Th is book, which marks another major milestone in Daniel L. Overmyer’s distinguished career, provides a detailed, colorful and, at times,
even moving description of Chinese religious life. One of the most
important realms of public activity in late imperial and modern China
prior to 1949, not to mention Chinese communities in Taiwan, Hong
Kong and overseas today, has centered on local cults and festivals. In
recent years, an ever-increasing number of scholars have explored the
ways in which religious beliefs, rituals, and dramatic performances
both refl ect yet also shape the development of communal society. Th eir
research has shift ed from top-down analyses of the state’s impact on
local communities, to the study of the interaction between so-called
‘elite culture’ and ‘popular culture,’ to detailed ethnographic or microhistorical case studies of the workings of local society, the roles of
local elites, and the complex reverberation of power between state and
society.1
Th e study of Chinese religions at the communal level has been transformed as well, with scholars using interdisciplinary methodologies to
conduct in-depth investigations. Th e past two decades have witnessed
a dramatic increase in such research, led by scholars such as Adam
Chau, Kenneth Dean, Prasenjit Duara, David Faure, Vincent Goossaert,
Hamashima Atsutoshi 濱島敦俊, Robert Hymes, David Johnson, John
Lagerwey, Susan Naquin, Kristofer Schipper, Michael Szonyi, Barend
ter Haar, James Watson, Robert Weller, Yang Yanjie 楊彥杰, Yü Chünfang 于君方, Zheng Zhenman 鄭振滿, etc. Two long-term collaborative
research projects in particular have marked the progress being made
in our understanding of Chinese communal religious traditions. Th e
fi rst is the Minsu quyi congshu 民俗曲藝叢書 (85 volumes, edited by
Wang Ch’iu-kuei 王秋桂; the second is the Kejia chuantong shehui
congshu 客家傳統社會叢書 (30 volumes, edited by John Lagerwey
and his colleagues in China)