Re-Enchanting Modernity: Ritual Economy and Society in Wenzhou, China by Mayfair Yang

Abstract

Reviewed by: Re-Enchanting Modernity: Ritual Economy and Society in Wenzhou, China by Mayfair Yang Jules Zhao Liu (bio) Mayfair Yang. Re-Enchanting Modernity: Ritual Economy and Society in Wenzhou, China. Durham: Duke University Mayfair Yang Press, 2020. xi, 374 pp. Paperback $29.95, isbn 978-1-4780-0827-9. [End Page 210] Re-enchanting Modernity is a terrific study of the relationship between religion, state, and civil society in post-Mao China. In this book, Mayfair Mei-Hui Yang depicts the resurgence of religion in Wenzhou after the end of the Cultural Revolution, how religious activities germinated the grassroots formation of civil society, and how the civil forces negotiated with the state for autonomy in contemporary China. The book is divided into three parts. Part one provides a brief social history of religious tradition and culture in Wenzhou from the late nineteenth century to the present. Part two delineates the landscape of religious revival in people’s daily lives in the post-Mao era. Through a great deal of description, Yang’s ethnography shows us a kaleidoscope of religious and ritual lives in local society. Her compelling account of miscellaneous religious practices reveals an impressive capacity of diffused religion in penetrating people’s daily lives. Thick description of people’s religious lives in this part paves the way for her argument: religiosity plays a crucial role in the development of civil society. In part three, Yang shifts her focus from religion to civil society. Drawing on ethnographic data from part two, she makes an in-depth analysis of the engagements between religion, the state, and civil society in Wenzhou. The three parts are very well structured, clearly showing readers the development of Yang’s decade-long research. This book contributes to our knowledge of civil society in contemporary China. Most writings on Chinese civil society have ignored or left out the religious dimension of it. Yang’s work fills that gap. In the book, Yang notices that the religious rejuvenation in people’s daily lives led to the formation of religious communities in local society; and these communities organized people’s cultural lives, built up local organizations, and strengthened people’s communal identity in lieu of the state. Based on observation of these organizations’ impressive capacity of self-governance, social integration, identity construction, and network building, she argues that these grassroots people, communities, and activities provided a strong dynamic to drive the formation of China’s civil society. Before 1949, most social organizations were religious in nature, such as clan, guild, and secret society. From 1949 to 1978, the draconian state-building illegalized all sorts of social organizations, eliminated most of them, and built its sole authority in society. However, once the state loosened its control over society in the 1980s, all kinds of social organizations revived swiftly, heterogenizing the homogeneous society built up by the state throughout the Maoist era. Religion played a significant role in this process of cultural heterogenization. Although state policy in the post-Mao era permitted the rebuilding of religious organizations, maintaining its independence and autonomy was not easy under the rule of the despotic state, as the state has always kept a vigilant watch [End Page 211] and control over them. In chapter seven, Yang provides an intriguing case, showing the dilemma of running a lineage organization. Given that lineage is not officially recognized by the government, an ancestral hall—the materialization of ancestor worship—was at risk of being demolished by the government in the name of smashing feudal superstition. To protect the ancestral hall, a lineage head had to turn the hall into a site of Intangible Cultural Heritage. But once the ancestral hall obtained protection from the state, the state would penetrate it, exert control, and decimate its structure. Once a lineage organization was infiltrated by state power, it would lose its autonomy. And the original mission of the organization would be lost sooner or later. A strong sense of mission drove the clan leader to abandon the existing organization and create a new one to recoup the mission of passing on lineage tradition. This case is the epitome of Chinese civil society under the rule of the despotic state...