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The extensive ritual and mythological lore of the Chinese Triads form the scope of this new paperback title in Brill’s Scholars’ List. The author critically evaluates the extant sources and offers a wealth of contextual information. The core of the book is formed by a close reading of the initiation ritual, including the burning of incense, the altar, the enactment of a journey of life and death, and the blood covenant. Different narrative structures are also presented. These include the messianic demonological paradigm, political legitimation, and the foundation of myth. Triad lore is placed in its own religious and cultural context, allowing radically new conclusions about its origins, meanings and functions. This book is of special interest to social historians, anthropologists, and students of Chinese religious culture.
Price: $149.00
Pages: 522
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Publication Date:
18 August 2000
ISBN: 9789004119444
Format: Paperback
"…an important academic breakthrough in the specialty regarding the Chinese Trials… this book is a watershed in the research field on Chinese secret societies in general and the Triads in particular, because it lays the foundation for scholars to use a sociological perspective to explore a topic which has previously been investigated solely by East Asian historians. Ter Haar, by giving socialists an excellent example of interdisciplinary research, deserves to get an encore from both East Asian historians and sociologists." – Hua-Lun Huang, in: Crime, Law & Social Change, 2004
"This massive, exhaustive, one-of-a-kind scholarly masterpiece is truly a tour de force, a work so impressive in its scope and attention to fine detail as to be indispensable to libraries and scholars in the field of sinology." – Michael Saso, in: China Review International, 2004
"Barend J. ter Haar’s latest book is a breathtaking work of scholarship, charting new directions in the study of Chinese secret societies by grounding them in a sophisticated understanding of local popular and religious culture. If it is hardly the last word on this complex topic, no future work on secret societies, sectarian religion, or popular movements can afford to ignore this volume." – David Ownby, in: Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 2000
"This massive, exhaustive, one-of-a-kind scholarly masterpiece is truly a tour de force, a work so impressive in its scope and attention to fine detail as to be indispensable to libraries and scholars in the field of sinology." – Michael Saso, in: China Review International, 2004
"Barend J. ter Haar’s latest book is a breathtaking work of scholarship, charting new directions in the study of Chinese secret societies by grounding them in a sophisticated understanding of local popular and religious culture. If it is hardly the last word on this complex topic, no future work on secret societies, sectarian religion, or popular movements can afford to ignore this volume." – David Ownby, in: Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 2000
Barend J. ter Haar, Doctorate (1990) in Sinology, University of Leiden. Professor of the Social and Economic History of China at the University of Heidelberg. Publications include The White Lotus Teachings in Chinese Religious History (Brill, 1992).