "The Cult of the Royal Lords in Postwar Taiwan." In: Philip Clart & Charles B. Jones [eds.], Religion in Modern Taiwan: Tradition and Innovation in a Changing Society. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2003. Pp.98-124.

Katz, Paul R., "Local Elites and Sacred Sites in Hsin-chuang: The Growth of the Ti-tsang An during the Japanese Occupation." In: Lin Mei-rong [ed.], Xinyang, yishi yu shehui: Di san jie guoji Hanxue huiyi lunwenji (renleixue zu) = Belief, Ritual and Society: Papers from the Third International Conference on Sinology (Anthropology Section). Taipei: Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, 2003. Pp.179-227.

Keith, Ronald C. & Zhiqiu Lin, "The 'Falun Gong Problem': Politics and the Struggle for the Rule of Law in China." The China Quarterly 175 (2003): 623-642.

Abstract: This article examines the CCP's "falun gong problem" with reference to PRC law and policy on "heretical cults," paying particular attention to the implications of this problem for the ongoing struggle to establish human rights under the rule of law. Official PRC commentary contends that the falun gong not only committed criminal acts but also wilfully sought to undermine the rule of law itself. Human rights critics and agencies, such as the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, have, on the other hand, attacked the PRC for a "repressive legal framework" that threatens human rights. The "falun gong problem" is an important chapter in the struggle for the rule of law in China, and it appears that the law has not been able to transcend the conceptual bias of past criminal law on counter-revolution. The related politicization of the law through a revived principle of "flexibility" challenges the internal process of criminal justice reform and the recent reform focus on the balance of human rights protection and public order. [Source: Cambridge University Press website]

Kosa, Gabor, "The Shaman and the Spirits: The Meaning of the Word 'ling' in the Jiuge poems." Acta Orientalia (Budapest) 56(2003)2-4: 275-294.

Kosa, Gabor. "Mythology and Shamanism in the Ancient Chinese State of Chu." In: Hoppal, Mihaly; Kosa, Gabor, eds. Rediscovery of Shamanic Heritage. Budapest, Hungary: Akademiai Kiado, 2003. Pp. 45-108.

Ku, Hok Bun, Moral Politics in a South Chinese Village: Responsibility, Reciprocity, and Resistance. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. (Note: Deals with a Hakka village near Meizhou, Guangdong province. See chapter 8 on the revival of local temple cults and the rebuilding of an ancestral hall.)

Kuah-Pearce Khun Eng, State, Society and Religious Engineering: Towards a Reformist Buddhism in Singapore. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, 2003. [Note: See especially chapter 1 "Reinventing Chinese Syncretic Religion: Shenism", and chapter 2 "Communicating with Gods, Deities and Spirits".]

Kupfer, Kristin, "Christlich inspirierte, spirituell-religiöse Gruppierungen in der VR China seit 1978 (III)." China heute 22(2003)1-2: 27-32.

Kupfer, Kristin, "Christlich inspirierte, spirituell-religiöse Gruppierungen in der VR China seit 1978 (IV)." China heute 22(2003)3: 81-83.

Laaman, Lars. Christian Heretics in Late Imperial China: the Inculturation of Christianity in 18th and Early 19th Century China. New York, London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003.

Lai, Chi-Tim, "Hong Kong Daoism: A Study of Daoist Altars and Lü Dongbin Cults." Social Compass 50(2003)4: 459-470.

Langone, Michael D., "Reflections on Falun Gong and the Chinese Government." Cultic Studies Review (Online) 2(2003)2. http://www.culticstudiesreview.org/

Lhamo, Yeshe Choekyi, "The Fangs of Reproduction: An Analysis of Taiwanese Menstrual Pollution in the Context of Buddhist Philosophy and Practice." History and Anthropology 14(2003)2: 157-178.

Lin, Szu-Ping. “The Woman with Broken Palm Lines: Subject, Agency, Fortune-Telling, and Women in Taiwanese Television Drama.” In Multiple Modernities: Cinemas and Popular Media in Transcultural East Asia, ed. Jenny Kwok Wah Lau. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2003. Pp. 222-238.

Linck, Gudula, "Räume der Toten - Sepulkralkultur und Ontologien im vormodernen China." In: Angela Schottenhammer (ed.), Auf den Spuren des Jenseits. Chinesische Grabkultur in den Facetten von Wirklichkeit, Geschichte und Totenkult. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2003. Pp.193-214.

