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Book Cover
Book
Author Jing, Jun, 1957-

Title The temple of memories : history, power, and morality in a Chinese village / Jun Jing
Published Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 1996

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 W'PONDS  306.095145 Jin/Tom  AVAILABLE
Description viii, 217 pages : illustrations, map ; 22 cm
Contents 1. Introduction: A Study of Social Memory -- 2. Memory of Historical Possibilities -- 3. Memory of Revolutionary Terror -- 4. Memory of Communal Trauma -- 5. Memory of Local Animosity -- 6. Memory of Ritual Language -- 7. Memory of Genealogical Retainers -- 8. Memory of Cultural Symbols -- 9. Finding Memories in Gansu
Summary Each chapter in this moving book addresses a particular problem of remembrance associated with the history of Dachuan's Confucian temple, its reconstruction, and its function in the transmission of ritual knowledge and religious values from village elders who remember the pre-Communist era to younger people for whom even the trauma of radical socialism is but a receding memory. This account of the struggle of a devastated community to resurrect its heritage, and thereby itself, gives us a vivid understanding of the complex interactions of memory, history, and religion
This study focuses on the politics of memory in the village of Dachuan in northwest China, in which 85 percent of the villagers are surnamed Kong and believe themselves to be descendants of Confucius. It recounts both how this proud community was subjected to intense suffering during the Maoist era, culminating in its forcible resettlement in December 1960 to make way for the construction of a major hydroelectric dam, and how the village eventually sought recovery through the commemoration of that suffering and the revival of a redefined religion
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 187-203) and index
Subject Gong family.
Kong family.
Memory -- Social aspects -- China -- Gansu Sheng.
Memory -- Social aspects -- China -- Kansu Province
SUBJECT Gansu Sheng (China) http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n81022588 -- Social conditions. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2001008850
LC no. 96015406
ISBN 0804727562 (acid-free paper)
0804727570 (paperback: acid-free paper)