1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910782929103321

Autore

Von Glahn Richard

Titolo

The sinister way [[electronic resource] ] : the divine and the demonic in Chinese religious culture / / Richard von Glahn

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, CA, : University of California Press, 2004

ISBN

9786612356834

0-520-92877-6

1-282-35683-6

1-59734-901-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (401 p.)

Disciplina

299.5/1121

299.51121

Soggetti

Demonology - China - History

China Religion

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Ancestors, ghosts, and Gods in ancient China -- The Han cult of the dead and salvific religion -- Shanxiao: mountain goblins -- Plague demons and epidemic Gods -- The song transformation of Chinese religious culture -- Wutong: from demon to deity -- The enchantment of wealth.

Sommario/riassunto

The most striking feature of Wutong, the preeminent God of Wealth in late imperial China, was the deity's diabolical character. Wutong was perceived not as a heroic figure or paragon of noble qualities but rather as an embodiment of humanity's basest vices, greed and lust, a maleficent demon who preyed on the weak and vulnerable. In The Sinister Way, Richard von Glahn examines the emergence and evolution of the Wutong cult within the larger framework of the historical development of Chinese popular or vernacular religion-as opposed to institutional religions such as Buddhism or Daoism. Von Glahn's study, spanning three millennia, gives due recognition to the morally ambivalent and demonic aspects of divine power within the common Chinese religious culture.