Performing sacredness
The Touqi Public Memorial Ceremony as a cultural response to Chinese major disasters (2010–2019)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7271987 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Zikun Liu (0000-0001-7058-1259, Wuhan University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 273-293 |
| Publication date | 2025-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Chinese Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2057-150X • E-ISSN: 2057-1518 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/2057150x251330727 |
| OpenAlex | W4410579428 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 22 |
In ancient China, the Touqi Memorial Ceremony was a customary practice that memorialized deceased relatives. However, during the early period of the People's Republic of China, the funeral system underwent reforms, and folk beliefs were temporarily labeled as superstition and largely dismissed. Nonetheless, between 2010 and 2019, the Chinese government held the Touqi Public Memorial Ceremony (TPMC) for victims of major disasters on the seventh day after their deaths. Therefore, this research aims to investigate how the state adopted this traditional ritual, explore the overall cultural response of the Chinese government to disasters, and examine the characteristics of disaster narratives. Taking a cultural sociological perspective, this study employs a social performance framework to unveil the cultural response in government disaster management. This process involves the transformation of traditional private and folk rituals into modern public memorial ceremonies. The TPMC can be considered an example of a widespread pattern of the state appropriating and adapting existing cultural forms, showcasing the government's endeavor to embrace a holistic cultural approach to disaster management. Analyzing the TPMC offers an opportunity to understand the governance strategies employed by the Chinese government
Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Ceremony · Environmental ethics · Political science · Sociology · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Philosophy · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
The living and the dead
Media Politics in China
The Strong Program in Cultural Theory
Discourse and social change
Media Events
Ancestor Worship and State Rituals in Contemporary China
Introduction
The Meanings of Social LifeA Cultural Sociology
Disaster Management in China in a Changing Era
Handbook of Disaster Research
Cultural Trauma
Graphic death in the news media
The sympathetic leviathan
From the Soil
Gift and market in the Chinese religious economy
The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
Cultural Pragmatics
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |