The Market and Temple Fairs of Rural China

During the early communist period of the 1950s, temple fairs in China were suppressed, however, once China embarked on its path of free market reform secular commodity exchange fairs were again authorized, and sometimes encouraged as a means of stimulating rural commerce. This book reveals how once these secular "temple-less temple fairs" were in place, they came to serve not only as venues for the proliferation of popular cultural performance genres, but also as sites for the revival of popular religious symbols. Examining its economic, popular cultural, popular religious and political dimensions this book presents a comprehensive analysis of the temple fair phenomenon.