Constructing China’s Jerusalem

Christians, Power, and Place in Contemporary Wenzhou

Bibliographic Data

ID13835908
AuthorsNanlai Cao (0000-0001-6315-3555, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume40
Issue5
Pages634-635
Publication date2011-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueContemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0094-3061 • E-ISSN: 1939-8638
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0094306111419112a
OpenAlexW2110273624
LanguageEN
Citations received48

Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth life history interviews, this illuminating book provides an intimate portrait of contemporary Chinese Christianity in the context of a modern, commercialized economy. In vivid detail, anthropologist Nanlai Cao explores the massive resurgence of Protestant Christianity in the southeastern coastal city of Wenzhou-popularly referred to by its residents as Jerusalem-a nationwide model for economic development and the largest urban Christian center in China. Cao's study of Chinese Christians delves into the dynamics of activities such as banqueting, network building, property acquisition, mate selection, marriage ritual, migrant work, and education. Unlike previous research that has mainly looked at older, rural, and socially marginalized church communities, Cao trains his focus on economically powerful, politically connected, moralizing Christian entrepreneurs. In framing the city of Wenzhou as China's Jerusalem, newly rich Chinese Christians seek not only to express their leadership aspirations in a global religious movement but also to assert their place, identity, and elite status in post-reform Chinese society

Ancient history · Archaeology · China · Geography · Political science · Power (physics · Sociology · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Religious Tourism and Spaces · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies

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