Northern Wei Wutaishan

An outside view of centres and peripheries

Dados Bibliográficos

ID22347472
AutoresT H Barrett (0000-0002-7381-1387, University of London, autor correspondente)
Ano2019
Volume5
Fascículo3-4
Páginas203-214
Data de publicação2019-10-02
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoStudies in Chinese Religions (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2372-9988 • E-ISSN: 2372-9996
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/23729988.2019.1676082
OpenAlexW2988837759
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas13

This study is an attempt to look at Wutaishan from an outside, non-Chinese, non-Buddhist perspective in order to imagine its possible religious significance to the Taugast, the group originally from beyond the northern limits of Chinese civilization who came to be known in China as the Northern Wei, when they first began to pay attention to what was then a mountain not strongly associated with Buddhism, or even Daoism. Though the amount of textual material on this period is very limited, it is suggested that the caves of Wutaishan were already regarded by these northern outsiders to China as possessing a religious significance, a significance ultimately relating to conceptions of northern peoples that also continued to exert an appeal on Mongols in later periods. Archaeological study that might further clarify this hypothesis will need to bear in mind that Wutaishan has been both at the centre and at the periphery of more than one culture and indeed thereby perhaps played an important role in mediating cultural conflict

Geography · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Chinese history and philosophy · Eurasian Exchange Networks