1111 2 Living with Separation 3 in China 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 Separation – for example the process of leaving behind, temporarily or 4 permanently, individuals to whom we are attached – is something experi- 5 enced by humans in all societies. Major life-cycle rituals, such as initiations, 6 weddings and funerals, also universally feature separation as a central motif. 7 In the case of China, the rituals and practices associated with separation – 8 and with its corollary, reunion – are especially elaborate. They are crucial 9 elements within the Chinese cultural tradition. 20111 Chinese idioms and practices of separation and reunion are relevant 1 to the experiences of ordinary people in many social domains, ranging 2 from gender and kinship to religion and the politics of ethnic identity. The 3 contributors focus on a number of distinct yet closely interrelated case studies 4 including: 5 6 • separation laments sung by women at marriages and funerals 7 • popular stories about gods who must leave their families in order to 8 achieve ‘recognition’ 9 • attempts of the ghostly dead to make connection with the living 30111 • dislocations from ancestral lands caused by dam-building projects 1 • the role of pilgrimage in the construction of identity among Chinese 2 Muslims. 3 4 In addressing – through these case studies – the central theme of sepa- 5 ration, this book also provides a good general introduction to many of the 6 classic debates within anthropological and historical analyses of China. It 7 will, therefore, prove an interesting and useful resource to students of Asian 8 studies and anthropology as well as the general reader with an interest in 9 the Chinese cultural tradition. 40111 1 Charles Stafford is Reader in Anthropology at the London School of 2 Economics and Political Science. He is the author of The Roads of Chinese 3 Childhood (1995) and Separation and Reunion in Modern China (2000). 4 45111 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 4 45111 1111 2 Living with Separation 3 4 in China 5 6 Anthropological accounts 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 Edited by Charles Stafford 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 4 45111 First published 2003 by RoutledgeCurzon 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by RoutledgeCurzon 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004. RoutledgeCurzon is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group Selection and editorial matter © 2003 Charles Stafford; individual chapters © the contributors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Living with separation in China: anthropological accounts/ Edited by Charles Stafford. p. cm. Include bibliographical references and index. 1. China – Social life and customs. 2. Separation (Psychology) – China. 3. Reunions – China. I. Stafford, Charles. DS721.L6778 2003 302.3′4′0951 – dc21 2002154339 ISBN 0-203-61345-7 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-34274-7 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0–415–30571–3 (Print Edition) 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 In memory of Raymond Firth 4 1901–2002 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 4 45111 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 4 45111 1111 2 Contents 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 Notes on the contributors ix 4 Preface xi 5 6 1 Introduction: the separation constraint in China 1 7 CHARLES STAFFORD 8 9 2 Singing of separation, lamenting loss: Hakka 20111 women’s expressions of separation and reunion 27 1 ELIZABETH LOMINSKA JOHNSON 2 3 3 Separations, autonomy and recognition in the 4 production of gender differences: reflections 5 from considerations of myths and laments 53 6 P. STEVEN SANGREN 7 4 An unsafe distance 85 8 STEPHAN FEUCHTWANG 9 30111 5 Dams and dreams: a return-to-homeland 1 movement in northwest China 113 2 JING JUN 3 4 6 The ‘glorious returns’ of Chinese pilgrims to Mecca 130 5 MARIS GILLETTE 6 7 7 Exiles and reunion: nostalgia among overseas 8 Hmong (Miao) 157 9 NICHOLAS TAPP 40111 1 8 Linguistic and social patterns of separation and 2 reunion 176 3 RAYMOND FIRTH 4 45111 Index 189 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 4 45111 1111 2 Contributors 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 Stephan Feuchtwang is Professorial Research Fellow in the Department 4 of Anthropology, London School of Economics. He is the author of Popular 5 Chinese Religion: The Imperial Metaphor (Curzon 2001) and co-author with 6 Wang Mingming of Grassroots Charisma: Four Local Leaders in China 7 (Routledge 2001). 8 Raymond Firth was Professor of Anthropology at the London School of 9 Economics from 1944 until his retirement in 1968. He was the author 20111 of many books, including We the Tikopia (Allen & Unwin 1936), Malay 1 Fishermen (Routledge 1946), Tikopia Songs (Cambridge University Press 2 1991) and Religion: A Humanist Interpretation (Routledge 1996). 3 4 Maris Gillette is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Haverford College. 5 She is the author of Between Mecca and Beijing: Modernization and Consumption 6 among Urban Chinese Muslims (Stanford University Press 2000). 7 Elizabeth Lominska Johnson is Curator of Ethnology, Museum of 8 Anthropology, University of British Columbia. She is the author of a 9 number of articles, including ‘Grieving for the Dead, Grieving for the 30111 Living: Funeral Laments of Hakka Women’, in J. L. Watson and E. S. 1 Rawski (eds), Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China (California 2 University Press 1988). 3 4 Jing Jun is a Professor in the Department of Sociology, Tsinghua University, 5 Beijing. He is the author of The Temple of Memories: History, Power and 6 Morality in a Chinese Village (Stanford University Press 1996) and editor of 7 Feeding China’s Little Emperors: Food, Children, and Social Change (Stanford 8 University Press 2000). 9 P. Steven Sangren is Professor of Anthropology at Cornell University. 40111 He is the author of Chinese Sociologics: An Anthropological Account of the 1 Role of Alienation in Social Reproduction (LSE Monographs on Social 2 Anthropology/Continuum 2000). 3 4 Charles Stafford is Reader in Anthropology at the London School of 45111 Economics and Political Science. He is the author of The Roads of Chinese