Despite Taiwan's rise as an economic force in the world, modernity has not led to a Weberian process of disenchantment or curbed religiosity. To the contrary, other factors--social, economic, political--have stimulated religion. How and why this has happened are central issues in this book.

One part of Taiwan's flourishing religious culture is the elaborate and colorful procession of local gods accompanied by troupes of musicians and dancers. Among them are performers with outlandishly painted faces portraying underworld generals who serve the gods and punish the living. Through their performances, these troupes claim to exorcise harmful forces from the community.

In conducting fieldwork among these troupes, Donald Sutton confronted their claims to a long history--when all evidence indicated that the troupes had been insignificant until the 1970s--and their assertions of devotion to tradition given the diversity of performances. Concentrating on the stylistic variations in performances, the author describes the troupes as organizations shaped by the "market forces" of supply and demand in the culture of religious festivals. By focusing on performances as the nexus of market and art, he shows how bodily performance is the site where religious statements are made and the power of the gods made visible.

Focusing on the Ming (1368-1644) and (especially) the Qing (1364-1912) eras, this book analyzes crucial moments in the formation of cultural, regional, and religious identities. The contributors examine the role of the state in a variety of environments on China's "peripheries," paying attention to shifts in law, trade, social stratification, and cultural dialogue. They find that local communities were critical participants in the shaping of their own identities and consciousness as well as the character and behavior of the state. At certain times the state was institutionally definitive, but it could also be symbolic and contingent. They demonstrate how the imperial discourse is many-faceted, rather than a monolithic agent of cultural assimilation.

By providing a unique perspective on China's changing relationship with religion, this groundbreaking book explores the role the Chinese state continues to play in religious revival today. Over the past several decades, China has experienced a rapid expansion of religious spaces and activities. More recently, a growing middle-class urban society has fueled an upsurge in Chinese domestic tourism. Faiths on Display challenges the common separation of religious and tourist activities, showing how these practices overlap and blend together. A group of leading scholars explores the unlikely interaction between these exuberant phenomena, finding a surprisingly clear lens through which to view a rapidly transforming society. Even the most casual observer is struck by the Chinese rediscovery of traditional culture, particularly at revived religious festivals and pilgrimages in suburbs, rural areas, and at China's margins where religious practices of ethnic minorities attract particular tourist attention. A set of fascinating case studies shows how state organizations are helping revive "sacred spaces" as exploitable sites for tourism development and revenue generation. While this may appear to be a straightforward collision of Chinese tradition with modernization, the contributors argue that the results of combining religion and tourism offer important insights not only into the practice of religion and the rise of "leisure culture" in contemporary China, but also into the changing and contested nature of state governance. The policies of an authoritarian, modernizing state obviously influence both religion and tourism, but religious practices, the book clearly illustrates, tend to slip out of state control, and tourist tastes push development into directions not anticipated or welcomed by the state. Contributions by: Kenneth Dean, Brian R. Dott, Xiaofei Kang, Charlene Makley, Susan K. McCarthy, Charles F. McKhann, Tim Oakes, Yu Luo Rioux, Donald S. Sutton, Marina Svensson, and Rubie Watson.