China Research Seminar Series talk given by Fan Lizhu and Chen Na, Fudan University
This is an ethnographic study with a focus on gender in the Confucian Congregation (儒家道坛), a new religious group in Mintong County, Fujian Province, southeast China. The Confucian Congregation was founded in the mid-1990s, and has experienced significant development by attracting local men and women in the past 20 years. In the case of the Confucian Congregation, women played an essential role –– women’s needs, involvements, and engagement made the birth and development of this new religious group possible. In particular, Ms. Pan Yu and some female members turned from miserable patients into competent organisers in the Congregation. This is a follow-up study of our research on the Confucian Congregation. For an introduction of Confucian Congregation, see “Confucianism as an ‘Organized Religion’ – An Ethnographic Study of The Confucian Congregation” coauthored by Na Chen and Lizhu Fan, published in Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, vol. 21, no. 1 [August 2017].
FAN Lizhu (范丽珠) is Professor of Sociology and Director of Globalization and Religious Studies at Fudan University. One of the first scholars in mainland China to engage in the sociological study of religion, she has conducted historical and ethnographic studies of Chinese folk religious beliefs, sociological theories of religion and trends of religious beliefs in modern Chinese society. She has published many academic works in both Chinese and English. She now focuses on the studies of globalisation and religious transformation.
CHEN Na (陈纳) is a research fellow at the Fudan Development Institute, Fudan University. He received his academic degrees from Peking University in China and the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University in the US. His research interests include sociology of religion, sociology of development and intercultural communication. He has published dozens of articles and book contributions, in both Chinese and in English. His recent research includes the study of ‘Confucian Congregation’ in Southeast China, the revival of Confucianism and the reconstruction of Chinese identity, and the issue of ‘religion’ and ‘superstition’.