1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910826168303321

Autore

Harrison Henrietta

Titolo

The missionary's curse and other tales from a Chinese Catholic village [[electronic resource] /] / Henrietta Harrison

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, Calif., : University of California Press, c2013

ISBN

0-520-95472-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (297 p.)

Collana

Asia: Local Studies/Global Themes ; ; 26

Disciplina

282/.5117

Soggetti

HISTORY / Asia / General

Shanxi Sheng (China) Religious life and customs

Shanxi Sheng (China) Folklore

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

Front matter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- A Note on Terminology and Names -- Introduction -- 1. The Ancestors Who Founded the Village -- 2. The Bishop and the Wolf -- 3. The Priest Who Ran Away to Rome -- 4. The Boxer Uprising and the Souls in Purgatory -- 5. The Missionary Who Cursed the Village -- 6. The Four Fragrances and the Flying Bicycle -- 7. The Village Since the 1980's -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

The Missionary's Curse tells the story of a Chinese village that has been Catholic since the seventeenth century, drawing direct connections between its history, the globalizing church, and the nation. Harrison recounts the popular folk tales of merchants and peasants who once adopted Catholic rituals and teachings for their own purposes, only to find themselves in conflict with the orthodoxy of Franciscan missionaries arriving from Italy. The village's long religious history, combined with the similarities between Chinese folk religion and Italian Catholicism, forces us to rethink the extreme violence committed in the area during the Boxer Uprising. The author also follows nineteenth century Chinese priests who campaigned against missionary control, up through the founding of the official church by the Communist Party in the 1950's. Harrison's in-depth study provides a rare insight into villager experiences during the Socialist Education Movement and Cultural Revolution, as well as the growth of Christianity in China in



recent years. She makes the compelling argument that Catholic practice in the village, rather than adopting Chinese forms in a gradual process of acculturation, has in fact become increasingly similar to those of Catholics in other parts of the world.