Liu, Tik-sang, "A Nameless but Active Religion: An Anthropologist's View of Local Religion in Hong Kong and Macau." The China Quarterly 174(2003): 373-394.

Lowe, Scott, "Chinese and International Contexts for the Rise of Falun Gong." Nova religio 6(2003)2: 263-276.

Malek, Roman, "'Zitadellen der Hoffnung' - Entwicklungstendenzen der Religiosität in der Volksrepublik China." Forum Weltkirche 2003, No.1: 14-19.

Marshall, Alison R., "Moving the Spirit on Taiwan: New Age Lingji Performance." Journal of Chinese Religions 31(2003): 81-99.

Marshall, Alison R., "Engendering Mediumship: When Youths Performed the Rain Dances in Han Dynasty China." Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses 32(2003)1: 83-100.

Mittag, Achim, "Historische Aufzeichnungen als Grabbeigabe - das Beispiel der Qin-Bambusannalen." In: Angela Schottenhammer (ed.), Auf den Spuren des Jenseits. Chinesische Grabkultur in den Facetten von Wirklichkeit, Geschichte und Totenkult. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2003. Pp.119-140.

Miu, Christina Bing Cheng, "Religious Syncretism: The Harmonization of Buddhism and Daoism in Macao's Lian Feng Miao (The Lotus Peak Temple)." Review of Culture, no.5 (2003): 27-43.

Moore, Oliver, "Violence Un-scrolled: Cultic and Ritual Emphases in Painting Guan Yu." Arts Asiatiques 58(2003): 86-97.

Nadeau, Randall & Chang Hsun, "Gods, Ghosts, and Ancestors: Religious Studies and the Question of 'Taiwanese Identity'." In: Philip Clart & Charles B. Jones [eds.], Religion in Modern Taiwan: Tradition and Innovation in a Changing Society. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2003. Pp.280-299.

Overmyer, Daniel L., "Religion in China Today: Introduction." The China Quarterly 174(2003): 307-316.

Ownby, David, "A History of Falun Gong: Popular Religion and the Chinese State since the Ming Dynasty." Nova religio 6(2003)2: 223-243.

Ownby, David, "The Falun Gong in the New World." European Journal of East Asian Studies 2(2003)2: 303-320.

Abstract: Despite the polarised debate which has raged in the media over whether the Chinese spiritual movement Falun Gong should be seen as an 'evil cult' or as an innocent 'cultivation system', there is little doubt that most objective Western scholars would categorise Falun Gong as a new religious movement (many of which have also been accused rightly or wrongly of being 'cults' or 'sects'). Indeed, the controversy surrounding Falun Gong has attracted considerable media and scholarly attention, so that the Falun Gong is now undoubtedly the best known of Chinese new religious movements and, as I argue elsewhere, a key to the reevaluation of a centuries-old tradition of popular religious practice in China which has long been condemned and suppressed by Chinese authorities. The present article, based on fieldwork in North America, on research in Falun Gong written sources and on my previous work in the history of Chinese popular religion traces a portrait of Falun Gong practices both in China and in North America. [Source: article.]

Palmer, David A., "Le qigong et la tradition sectaire chinoise." Social Compass 50(2003)4: 471-480.

Palmer, David A., "Modernity and Millenialism in China: Qigong and the Birth of Falun Gong." Asian Anthropology 2(2003): 79-109.

Pas, Julian, "Stability and Change in Taiwan's Religious Culture." In: Philip Clart & Charles B. Jones [eds.], Religion in Modern Taiwan: Tradition and Innovation in a Changing Society. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2003. Pp.36-47.

Penny, Benjamin, "The Life and Times of Li Hongzhi: Falun Gong and Religious Biography." The China Quarterly 175 (2003): 643-661.

Abstract: When the suppression of the falun gong started in July 1999, one of the targets of the government's propaganda was the biography of Li Hongzhi, its founder and leader. This article examines two versions of a biography of Li Hongzhi published by the falun gong in 1993 and 1994 that are no longer available. This biography presents Li as possessing superhuman abilities and god-like insight. In my analysis, I place this biography in the context of a centuries-old tradition of religious biography in China showing that, in textual terms, it represents a contemporary example of that venerable genre. As with its precursors, this biography seeks to establish a genealogy of the figure whose life is recorded and to buttress the orthodoxy of his doctrine. [Source: Cambridge University Press website.]

Pines, Yuri, "History as a Guide to the Netherworld: Rethinking the Chunqiu shiyu." Journal of Chinese Religions 31(2003): 101-126.

