Geographical Hierarchy: Rituals and Culture of a Dali Town Village

Author: Liang Yongjia
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-01
Features: This book is a follow-up research on the location where anthropologist Francis L. K. Hsu conducted fieldwork for his book Under the Ancestors' Shadow—the town of Xizhou in Dali, Yunnan. It is a detailed ethnographic report in social anthropology. Based on in-depth fieldwork, the author adopts a structuralist perspective to reveal the hierarchical structure of regional cult phenomena in the area. This hierarchical structure represents a valuable attempt to understand and elaborate on the concepts of "Chinese anthropology" and the "diverse yet integrated pattern of the Chinese nation" from an ethnographic perspective. The approach of examining Xizhou from the perspective of "non-Xizhou" also deepens previous understandings of the town and contributes to recognizing the cultural world of "harmony in diversity" from an ethnographic standpoint. This book is suitable for scholars and graduate students in anthropology, sociology, ethnology, and folkloristics. Additionally, it provides a detailed description of the temples, their organizations, and ritual activities in Dali Xizhou, as well as records of lesser-known customs of male-female interactions and festival traditions in the local area, presenting readers with a genuine picture of the religious life of the Bai people in Dali. Those engaged in folk tourism and ethnic art can find things of interest in this book, and ordinary tourists visiting Dali will also gain a deeper understanding of Dali culture through it.