State Market And Religions In Chinese Societies

This is a collection of original, new studies about religious changes in Chinese societies, focusing on the role of the state and market in affecting religious developments. It will interest people who want to understand China and/or religious change in modernizing societies

The many elements of the fundamental antagonism of Market versus Oikos (= family, household or State) are analyzed and defined in Western and Chinese historical and present contexts. In this exercise, Max Weber is chosen as our “sparring partner” because of his Chinese and Western writings.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1961.

Analyses the mechanisms, processes and actors producing a wide spectrum of social and cultural changes in reform China. Contrary to most literature that emphasize economic and political processes at the expense of Chinese society, the book argues for the centrality of the social in understanding Chinese development.

This book provides an itinerary for studying political theology in Chinese society, including mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. It explores the changing role of religion in Chinese history, from the rise of Buddhism alongside Confucianism and Daoism, through the arrival of Christianity and Islam, to the suppression of religion under communism. Since the reform and opening period beginning in 1978, China has experienced a resurgence of religiosity, with powerful societal implications. Governing authorities have sought to regulate religious practice in line with their governing system. Political theology in Chinese society is very much in flux and the chapters in this volume provide an array of windows through which to view the evolving reality. They include historical approaches and descriptive analyses, with an interdisciplinary and international range of perspectives by contributors based in and outside China. The book will be of particular interest to scholars of theology, religious studies, and contemporary China studies.

This book provides a wide-ranging and in-depth survey of contemporary religious practices in China. It explains how recent economic reforms and concurrent relaxation of religious polices have created fertile ground for the revitalization of a wide range of religious practices and relates this to larger issues of social and cultural continuity and change.

This study focuses on the effects of market reform on the life chances of rural people in China. Based on comparative ethnographical evidence from three townships of rural Guangdong province, this book provides a more recent and detailed story about the social inequality in rural China, a further explanation for the institutional analysis on the social stratification of China, a new typology of the developmental results and the changing roles of political elite of rural china.

As China gains power – economically, politically, and militarily – and interaction between the Chinese and people outside China increases, it becomes more and more important that we understand the social factors that influence the daily lives of China's population. This new introductory textbook is suitable for all students taking a course on Chinese society. It presents both historical and contemporary contexts and the latest available research findings. With chapters covering many key aspects of life in China – including religion, social policy, and welfare, the history and impact of the Chinese Communist Party, familial relationships, ethnicity, gender, the media and the education system – this textbook gives the reader a user-friendly and comprehensive introduction to the most important issues affecting Chinese society today. It also includes handy pedagogical features such as a chronology of the People's Republic of China, further reading suggestions, and related novels, films, and autobiographies. Armed with such a book, readers will not only gain a deeper understanding of Chinese society, but a rewarding appreciation for the people, cultures, and social organizations of the world's most populous country. Written by a team of contributors from the UK, China, Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, Understanding Chinese Society is suitable for anyone studying Chinese Society, Chinese Studies and Asian sociology.