How has a Chinese village remained Catholic?: Catholicism and local culture in a northern Chinese village
This article investigates the relationship between local culture and the inculturation of Catholicism in a northern Chinese village. Little research has been conducted on the effect of local culture on the continuation of Catholicism in China. Based on my ethnographic and archival research on a Cath...
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| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge
2006
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| In: |
Journal of contemporary China
Year: 2006, Volume: 15, Issue: 49, Pages: 687-704 |
| Further subjects: | B
Village
B Einflussgröße B China B Cause B Religion B Catholicism B Traditional culture B Christianity B Volksrepublik China Volksrepublik China (Norden) Village Catholicism Cause Kulturelle Faktoren Traditionelle Kultur Religion Christianity Ritual B Culture |
| Summary: | This article investigates the relationship between local culture and the inculturation of Catholicism in a northern Chinese village. Little research has been conducted on the effect of local culture on the continuation of Catholicism in China. Based on my ethnographic and archival research on a Catholic village and on a neighboring non-Catholic village in northern China, the findings of this research suggest that local culture is the underlying factor for the continuation of Catholicism. Differentiated life-cycle rituals in the Catholic village from those of the non-Catholic village, a combination of Catholic belief with fengshui, local religion and local cultural symbols have been used as effective means to carry on Catholicism. This article helps explain why hundreds of Catholic villages in northern China have kept their Catholic identity for generations, and why the underground church in China could survive, but the generalization of the findings requires more and diverse cases. (J Contemp China/GIGA) |
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| ISSN: | 1067-0564 |
| Contains: | In: Journal of contemporary China
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