Religion and Charity: The Social Life of Goodness in Chinese Societies

Cover
Half-title
Title page
Copyright information
Table of contents
List of figures
Acknowledgments
1 Engaged Religions, Industrialized Philanthropy, and the Social Life of Goodness
	Goodness
	Timing
	Changing Regimes and Political Merit-making
	Globalizations, Competitions, and Selves
	Networks, Innovation, and Divergences
	Research Orientations and Methods
2 Legacies and Discontinuities in China, Taiwan, and Malaysia
	Engaged Religions and the Public Good in Late Imperial and Republican China
	China: From Mao to Post-Mao
	Taiwan: From Colonialism to Authoritarian State to Democracy
	Malaysia: From Ethnic Enclave to Ghetto Escape
	Conclusion
3 Political Merit-Making
	The Interfering State Hypothesis and the State Failure Hypothesis
	China
	Taiwan
	Malaysia
	Conclusion
4 A (Chinese) Good Person
	Heritage
	Globalization
	A New Subjectivity
	Civic Selving
5 Gifts, Groups, and Goodness
	Gifts and Groups
	The Qualities and Limits of Social Capital
	Local Temples and Social Capital
	Lukang’s Temples
	Cheng Hoon Teng and the Chinese Community in Malaysia
	Christian Cases
	Conclusion
6 Innovating Goodness
	Catalyzing Dormant Ties and Repurposing Networks
	Connecting across Networks
	Charismatic Connections
	Combining Innovative Techniques: Tzu Chi in Malacca
	The Anxieties and Limitations of Innovation
	Innovating Gender and the Good
7 Alternative Goodness
	Other Goods
	Community Ritual as Public Good
	Cultural Heritage and Community Identity
	Spiritual Goods and Religious Differences
	Solving Life’s Problems
	Forms of the Good
8 Conclusion
	Chinese Contexts of the Unlimited Good
	Other Contexts
	Final Thoughts
References
Index