scholarly journals Transnational Religious Tourism in Modern China and the Transformation of the Cult of Mazu

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 221
Author(s):  
Yanchao Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Modern China ◽  
Tourist Attraction ◽  
Religious Tourism ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Temple

This article explores transformations in the worship of popular goddess Mazu as a result of (religious) tourism. In particular, it focuses on the role of transnational tourism in the invention of tradition, folklorization, and commodification of the Mazu cult. Support from the central and local governments and the impact of economic globalization have transformed a traditional pilgrimage site that initially had a local and then national scope into a transnational tourist attraction. More specifically, the ancestral temple of Mazu at Meizhou Island, which was established as the uncontested origin of Mazu’s cult during the Song dynasty (960 to 1276), has been reconfigured architecturally and liturgically to function as both a sacred site and a tourist attraction. This reconfiguration has involved the reconstruction of traditional rituals and religious performances for religious tourism to promote the temple as the unadulterated expression of an intangible cultural heritage. The strategic combination of traditional rituals such as “dividing incense” and an innovative ceremony enjoining all devotees of “Mazu all over the world [to] return to mother’s home” to worship her have not only consolidated the goddess as a symbol of common cultural identity in mainland China, but also for the preservation of Chinese identity in diaspora. Indeed, Chinese migrants and their descendants are among the increasing numbers of pilgrims/tourists who come to Mazu’s ancestral temple seeking to reconnect with their heritage by partaking in authentic traditions. This article examines the spatial and ritual transformations that have re-signified this temple, and by extension, the cult of Mazu, as well as the media through which these transformations have spread transnationally. We will see that (transnational) religious tourism is a key medium.

民族国家、承包制与香火经济:景区化圣山庙会的政治-经济学

Rural China ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 240-287
Keyword(s):  
Mainland China ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Tourist Attraction ◽  
Local Society ◽  
Investigative Reporting ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Media ◽  
Responsibility System ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Practical Level

Belief practices in mainland China have been subject to contracts as a result of a combination of factors: politics, economic growth, cultural development, and historic preservation. Thanks to the investigative reporting of the media, “contracting out belief” has lost all legitimacy on the level of politics, culture, religion, administration, and morality. The economy of temple incense has been relentlessly criticized for the same reason. In recent decades, Mount Cangyan, in Hebei, has changed from being a sacred site of pilgrimage to a landscaped tourist attraction. At the same time, the Mount Cangyan temple festival, which centers on the worship of the Third Princess, has gained legitimacy on a practical level. Conventional and newly emerged agents, such as beggars, charlatans, spirit mediums, do-gooders, and contractors of the temple, are actively involved in the thriving temple festival, competing, and sometimes cooperating, with each other. However, it is for the sake of maximizing profit that landscaped Mount Cangyan under the contract responsibility system has been re-sanctified around the worship of the Third Princess along with other, new gods and attractions. The iconic temple festival on this holy mountain has influenced other temple festivals in various nearby communities. The leading temple festival on Mount Cangyan entails a complicated social morphology and human geography. The economy of temple incense centering on belief in the Third Princess, i.e., the contracted out belief, has become a major part of local tourism and is intertwined with grand narratives such as pursuing national prosperity. The dialectics of the contracting and the contracted involve multidirectional interaction between individuals, local society, the state, and the temple and its deity. This article investigates the contracted and landscaped temple festival on the holy mountain of Cangyan in the context of everyday life and changing society.在政治建构、经济发展、文化建设、文物保护的合力下，“被承包的信仰”早已成为普遍的社会事实。受从果到因的逻辑推理的规训，媒介写作中的“被承包的信仰”完全丧失了在政治、文化、宗教、行政管理以及道义等层面的合理性、正当性，香火经济也成为口诛笔伐的对象。近三十年来，圣山的景区化建设与管理使得原本作为信仰中心地的苍岩山旅游风景区的景观色彩日渐浓厚。与此同时，以三皇姑信仰为核心的苍岩山庙会也具有了事实上的合理性、合法性。乞丐、江湖术士、香头、行好的和庙主等新、老行动主体纷纷掺乎其中，竞争也妥协，庙会热闹而红火。为求利益最大化，承包制经营管理的模式使得景区化的圣山苍岩山更加倚重三皇姑信仰,从而使得景区化的圣山被再圣化，并滋生出新的神祇、景观。图像化的圣山庙会历时性地呈现出复杂的社会形态学和人文地理学特征，统括着圣山上下形态各异、或生或灭的大小社区型庙会。最终，围绕三皇姑信仰的香火经济——被承包的信仰——事实上成为地方旅游经济的龙头，并与兴国兴邦的民族国家发展的宏大叙事一道携手前行。呈现出承包与被承包多重辩证法的景区化圣山庙会也就有了在生活之流，尤其是社会之流中研究的应然与必然。 (This article is in English.)

