Reclaiming the Wilderness: Contemporary Dynamics of the Yiguandao by Billioud, Sébastien

Hardback. New. A syncretistic and millenarian religious movement, the Yiguandao (Way of Pervading Unity) was one of the major redemptive societies of Republican China. It developed extremely rapidly in the 1930s and the 1940s, attracting millions of members. Severely repressed after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, it managed to endure and redeploy elsewhere, especially in Taiwan. Today, it has become one of the largest and most influential religious movements in Asia and at the same time one of the least known and understood. From its powerful base in Taiwan, it has expanded worldwide, including in mainland China where it remains officially forbidden. Based on ethnographic work carried out over nearly a decade, Reclaiming the Wilderness offers an in-depth study of a Yiguandao community in Hong Kong that serves as a node of circulation between Taiwan, Macao, China and elsewhere. Sebastien Billioud explores the factors contributing to the expansionary dynamics of the group: the… Read More

Oxford Univ Pr, 2020. Hardcover. New. 352 pages. 9.50x6.25x0.75 inches.

Oxford Univ Pr, 2020. Hardcover. New. 352 pages. 9.50x6.25x0.75 inches.