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Book Cover
E-book
Author Cao, Nanlai

Title Constructing China's Jerusalem : Christians, power, and place in contemporary Wenzhou / Nanlai Cao
Published Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 2011

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xii, 216 pages) : illustrations, maps
Series East-West Center series on contemporary issues in Asia and the Pacific
Contemporary issues in Asia and the Pacific.
Contents Introduction : putting Christianity and capitalism in their place -- The rise of "boss Christians" and their engagements with state power -- Of manners, morals and modernity : cosmopolitan desires and the remaking of Christian identity -- The business of religion in the "Wenzhou model" of Christian revival -- Gendered agency, gender hierarchy and religious identity making -- Conversion to urban citizenship : rural migrant workers' participation in Wenzhou Christianity -- Conclusion : religious revivalism as a moral discourse of modernity
Summary "Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth life history interviews, this illuminating book provides an intimate portrait of contemporary Chinese Christianity in the context of a modern, commercialized economy. In vivid detail, anthropologist Nanlai Cao explores the massive resurgence of Protestant Christianity in the southeastern coastal city of Wenzhou--popularly referred to by its residents as 'China's Jerusalem'--a nationwide model for economic development and the largest urban Christian center in China. Cao's study of Chinese Christians delves into the dynamics of activities such as banqueting, network building, property acquisition, mate selection, marriage ritual, migrant work, and education. Unlike previous research that has mainly looked at older, rural, and socially marginalized church communities, Cao trains his focus on economically powerful, politically connected, moralizing Christian entrepreneurs. In framing the city of Wenzhou as China's Jerusalem, newly rich Chinese Christians seek not only to express their leadership aspirations in a global religious movement but also to assert their place, identity, and elite status in post-reform Chinese society"--Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL
digitized 2011 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL
Print version record
Subject Christianity -- Social aspects -- China -- Wenzhou Shi
Church growth -- China -- Wenzhou Shi
Christianity and culture -- China -- Wenzhou Shi
RELIGION -- Christianity -- History.
Christianity and culture
Christianity -- Social aspects
Church growth
Christentum
Religiöse Identität
Religiöse Minderheit
Christentum.
Religionsausübung.
Religionssoziologie.
Soziales Handeln.
SUBJECT Wenzhou Shi (China) -- Church history
Subject China -- Wenzhou Shi
China
Wenzhou.
China.
Genre/Form Church history
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2010014331
ISBN 9780804776424
0804776423