The Temple of Memories: History, Power and Morality in a Chinese Village Book

Choice (H. T. Wong) July/August, 1997: Jing's ethnographic study is based on fieldwork at different times (i.e., 1989, 1991-93, and 1995). Jing describes the hardship of a village about 80 kilometers of Lanzhou in dirt-poor Gansu from 1949-76, and shows its attempt to deal with misfortune and to rebuild in the post-Mao era. The political persecution, economic deprivation, and cultural disruption in this Chinese village were perhaps a microcosm of Maoist China. What made this village possibly unique is that 85 percent of its approximately 3,000 inhabitants in 1992 claimed to be descendants of Confucius, thus making it a prime target for political attack as an embodiment of the Confucian legacy. Hardships included having the village submerged in water from the construction of hydroelectric projects on the Yellow River. The reconstruction of a new Confucian temple in 1991 signaled more than a public rite of ancestral worship and remembrance. It underscored a resilient tradition and historical continuity that will continue to survive political and social upheavals.Read More