Title

Religion, modernity and urban space : the City God Temple in Republican Guangzhou

Document Type

Journal article

Source Publication

Modern China

Publication Date

4-1-2008

Volume

34

Issue

2

First Page

247

Last Page

275

Publisher

Sage Publications, Inc.

Keywords

Guangzhou, religion, modernity, urban history, Republican China

Abstract

This article examines the impact of the Nationalist regime’s modernizing project on the religious landscape and people’s public behavior in Republican Guangzhou. In the transformation of the Guangzhou City God Temple, urban space became a place of contest between the government’s modernizing project and urban people’s religious traditions. In 1931, the municipal government converted the City God Temple into the Native Goods Exhibition Hall, a political space that attempted to foster patriotic consumption among the populace. Yet, beneath the surface, the people of Guangzhou continued to treat the “exhibition hall” as a religious space for expressing their faith in their patron god. While the government was doubtless an important force in modernizing the urban landscape, the city’s people managed to inscribe their values onto the urban public space.

DOI

10.1177/0097700407312821

Print ISSN

00977004

E-ISSN

15526836

Publisher Statement

Copyright © 2008 Sage Publications Ltd

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Poon, S. W. (0). Religion, modernity and urban space: The City God Temple in Republican Guangzhou. Modern China, 34(2), 247-275. doi: 10.1177/0097700407312821

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