The Death of a Virgin: The Cult of Wang Yulan and Nationalism in Jinmen, Taiwan

This article explores the impact of the global Cold War on local politics through the study of a state deified female ghost Wang Yulan in Jinmen, Taiwan. The liminal status of ghosts in the Chinese celestial order makes room for possible multiple meanings of state-local contestation. Civilians'...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Anthropological quarterly 2009-07, Vol.82 (3), p.669-689
Main Author: Chi, Chang-hui
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropological research
Asia
Cold War
Communism
Cults
Deification
Deities
Ethnology
Generalities
Ghosts
Law
Liens
Martial law
Nationalism
Politics
Post-Cold War
Religion, magic, witchcraft
Religions, beliefs, worships
Religious rituals
Soldiers
Spirits
State-society relations
Taiwan
Temples
Villages
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Summary:This article explores the impact of the global Cold War on local politics through the study of a state deified female ghost Wang Yulan in Jinmen, Taiwan. The liminal status of ghosts in the Chinese celestial order makes room for possible multiple meanings of state-local contestation. Civilians' interpretations of the cult engaged with the official discourse to generate what Bakhtin called "dialogized heteroglossia," revealing the limits of state control over interpretation and ambiguous relations between the state and local society under martial law.
ISSN:0003-5491
1534-1518
1534-1518
DOI:10.1353/anq.0.0071