In Search of Personal Welfare

Mu-chou Poo is Research Fellow and Professor at the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. He is the author of several works, including Wine and Wine Offering in the Religion of Ancient Egypt; Literature by the Nile: An Anthology of Ancient Egyptian Literature; and Burial Styles and Ideas of Life and Death.

• List of Figures Preface Abbreviations 1. Introduction Toward a History of the Everyday, Personal Religion of Ancient ChinaReligion and Extra-human Powers: Working DefinitionsThe Popular-Religion Paradigm in Earlier Research and TheoryThe Sources2. Roots of a Religion of Personal Welfare PreludeThe Religion of the Shang PeopleThe Religion of the Chou People3. Personal Welfare in the Context of Mantic Technique OmensDivinationWitchcraft and ExorcismGhosts and SpiritsSouls, Spirits, and the Abode of the DeadSummary4. Newly Discovered Daybooks and Everyday Religion The Jih-shu or DaybooksElements of Religion in the Classic of Mountains and SeasJih-shu and Shan-hai-ching: Dealing with Domestic and Foreign Environments5. Emperors, Courtiers, and the Development of Official Cults The Establishment of the Official Cult of the Ch'in EmpireThe Establishment of the Han Official CultPersonal Factors and Official ReligionReassessing Han Official ReligionConclusion6. Beliefs and Practices in Everyday Life of the Han Dynasty Religious Activities Related to the Agricultural CycleReligious Activities Related to the Life CycleReligious Activities in Everyday LifeLocal CultsOmens and Portents7. Immortality, Soul, and the Netherworld The Conceptions of Immortality and SoulFurther Development of the Idea of the NetherworldSocial Change, the Development of Burial Styles, and the Idea of the Netherworld8. Popular Religiosity and Its Critics Literacy and the CommonersIntellectuals as Critics of Popular Religion and Local CultsIntellectuals as Reformers of Popular ReligionIntellectuals as Participants in Popular Religion9. Conclusion The Nature of Extra-Human PowersBelief in a Correlative Cosmological OrderDeath and the NetherworldApotheosisPiety and HappinessEpilogueNotes Bibliography Index

"In many ways, this is a revolutionary book—in terms of its focus on the 'common' religion of everyday life and its discussion of the overlap and interaction between the 'elite' and 'common' levels of religion in early imperial China—and will be controversial in the best sense of the expression. There is nothing on ancient Chinese religion (in any language) that is quite like Poo's book. It is truly pioneering in this respect." — N. J. Girardot, Lehigh University"One of the most illuminating studies on early Chinese religion I have read in a long time, it is well written, cogently argued, and based upon impeccable research. Poo has been able to make use of the great mass of new archaeological material that has been accumulating through the last two or three decades in China and Japan, and he has also mastered the best Western scholarship on Chinese religion. His grasp of both sets of materials is pertinent, accurate, and fascinating. I frankly think that anyone interested in Chinese religion would want to buy this book. I believe it will become something of a standard reference." — John Berthrong, author of All Under Heaven: Transforming Paradigms in Confucian-Christian Dialogue