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The Death of a Virgin: The Cult of Wang Yulan and Nationalism in Jinmen, Taiwan
- Anthropological Quarterly
- George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research
- Volume 82, Number 3, Summer 2009
- pp. 669-689
- 10.1353/anq.0.0071
- Article
- Additional Information
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.