How Does Superstition Become Intangible Cultural Heritage in Postsocialist China

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12423880
AutoresGao Bingzhong, Bingzhong Gao (autor correspondente)
Ano2014
Volume22
Fascículo3
Páginas551-572
Data de publicação2014-08-01
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
Periódicopositions asia critique (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1067-9847 • E-ISSN: 1527-8271
EditoraDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/10679847-2685377
OpenAlexW2137491475
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas16

This article narrates how a temple fair worshipping a dragon god, the object of superstition for about sixty years, became an official piece of intangible cultural heritage. This story takes place in three chapters: First, the temple fair as a local tradition was revived after China adopted its Reform and Opening policy in 1978. Second, the temporary tent set up annually for worship was replaced by a building, dubbed both “museum” and “temple” by way of creative use of a “double-naming method.” And third, the temple fair was formally identified as a piece of intangible cultural heritage. This course of events epitomizes the once-unimaginable changes that have taken place in Chinese society in the past one hundred years, and it offers a case for scholars to understand the logics of Chinese reform from within its own culture

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Buddhism · China · Cultural heritage · Intangible cultural heritage · Object (grammar · Political science · Sociology · Superstition · Worship · Chinese history and philosophy · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · History · Law · Philosophy