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5฀ Constructing a "Clean Spirit" To th e secula r world o r secula r Chinese , spaces ar e everywher e th e sam e .. . To th e religiou s worl d o r religiou s Chinese , especiall y t o Muslim s o f th e Jahrinya order , space s ar e differen t .. . Th e mos t poverty-stricke n territorie s in th e deserte d mountainou s regio n ar e genuin e garden s t o Jahrinya. Zhang Chengzh i (1995a : 11 ) Historical fact s don' t exist . And memorie s — eve n thos e engrave d i n one' s bones an d hear t — ar e subjec t t o oblivion . Zhang Chengzh i (1995a : 146 ) Zhang Chengzhi' s (3g^j£ , 1949- ) nove l A History of the Soul (1991 ) narrates th e 17 2 years (1748-1920 ) o f th e histor y of Jahrinya (^^MM), a Sufi orde r o f Islam in Northwest Chin a continuall y involved i n suicida l wars with th e overpowerin g Qin g troops . Zhang' s boo k represent s th e firs t outspoken extolmen t o f religion i n contemporar y Chines e literatur e an d i s concomitant with an age marked by "the crisis of humanistic spirit" in the early 1990s. His work came into the focus of attention in the 1992-1994 period when the shif t fro m planne d econom y t o market econom y was underway and ha d led t o widespread commodit y fetishism, speedin g u p th e marginalizatio n o f the intellectua l elite . Zhan g represent s writer s wh o propagat e th e quickl y outmoded idealism as a means to resist consumerism. As early as 1984, he qui t his job a s a professional write r o f the Writers' Association an d went into th e depth of Northwest China to seek his Muslim roots. His subsequent conversio n to Jahrinya motivate d hi s writing of A History of the Soul, in which h e declare s his open renunciatio n o f Chinese cultur e i n favor o f his new faith . Zhang Chengzhi' s nove l i s significant no t onl y a s a manifest o o f hi s religious conversion an d o f his awakening to ethnicity, but also as a respons e to wha t Jiirgen Haberma s (1987b ) call s "th e pathologica l sid e effects " o f modernity whic h wer e loomin g larg e i n Chin a a t th e en d o f th e twentiet h 134฀Brushing ฀History ฀Against ฀the ฀Grain฀ century. Man y critics hav e accuse d hi m o f taking a Muslim stance , wherea s others have applauded hi s upholding of idealism, faith an d sacrifice i n an ag e of crass commercialism and moral degeneracy. In fact, the critical controversies are themselve s a demonstration o f the anxietie s caused by the confrontatio n between traditionalit y an d modernity , betwee n idealis m an d kitsch , betwee n religious faith an d th e los s of moral fiber . Viewed fro m th e broade r contex t o f th e worldwid e resurgenc e o f th e fundamentalist movement s i n th e las t tw o decades , whic h tak e a s thei r common goa l the protection o f traditional religious culture from secularism , Zhang Chengzhi' s historica l nove l ca n b e rea d a s a constituent par t o f th e fundamentalist discourse . I would lik e to clarify m y use o f the controversia l term "fundamentalism " an d m y placemen t o f Zhang' s nove l a t th e international contex t o f anti-secularism movements , Islamic fundamentalis t movements i n particular. I t should be noticed tha t within Islam , there exist s the oppositio n betwee n tw o Islami c orders , i.e . "Fundamentalism " an d "Sufism," th e latte r characterize d b y asceticism, visions , miracles, a way of obtaining enlightenmen t throug h meditatio n an d th e worshi p o f Allah i n the soul rather tha n by rational thinking (whic h the Fundamentalists favor) , and it s critique...

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