Poo, Mu-chou, "Imperial Order and Local Variation: The Culture of Ghost in Early Imperial China." Acta Orientalia (Budapest) 56(2003)2-4: 295-308.

Porter, Noah, Falun Gong in the United States: An Ethnographic Study. Parkland, FL: dissertation.com, 2003. Note: Originally an M.A. thesis at the University of South Florida. Can be purchased at http://www.dissertation.com.

Abstract: Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, has been described in many ways. It has been called qigong, one of many schools of physical exercises that aim at improving health and developing supernatural abilities. Scholars and mainstream media have referred it to as a spiritual movement or religion, although practitioners claim it is not a religion. It has been called a cult, in the pejorative sense rather than in a sociological context, by the Chinese government and by some Western critics. In the writings of Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, it is referred to in different ways, though primarily as a cultivation practice.

The question of how to define Falun Gong is not just an academic issue; the use of the cult label has been used to justify the persecution of practitioners in China. To a limited degree, the Chinese Government is able to extend the persecution overseas. How society defines Falun Gong has implications for action on the level of policy, as well as the shaping of social, cultural, and personal attitudes.

This research project addresses what Falun Gong is through ethnography. Research methods included participant-observation, semi-structured ethnographic interviews (both in-person and on-line), and content analysis of text and visual data from Falun Gong books, pamphlets, and websites. Research sites included Tampa, Washington D.C., and cyberspace. In order to keep my research relevant to the issues and concerns of the Falun Gong community, I was in regular contact with the Tampa practitioners, keeping them abreast of my progress and asking for their input.

My findings are contrary to the allegations made by the Chinese Government and Western anti-cultists in many ways. Practitioners are not encouraged to rely on Western medicine, but are not prohibited from using it. Child practitioners are not put at risk. Their organizational structure is very loose. Finally, the Internet has played a vital role in Falun Gong's growth and continuation after the crackdown. [Source: dissertation.com]

Potter, Pitman B., "Belief in Control: Regulation of Religion in China." The China Quarterly 174(2003): 338-358.

Rahn, Patsy, "The Chemistry of a Conflict: the Chinese Government and the Falun Gong." Cultic Studies Review (Online) 2(2003)2. http://www.culticstudiesreview.org/

Reed, Barbara, "Guanyin Narratives--War and Postwar." In: Philip Clart & Charles B. Jones [eds.], Religion in Modern Taiwan: Tradition and Innovation in a Changing Society. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2003. Pp.186-203.

Rosedale, Herbert L., "Ideology, Demonization, and Scholarship: the Need for Objectivity--a Response to Robbins' Comments on Rosedale, the Chinese Government, and Falun Gong." Cultic Studies Review (Online) 2(2003)2. http://www.culticstudiesreview.org/

Rubinstein, Murray A., "'Medium/Message' in Taiwan's Mazu-Cult Centers: Using 'Time, Space, and Word' to Foster Island-Wide Spiritual Consciousness and Local, Regional, and National Forms of Institutional Identity." In: Paul R. Katz and Murray A. Rubinstein [eds.], Religion and the Formation of Taiwanese Identities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Pp.181-218.

Sangren, P. Steven, "Anthropology and Identity Politics in Taiwan: The Relevance of Local Religion." In: Paul R. Katz and Murray A. Rubinstein [eds.], Religion and the Formation of Taiwanese Identities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Pp.253-287.

Sangren, Steven, "American Anthropology and the Study of Mazu Worship." In: Lin Meirong, Chang Hsun & Cai Xianghui [eds.], Mazu xinyang de fazhan yu bianqian: Mazu xinyang yu xiandai shehui guoji yantaohui lunwenji. Taipei: Taiwan zongjiao xuehui; Beigang: Chaotian Gong, 2003. Pp.7-23.

Sangren, P. Steven, "Separations, Autonomy and Recognition in the Production of Gender Differences: Reflections from Considerations of Myths and Laments." In: Charles Stafford [ed.], Living with Separation in China: Anthropological Accounts. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. Pp.53-84. [Note: Deals with popular stories about gods who must leave their families in order to achieve recognition. Nezha and Miaoshan are the case-examples.]

Schottenhammer, Angela [ed.], Auf den Spuren des Jenseits. Chinesische Grabkultur in den Facetten von Wirklichkeit, Geschichte und Totenkult. Frankfurt / M.: Peter Lang, 2003.

