Violence in Chinese Religious Culture

Book section

Authors: ter Haar, B

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Host title: The Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence
• Pages: 249-262
• Publication date: 2011-04-20
• DOI: 10.1002/9781444395747.ch19
• ISBN: 9781405191319
• Keywords: Violence in Chinese religious culture - "violence" culturally, genderwise, educationally defined; Violence as a real, symbolic or metaphorical change of matter - from its original or natural state; Terms understood as "(justified) martial violence" (wu) and "(proper) cosmological pattern" (wen); Roman Catholic custom of worshipping - Jesus Christ on a cross, abhorrent to Chinese nonconverts; Violent acts, broad array of weapons - not seen as violence, as a proper form of behavior; Buddhist and Daoist martial traditions, evolving - from therapeutic exercises and exorcist practice; Atoning for one's deeds in the underworld - torture and corporal punishment, secular legal theory; Enforcement of contracts and norms - premodern China, and elaborate legal system; Ancient China, with a long tradition of making statues - for religious worship and magical purposes; Threat of a violent punishment - crucial sanction in maintenance of moral order