Ritual and Scripture in Chinese Popular Religion (review)

Reviews 447 David Johnson, editor. Ritual and Scripture in Chinese Popular Religion. Publications ofthe Chinese Popular Culture Project, no. 3. Berkeley: Chinese Popular Culture Project, 1995. ix, 265 pp. Paperback $15.00, isbn 09624327 -3-3. David Johnson's new book features five important essays originally presented at the Conference on the Rituals and Scriptures of Chinese Popular Religion, held in Bodega Bay in 1990 by the Chinese Popular Culture Project (other papers at the conference were presented by Brigitte Berthier, Allen Chun, Kenneth Dean, Caroline Gyss-Vermande, John Lagerwey, Daniel Overmyer, Michael Saso, and Gary Seaman). The essays included here, by some of the leading scholars in the field ofChinese religion, represent a major contribution to our understanding of different types ofreligious texts and rituals, the complex interaction between them, and the ways in which they shaped Chinese popular religion and Chinese culture as a whole. The volume opens with a briefIntroduction by David Johnson. Johnson convincingly demonstrates the importance of studying Chinese popular religion, while he also clearly defines the problems involved. He then proceeds to introduce the concepts ofritual and scripture, asserting that despite certain areas of overlap there is a fundamental difference between the two in terms of impact on audience, demands on performers, and expectations ofauthors (p. ix). Finally, he presents the two main themes ofthe volume: (1) the ongoing attempts (and frequent failures) to "reform" popular practices and beliefs and (2) the extensive overlap ofreligion and entertainment in Chinese culture. Robert Chard's paper provides a penetrating analysis ofone of the most widespread and long-lived cults in Chinese popular religion, that of the Stove God. Chard explores differing representations of this deity through a detailed examination ofhistorical texts describing the ways in which New Year's rituals to this deity were performed, as well as scriptural and liturgical works that frequently attempted to reform such rituals and/or introduce new ones. He argues that the variance between "rituals prescribed in the stove texts and those actually performed at the New Year" demonstrates the popular character of the latter (p. 53). Chard concludes that while the scriptural and liturgical texts described in his paper did circulate, they exerted only a limited influence on popular rituals of the Stove God. While one might question his assertion that the New Year's rituals he© 1996 by University describes feature a strong degree of"standardization" and "uniformity" (pp. 1920 ), his account ofthe resilience of these rituals in the face of frequent attempts to reform them should serve as a warning to those arguing in favor of Chinese "cultural hegemony." 448 China Review International: Vol. 3, No. 2, Fall 1996 The performative aspects of Chinese religions are expertly treated by David Johnson in his essay on "precious scrolls" (baojuan 3Jf;#¦), particularly those related to the Mulian story. He begins by describing the various subtypes of baojuan, while also challenging the idea that such works can be encompassed by the term "genre." Drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, he then goes on to examine the ways in which baojuan and other related texts were actually performed. The heart ofhis paper, though, comes in his case study of the Mulian jiumu youming baochuan 0 i4.Ä#Ä % W#, a work published during the late Qing. Apart from providing a breathtaking summary of the text's plot, he delves into the areas of overlap between printed and performed versions of baojuan, concluding that the Youming baochuan represents a didactic work with close links to the performative baojuan tradition. Johnson goes on to compare the Youming baochuan to the Tang dynasty bianwen SlX version of the Mulian story, arguing that the latter work presents a more Buddhist version of the story based on the point ofview of the sangha. Finally, Johnson returns to his earlier work on the Mulian operas by comparing them to the Youming baochuan, concluding that baojuan tended to share stronger affinities with written texts and scriptures than with operas or rituals (p. 102). He also employs Roy Rappaport's distinction between liturgies and rituals to argue that there are two fundamental aspects of religious behavior: one focused on reason and the social-political order, the other...