Religious and Ethnic Revival in a Chinese Minority

<p>This book is based on anthropological fieldwork among the Bai an ethnic minority with a population of two million in Dali southwest China. It explores the religious and ethnic revival in the last two decades against a historical background. It explains why and how religions and ethnic identity are revived in contemporary China with the revived analytical concept of alterity which suggests a world beyond here and now. The book focuses on the particular institutions and ritual technologies that seek for access to the invisible transcendental other—both spatial and temporal. It covers a variety of topics including pre-modern kingship modern utopia religious alterity ethnic identity religious associations the Intangible Cultural Heritage and temple restorations. </p><p></p>