Saving the soul in Red China

Music and ideology in theGongderitual of merit in Fujian

Bibliographic Data

ID3812232
AuthorsHwee‐san Tan (SOAS University of London, corresponding author)
Year2002
Volume11
Issue1
Pages119-140
Publication date2002-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Ethnomusicology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0968-1221 • E-ISSN: 1741-1920
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09681220208567331
OpenAlexW1988214424
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited18

In China, a commemorative ritual for the dead, known in Minnan (southern Fujian) as Gongde, may be performed by Buddhist, Daoist or lay ritual specialists. Commercialism and syncretism with popular beliefs over time have long since led institutional Buddhists to frown upon its performance by their own members. Since the 1980s, the government‐mandated religious reform has provided the institutional Buddhists with an opening to reinvent the Gongde tradition. This change, I argue, is due in part to state control and in part to the Buddhists ‘ redefinition of ideological orthodoxy, the basis of which lies in a Buddhist reform movement of the early twentieth century. Change in the Gongde has a definite impact on music, a fundamental component in ritual. This paper examines how political and ideological forces serve as coercive and enabling factors influencing the meanings of Gongde and its music

Aesthetics · Art · Buddhism · China · Commercialism · Epistemology · Ideology · Orthodoxy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Soul · Spiritual practice · Spirituality · Theology · Chinese history and philosophy · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Law · Philosophy · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies