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
