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The Dragon King and the1931 Wuhan flood: religious rumors and environmental disasters in Republican China

The Dragon King and the1931 Wuhan flood: religious rumors and environmental disasters in Republican China
The Dragon King and the1931 Wuhan flood: religious rumors and environmental disasters in Republican China
This article explores popular religious conceptualizations of the environment and disasters in early twentieth-century China. In 1931, the city of Wuhan experienced a catastrophic flood. Soon a rumor began to circulate suggesting that the disaster had been caused by the recent demolition of a local Dragon King Temple. This article examines this rumor as a mode of popular discourse, using it to illustrate debates among members of the local population regarding the link between the environment, religion, and disasters. It describes the place of Dragon Kings in late imperial religious environmental management, before discussing how the status of these deities was devalued during the early twentieth century. It argues that, in spite of vigorous attempts at secular reform, for a large section of the population the experience of disasters continued to be dominated by popular religious conceptualizations of the environment. While modern critics disparaged what they saw as lamentable superstitions, for many people rainmaking Dragon Kings continued to exist.
83-104
Courtney, Christopher
9a23b876-9174-4087-b508-4852c15d1739
Courtney, Christopher
9a23b876-9174-4087-b508-4852c15d1739

Courtney, Christopher (2015) The Dragon King and the1931 Wuhan flood: religious rumors and environmental disasters in Republican China. Twentieth-Century China, 40 (2), 83-104. (doi:10.1353/tcc.2015.0018).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This article explores popular religious conceptualizations of the environment and disasters in early twentieth-century China. In 1931, the city of Wuhan experienced a catastrophic flood. Soon a rumor began to circulate suggesting that the disaster had been caused by the recent demolition of a local Dragon King Temple. This article examines this rumor as a mode of popular discourse, using it to illustrate debates among members of the local population regarding the link between the environment, religion, and disasters. It describes the place of Dragon Kings in late imperial religious environmental management, before discussing how the status of these deities was devalued during the early twentieth century. It argues that, in spite of vigorous attempts at secular reform, for a large section of the population the experience of disasters continued to be dominated by popular religious conceptualizations of the environment. While modern critics disparaged what they saw as lamentable superstitions, for many people rainmaking Dragon Kings continued to exist.

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Published date: May 2015

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Local EPrints ID: 422657
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/422657
PURE UUID: 83963571-1334-4853-b699-5abbc3699c32

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Date deposited: 27 Jul 2018 16:30
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 20:46

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Author: Christopher Courtney

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