AN379: China Trad and Trans Final

How does globalization affect religious charity?

It spreads universal models of goodness and creates cosmopolitan moral identities (that means people think of themselves as citizens of the world and share an equal concern for all people)

alternatives to industrialized philanthropy

1. Community rituals(festivals, temple rituals, spirit appeasement, etc): Goodness is collective and bounded, not universal, Focus is on social harmony and moral order, not measurable outcomes

2. Cultural Heritage (preserving temples, tradition, festivals, etc): Goodness is defined as continuity and preservation; value in identity maintenance

3. Spiritual Life (Practices aim at self-cultivation/enlightenment- includes prayer, inner moral improvement): Goodness is inward and longterm, you wanna focus on being a good person

4. Problem-solving (dress specific local problems practically): not universal; not necessarily bureaucratic; shows goodness can be situational

Idea of unlimited good

Goodness is universal and infinite meaning that moral action should be extended to anyone in need regardless of personal connection or other factors

Political merit-making

process where religious orgs earn legitimacy and protection from the state by providing social services and charity (healthcare, disaster relief, etc) and therefore aligns with political interests.

What’s the civic self

A moral subject produced through modern philosphy who understands they’re autonomous, responsible, and morally obligated to help others beyond their personal ties

When’d industrialized philanthropy become important

The authors argue that industrialized philanthropy became important beginning in the 1980s, due to economic growth, political change, increased mobility, and new communication technologies across China, Taiwan, and Malaysia.

Industrialized philanthropy

modern form of charity that has large-scale operations, bureaucratic organization, and systems of accountability. It’s detached from personal relationships and grounded in the belief of doing universal help/charity

What is civil governance of death?

A socialist system where funerals are used to create citizen-subjects loyal to the state (funerals are run by state, cremation>funeral, emphasize citizenship and reduce “horizontal ties”)

What is market governance of death

it means to apply market logic such as profit, incentives, and competition to funeral parlors (doesn’t fully work bc the funeral workers still think like socialist workers=> the workers see themselves as exploited laborers than state servants)

Why do personalized funerals fail?

People prefer rituals that have effects. The personalized ones feel emotionally empty and don’t do anything meaningful

What is the “addition” model of religion?

Religious rituals are added onto socialist funerals instead of replacing them.

What kind of self does a memorial meeting create?

They create a collective, relational, socialist self (at the meetings they include speeches, emphasize moral life, frame the dead as good socialist citizens)

Why are Protestant funerals different?

They emphasize inner belief and sincerity rather than ritual performance.

Lius Precarity

Describes material and economic instability such as insecure employment, fluctuating income, and a lack of welfare protections

Liu’s Fragility

Describes moral, social, and institutional instability. For example, people may be materially stable but still feel anxious because they are unsure which rituals are socially acceptable, morally correct, or politically safe.

How do funeral brokers play edge ball?

Funeral brokers are not fully recognized by the state, yet they are essential for helping families navigate complex funeral rules, religious practices, and bureaucratic procedures. Funeral brokers demonstrate that everyday governance relies on informal actors who translate between official rules and lived realities.

• They often arrange religious rituals that are officially discouraged while also maintaining cooperative relationships with state-run funeral parlors.

What kinds of selfhood does Liu distinguish, and are they convincing?

• the socialist self (defined by collective morality and citizenship),

• the market self (defined by economic calculation and entrepreneurship),

• the religious self (defined by ritual obligation and cosmology),

• pluralistic or composite self that moves between these modes depending on context.

“Preface and Appendix model”: the memorial meeting is “what one is supposed to do,” while the religious rituals are “for peace of mind” or “in case it helps.” Liu emphasizes that people are not trying to reconcile these frameworks intellectually. Instead, they treat them as separate but compatible domains of action,

What is guanxi?

A constructed network of reciprocal relationships maintained through gifting, interaction, and obligation

What is jia?

The family as a commensal, economic, and religious unit.

How are kinship and guanxi constructed?

Through reciprocity, inheritance rules, ritual responsibility, gifting, and ongoing interaction.

Why is “blood” not fixed?

Because who counts as kin depends on inheritance, ritual duties, and social needs

How do hierarchy and reciprocity work together?

Superiors provide protection and responsibility; subordinates provide obedience and respect, maintained through reciprocal practices.

Name three historical selves in China.

Confucian hierarchical self, Maoist collective self, contemporary networked individual.

What is ludic governance?

Governing through play, emotion, and participation rather than force.