Separation and Reunion in Modern China

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Acknowledgements......Page 10
Introduction: an anthropology of separation......Page 11
Separation as a universal constraint......Page 14
Awareness of separation and awareness of death......Page 15
The psychology of separation......Page 17
A realist view of separation......Page 20
Anthropological approaches to separation......Page 23
1 Studies of attachment and separation in cultural psychology......Page 25
2 Studies of ritual separations......Page 27
3 Studies of separation through social displacement......Page 31
4 Studies of human relatedness......Page 32
Grasping the separation constraint......Page 34
Conclusion......Page 36
1 Two festivals of reunion......Page 40
The turning of the year......Page 41
Old Yang\'s new year......Page 42
1 \'Attending the new year market\' (gan nianji) and conventional preparations......Page 49
2 The \'sending-off\' and \'greeting\' of the Stove God, and other deities......Page 52
3 The \'greeting\' and \'sending off\' of the ancestors......Page 54
4 The reunion of the immediate family (tuanyuan)......Page 56
5 Stringing together doors: new year visits......Page 58
6 The conclusion of the festival......Page 60
The mid-autumn festival in a \'civilised work-unit\'......Page 62
2 The etiquette of parting and return......Page 65
Detaining (liu), and sending-off (song) guests......Page 66
Greeting (jie) guests......Page 69
Diplomatic etiquette and \'guest ritual\'......Page 70
What \'politeness\' in sending-off and greeting represents......Page 71
Parting and return of relatives and close friends......Page 72
The difficult separations of friendship, and \'retaining a memory\'......Page 77
3 Greeting and sending-off the dead......Page 80
Who are the dead?......Page 81
\'Sending-off\' (song) the gods......Page 82
\'Summoning\' (qing), \'receiving\' (jie) and \'detaining\' (liu) the gods......Page 84
Qing imperial ritual......Page 87
Spirit mediums and the danger of summoning the dead......Page 89
Sending off the dead (songzang)......Page 90
The respectful and disrespectful \'reception\' ( jie) of ghosts......Page 92
History and agency in the \'greeting\' and \'sending-off\' of the dead......Page 94
4 The ambivalent threshold......Page 97
Ancestral gates......Page 99
The boundary between heaven and earth......Page 100
Attracting the good......Page 101
Deflecting the bad......Page 103
The ambivalent threshold and the passage through life......Page 106
5 Commensality as reunion......Page 109
Some foods of separation and reunion......Page 110
Reunion as commensality......Page 111
The aesthetics of commensality......Page 112
The cycle of laiwang......Page 115
The cycle of yang......Page 118
Men as the public agents of separation and reunion......Page 120
Can women be agents of separation and reunion?......Page 123
Sending-off and greeting the bride......Page 124
Women and the separation constraint......Page 126
Returning to the door......Page 129
Women and the cycles of yang and laiwang......Page 132
7 Developing a sense of history......Page 137
Old newspapers and ancient poetry......Page 139
Childhood on kangs......Page 143
The firecracker......Page 145
Conclusion: a conservative sense of history?......Page 149
8 Classical narratives of separation and reunion......Page 154
A romantic novel of separation and reunion......Page 155
Sending-off a friend with emotion......Page 159
Greeting a friend with food, drink, and modesty......Page 160
Sending off loved ones in silence......Page 161
The arrival and departure of the gods......Page 162
A life determined by separation......Page 163
Conclusion......Page 165
9 The politics of separation and reunion in China and Taiwan......Page 166
Two places......Page 167
Chinese similarities......Page 169
Separated from the ancestors......Page 170
Forceful and peaceful reunification......Page 174
Anthropology and Chinese unity......Page 178
Contemporary Chinese rhetoric of separation and reunion......Page 179
Distance and \'emotional indoctrination\'......Page 181
Conclusion: the separation constraint......Page 184
INTRODUCTION: AN ANTHOLOGY OF SEPARATION......Page 189
1 TWO FESTIVALS OF REUNION......Page 192
4 THE AMBIVALENT THRESHOLD......Page 193
6 WOMEN AND THE OBLIGATION TO RETURN......Page 194
7 DEVELOPING A SENSE OF HISTORY......Page 196
9 THE POLITICS OF SEPARATION AND REUNION IN CHINA AND TAIWAN......Page 198
CONCLUSION: THE SEPARATION CONSTRAINT......Page 200
References......Page 202
Index......Page 210