Book

The cult of the dead in a Chinese village

Stanford University PressStanford, Calif.Published In 1973 • Pages:

By: Martin, Emily.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a study of ancestor worship and lineage organization in Ch'i-nan, a village east of the city of San-hsia, in the southwestern part of the Taipei Basin in northern Taiwan. Ahern begins by outlining general aspects of the social organization of the village and the four clan communities which comprise it. This outline is followed by a detailed anlaysis of the Ch'inan cult of the dead, considering its outward manifestations, associated social practices and usages, and finally its psychological correlates. In a concluding chapter, Ahern presents comparative evidence from other Chinese villages, to demonstrate that variation in people's views of their ancestors are related to other aspects of social organization that vary from case to case.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Lineages
Localized kin groups
Inter-community relations
Cult of the dead
Eschatology
Revelation and divination
Congregations
Organized ceremonial
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Taiwan Hokkien
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
1995
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Asia
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
East Asia
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
Book
Evaluation
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
David Sherwood
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1969-1970
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
not specified
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Ch'i-nan village, Taipei hsien, Hai-shan region, Taiwan
NotesAdditional notes
Emily M. Ahern
Includes bibliography
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
72097202
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Taiwanese