Schottenhammer, Angela, "Einige Überlegungen zur Entstehung von Grabinschriften." In: Angela Schottenhammer (ed.), Auf den Spuren des Jenseits. Chinesische Grabkultur in den Facetten von Wirklichkeit, Geschichte und Totenkult. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2003. Pp.21-59.

Schottenhammer, Angela, "Das Grab des Wang Chuzhi (863-923)." In: Angela Schottenhammer (ed.), Auf den Spuren des Jenseits. Chinesische Grabkultur in den Facetten von Wirklichkeit, Geschichte und Totenkult. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2003. Pp.61-117.

Seiwert, Hubert (in collaboration with Ma Xisha), Popular Religious Movements and Heterodox Sects in Chinese History. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2003.

Sue, Takashi, "The Shock of the Year Hsüan-ho 2: the Abrupt Change in the Granting of Plaques and Titles during Hui-tsung's Reign." Acta Asiatica 84(2003): 80-125.

Swinnen, Jo, "Yiguan Dao: Aspecten van een moderne Chinese religie." Diss. lic. soc. en cult. antropol., Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2003. (This thesis can be downloaded at http://www.student.kuleuven.ac.be/~m9510469/)

Takacs, Jeff, "A Case of Contagious Legitimacy: Kinship, Ritual and Manipulation in Chinese Martial Arts Societies." Modern Asian Studies 37(2003)4: 885-917.

Tsai, Yi-Jia. “The Reformative Visions of Mediumship in Contemporary Taiwan.” Ph.D. dissertation, Rice University, 2003.

Abstract: This thesis explores how mediums in contemporary Taiwan engage themselves in the complicated project of modernity. In 1989--around the period when the government lifted martial law--a group of mediums founded their own association. It represents a conscious self-recognition of a time-honored religious professional who strives to come to terms with modern frame of professionalization. It is also a spiritual endeavor that tries to respond to contemporary Taiwanese political and moral struggle by appealing to the traditional Chinese cultural resources and the modern educational design. This thesis investigates the theorizations of the Association and explores how its reformative vision combines the ancient Chinese mediumship with modern nationalist discourse and modern Chinese intellectuals' concern for "saving China." The intertwining of religious mission and nationalist concern is further explored by the discussion of the Association's religious practices and activities, including the Moral Maintenance Movement it promoted, the mediums' meeting for the visiting of spirits, the ritual of national protection and spiritual appeasement, and their pilgrimage to the Mainland. This thesis draws on the ideas of de Certeau about the 'writing back the outlawed voice' and argues that the Association writes itself into the official discourse kaleidoscopically, creating a new topography by rearranging available fragments. It neither reiterates the dominant discourse, nor invents a new version; its practice of historical writing constitutes an exercise of reflexive thinking within the structure of normative codes and power relations. The Association's concern for the further education and cultivation of mediums is investigated through their educational activities. Through the care of one's body and spirit, the mediums make efforts to constitute themselves into ethical beings who are able to change a degraded society. The cooperation of medium and spirit is regarded as a co-constituted ethical project. It is explored by Foucault's scheme of the four parameters of the ethical fields. The other reformative visions of mediumship are further investigated through a college student's accounts of mediumistic experiences and a medium writer's works. In sum, these reformative visions of mediumship have added a significant reflective power both to conventional mediumship and to the various trends of modernity.

Wessinger, Catherine, "Falun Gong Symposium: Introduction and Glossary." Nova religio 6(2003)2: 215-222.

Xiao, Gongqin; Yow, Cheun Hoe, tr., "The Falun Gong and Its Conflicts with the Chinese Government: A Perspective of Social Transformation." In: Wang Gungwu & Zheng Yongnian [eds.], Damage Control: The Chinese Communist Party in the Jiang Zemin Era. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, 2003. Pp. 64-80.

Ye Xiaoqing, The Dianshizhai Pictorial: Shanghai Urban Life, 1884-1898. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan, 2003. (Note: See Part Four, "Religious Practices", pp. 188-224.)

Yu, Anthony C., "On State and Religion in China: A Brief Historical Reflection." Religion East & West 3(2003): 1-20.

Zhang, Hong; Hriskos, Constantine. "Contemporary Chinese Shamanism: the Reinvention of Tradition." Cultural Survival Quarterly 27(2003)2: 55-57.

Zhou Yiqun. "The Hearth and the Temple: Mapping Female Religiosity in Late Imperial China, 1550-1900." Late Imperial China 24(2003)2: 109-155.

Zhuo, Xinping, "Research on Religions in the People's Republic of China." Social Compass 50(2003)4: 441-448.