Violence and Order on the Chengdu Plain: The Story of a Secret Brotherhood in Rural China, 1939-1949

Synopsis

Introduction : Two Stories Joined In The Chengdu Plain -- A Public Execution -- A Local Band Of The Gowned Brothers -- Spirituality And Customs -- Secret Codes And Language -- Disciplines And Dominance -- A Tenant Farmer And Paoge Master -- Entering The Paoge -- The Decline Of Power -- A Family Crisis And A Rural Woman's Fate -- Fall Of The Paoge -- Looking For The Storyteller -- Untangling Paoge Myth -- Appendix 1 : Paoge Ranks -- Appendix 2 : Lei Family Tree -- Appendix 3 : Selected Ritual/festival Events -- Appendix 4 : Chinese Texts Of Sayings And Poems -- Appendix 5 : Brief Comments On Texts, Myth, And History. Di Wang. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. In English With Some Chinese.