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GODS, GHOSTS, AND GANGSTERS: Ritual Violence, Martial Arts, and Masculinity on the Margins of Chinese Society. By Avron Boretz. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2011. ix, 274 pp. (Maps, B&W photos.) US$29.00 paper. ISBN 978-0-8248-3491-3.
In very readable prose Avron Boretz presents us here with an excellent analysis of a Chinese subculture in which violence, both real and ritual, plays an important role. His study is based on extensive fieldwork over many years in Taidong (eastern Taiwan) and less intensive in Dali (Yunnan) as well. As he points out, it was not obvious to the people he met that their martial deities, ritual exorcisms and spirit soldiers deserved scholarly attention. We might add that the same is true of the academic world in general as far as China is concerned. We are lucky that Boretz thought otherwise and has provided us with this detailed and fascinating ethnography. This lack of interest is in sharp contradiction with Chinese popular culture, which abounds with fictional narratives based on this subculture that is known as the world of the Rivers and Lakes (jianghu).
Carrying out ethnographic research is quite a challenge in a subculture in...