De Jiao ("Teaching of Virtue") is a China-born religious movement; based on spirit-writing and rooted in the tradition of the "halls for good deeds;" which emerged in Chaozhou during the Sino-Japanese war. The book relates the fascinating process of its spread throughout Southeast Asia in the 1950s; and; more recently; from Thailand and Malaysia to post-Maoist China and the global world. Through a richly-documented multi-site ethnography of De Jiao congregations in the PRC; Hong Kong; Singapore; Malaysia; and Thailand; Bernard Formoso offers valuable insights into the adaptation of Overseas Chinese to sharply contrasted national polities; and the projective identity they build with relation to China. De Jiao is of special interest with regard to its organization and strategies which strongly reflect the managerial habits and entrepreneurial ethos of the Overseas Chinese businessmen. It has also built original bonding with symbols of the Chinese civilization whose greatness it claims to champion from the periphery. Accordingly; a central theme of the study is the role that such a religious movement may play to promote new forms of identification with the motherland as substitutes for loosened genealogical links. The book also offers a comprehensive interpretation of the contemporary practice of fu ji spirit-writing; and reconsiders the relation between unity and diversity in Chinese religion.
#499146 in Books Urim Publications 2006-07-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.40 x .50 x 6.50l; .83 #File Name: 9657108756224 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Four StarsBy fmanThis book offered some interesting insights and perspectives on hair-covering. I found the essays enjoyable.10 of 10 people found the following review helpful. Wasn't a halacha book like I expected; but it was amazing!By KochavaI ordered this; thinking it was a halacha book. Since there aren't any halacha books that talk about hair covering except from the perspective of how it would affect her husband (minus a couple of totally machmir women's halacha books); I had hoped this would be a more reasonable presentation of the halacha of haircovering. It was all that and more. It is a collection of essays about haircovering; ranging from personal stories to scholarly halachic discussions; and several with a mix of the two. It ranged from women who decided to cover after decades of not; women who chose to stop haircovering; a women who chose to cover despite otherwise appearing like a secular Israeli; all the way to two women who shave. It made me much more open-minded about women's choices in haircovering as well as helping me to appreciate that any woman can feel conflicted about it. (I read it a few weeks before getting married.) So far; it's been the most reasonable - and useful - hair covering discussion I've seen; and I feel like I've made better informed halachic choices because of it.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. An important readBy AnyechkaThis book; on such an underrepresented subject; is long overdue. With all of the books in recent years on women in Orthodox Judaism; it's surprising that there hasn't been a prior book devoted to just this subject; hair-covering after marriage. As the thought-provoking essays in the book show; this is a custom that varies from woman to woman and community to community. It's not something as specific and set in stone as; say; Kashrut or observing Shabbos. Each woman represented has found halachic justification for her own personal reasons for and method of covering her hair; and none of them are wrong or inferior; just different.Some of the women struggled for a long time with the custom of hair-covering; others never had any qualms about it; some only started doing it after having been married for a long time; and one woman even stopped covering her hair after she'd been married for awhile. There's even a chapter on frum women who choose not to cover their hair. I personally enjoyed most the essays by the women who struggled or who continue to struggle with this admittedly difficult mitzvah. It's just more interesting to read a story from someone like Khaya; who goes against her community norms by wearing a snood; or Esther; who didn't cover her hair until decades into her marriage; got cancer; and chose to continue wearing a wig after she recovered; than a story from someone like Leah; the Satmar who accepts having to shave her head the day after her marriage because that's just what her community and rabbis dictate; or Devorah; the giyoret who; in spite of struggling with the exact method of covering; happily and excitedly shaved her head after marriage.Though many of the women wear shaitels (wigs); a number of the women primarily cover their hair with tichels; scarves; snoods; or hats. Some of them do it just because it's halacha; but others have found different or additional reasons for it. Though I'm not even Orthodox; I've always really liked the idea of a married woman covering her hair; like keeping her beautiful hair as a special thing for her husband's eyes only. Only her husband has the joy; honor; and privilege of uncovering her hair; not to be enjoyed by any other man. And whatever one's denominational persuasion; the essays in this book are bound to make anyone think.
