The Chinese Way of Diversity: Communities and Spatial Ecology

Stefania Travagnin

Average Chinese with religious inclinations visit temples of different denominations with equal devotion and build multi-faith in-home shrines; a strong sense of belonging and membership to specific traditions is mostly replaced with a pragmatic conception of an open system of beliefs in continuous exchange and recreation, and situation-based worship. On the other hand, the Chinese state, in premodern and modern times, have created clear distinctions, institutionally and legally, among denominations; this fixed official chart excludes hybrid practices, local and popular beliefs; and first and foremost, it does not reflect the fluidity and co-existence registered within local communities.

Diversity in the Chinese world is then twofold: a) the official political differentiation, the normative narrative, where ‘diversity’ is a concept applied on the governmental level, in the past and present, to create artificial distinctions that otherwise are less experienced or visible (normative-artificial diversity); b) the experiential story of diversity, the empirical narrative, where we can detect a diversity of processes and synergies among beliefs and practices in the production of heterogenous identities (empirical-actual diversity).

My interest lies in the ’empirical-actual diversity’, with special attention to language, communities rituals, and sites. Sichuan has been a great case study giving not only the richness of ethnic and cultural denominations, but also and especially the diversity of processes and synergies among beliefs and practices in the production of heterogenous identities. Case-studies in my work include hybrid sites like the 川王宮 in 大邑; places that have witnessed transition in labels like 璧山寺 in 大邑, 純陽殿 on Mt. Emei, 平樂寺 in 成都; and sites that have ‘lost’ their sacred identity, are hidden in more secular spaces but might have not lost their power, like the remains of 草堂寺 in 成都 .