Back to search results

Separation and reunion in modern China

Enlarge text Shrink text
  • Book

In this original and readable book, Charles Stafford describes the Chinese fascination with separation and reunion. Drawing on his field studies in Taiwan and mainland China, he gives a vivid account of raucous festivals of reunion, elaborate rituals for the sending-off of gods (and daughters), poetic moments of leave-takings between friends, and bitter political rhetoric about Chinese national unity. The idioms and practices of separation and reunion - which are woven into the fabric of daily life - help people to explain the passions aroused by the possibility of national division. In this book, the discussion of everyday rituals leads into a unique and accessible general introduction to Chinese and Taiwanese society and culture.

Title Separation and reunion in modern China / Charles Stafford.
Additional Titles Separation & Reunion in Modern China
Edition 1st ed.
Publisher Cambridge : Cambridge University Press
Creation Date 2000
Notes Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
Includes bibliographical references (179-199) and index.
English
Content Acknowledgements -- Introduction: an anthropology of separation -- 1. Two festival of reunion -- 2. The etiquette of parting and return -- 3. Greeting and sending-off the dead -- 4. The ambivalent threshold -- 5. Commensality as reunion -- 6. Women and the obligation to return -- 7. Developing a sense of history -- 8. Classical narratives of separation and reunion -- 9. The politics of separation and reunion in China and Taiwan -- Conclusion: the separation constraint -- Notes -- References -- Index.
Extent 1 online resource (viii, 202 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).
Language English
National Library system number 997010700521705171
MARC RECORDS
Tags

Have more information? Found a mistake?

More on this subject

Living with separation in China : anthropological accounts / edited by Charles Stafford.
Book
Masculinities in Chinese history / Bret Hinsch. [Asia/Pacific/perspectives ]
Book

This may also interest you

Keepers of Jewish Treasures: Meet the Participants of the International Judaica Curators Conference

Keepers of Jewish Treasures: Meet the Participants of the International Judaica Curators Conference

They came from Europe, North Africa, Latin America, and from the United States, where an unprecedented wave of antisemitism is currently being witnessed. They work at prestigious European museums, the Library of Congress, Ivy League universities, and in one case, in the service of the King of Moroc

To the article on our blog
The Riddle of the Baal Shem Tov

The Riddle of the Baal Shem Tov

According to legend, when the Baal Shem Tov was just starting out, he arrived in a Jewish town. Early in the morning, he stood with his cart, met a Jew on his way to the synagogue, started talking to him, and told him a story. The Jew enjoyed the story and stayed to hear another one. In the meantim

To the article on our blog
World War II

World War II

World War II was the most destructive and deadly war in human history. The war officially began when Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Although the invasion of Poland is commonly seen as the first act of war, Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria and its occupation of Czechoslovakia i

More on this subject