scholarly journals On the Problem of Mediatization of Intra-Territorial Conflicts in China: A Historiographic Aspect

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 243-249
Author(s):  
Limei Yang ◽  
Olga Degtyareva
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Political Behaviour ◽  
Territorial Identity ◽  
Regional Conflict ◽  
Territorial Conflicts ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Impact

This article explores the role of the media in covering the conflict potential of mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The aim of the study is to analyze the media’s influence on the transformation of public opinion on issues of ethnic or territorial identity. Based on Chinese and Western media coverage, the reasons for unbalanced coverage of intra-territorial conflicts as well as the impact of stereotypes on political behaviour are identified. On the basis of the analysis the role of specific media in neutralizing the intra-regional conflict potential is determined, as well as the peculiarities of the technology of public opinion molding on the part of mainland China.

The Health of Refugees

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Age Groups ◽  
Refugee Health ◽  
Mass Movements ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Displaced Populations ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
The Media ◽  
Multidisciplinary Perspective ◽  
The Impact

There have been significant changes in the numbers, patterns, and circumstances of refugees and in the political landscape to support humanitarianism since the publication of the first edition of this collection. Like the first edition, this volume provides a multidisciplinary perspective on refugee health, tracing the health repercussions on individuals and populations from the drivers of forced mass movements of populations from situations of conflict and other disasters through to the process of resettlement in countries other than their countries of origin. Drawing on the expertise of academics, practitioners, and UN frontline experts, the collection covers three main aspects of refugee health: the concepts, definitions, and context from a human rights, humanitarianism, and social determinants of health perspective; the intersection of vulnerabilities across age groups and settings; and the ethical challenges for practitioners and researchers working with forcibly displaced populations seeking to resettle. The collection concludes with an analysis of the role of the media in shaping our perceptions of refugees and the impact on policy and access to care.

scholarly journals Corporate Environmental Performance in China: The Moderating Effects of the Media versus the Approach of Local Governments

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Zhiru Guo ◽  
Chao Lu
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Random Effect ◽  
Random Effect Model ◽  
Corporate Environmental Performance ◽  
Media Attention ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

This article selects the listed companies in China’s A-share heavy pollution industry from 2014 to 2018 as samples, uses a random effect model to empirically test the relationship between media attention and corporate environmental performance and examines the impacts of local government environmental protection and property nature on that relationship. Results are as follow: (1) Media attention can significantly affect a company’s environmental performance. The higher the media attention, the greater the company’s supervision and the better its environmental performance. (2) In areas where the government pays less attention to environmental protection, the impact of media on corporate environmental performance is more obvious, but in other areas, the impact of media on environmental performance cannot be reflected; (3) The media attention is very significant for the environmental performance improvement of state-owned enterprises, and it is not obvious in non-state-owned enterprises. (4) A further breakdown of the study found that the role of media attention in corporate environmental performance is only significant in the sample of local governments that have low environmental protection and are state-owned enterprises. This research incorporates the local government’s emphasis on environmental protection into the research field of vision, expands the research scope of media and corporate environmental performance, and also provides new clues and evidence for promoting the active fulfillment of environmental protection responsibilities by companies and local governments.

scholarly journals Adolescence as a “critical period” in the heritage language use. Polish in Germany

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 301-315
Author(s):  
Hanna Pułaczewska
Keyword(s):  
Role Models ◽  
Personal Development ◽  
Critical Period ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Media ◽  
Role Of Parents ◽  
Qualitative Part ◽  
The Impact

Abstract In the article, we consider the impact of adolescence upon the usage of Polish in Polish-German bilinguals raised and living in Germany and demonstrate how adolescence surfaces as a socially based “critical period” in this usage using results from a survey and interviews conducted with 30 teenagers. In the quantitative part of the study, we seek to establish whether adolescents’ age affected the pattern and quantity of their usage of Polish in the media and contacts with age peers, whether the latter two facets of growing up with Polish were interrelated, and which other factors affected peer-relevant activities in Polish. Both age and peer contact turned out to significantly affect the use of the media in Polish, while peer contact in Polish was affected by the parental use of Polish in parent-child communication. The qualitative part presents the context and motivation for using Polish by the youths in peer-relevant activities. We integrate the results with insights provided by child development psychology from the perspective of language socialisation theory and interpret the age-related decline of interest in the Polish media as an effect of a diminishing role of parents and the increasing role of age peers as role models in personal development.

Research on the Effects of Over-the-Counter Drug Advertising

1974 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald L. Kanter
Keyword(s):  
Drug Misuse ◽  
Pharmaceutical Advertising ◽  
Drug Usage ◽  
Over The Counter ◽  
Drug Advertising ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Media ◽  
Commercial Advertising ◽  
The Impact

Dr. Kanter presents a summary of his research assessing the role of OTC advertising in Influencing drug usage. His work represents the only systematic study of the impact of commercial advertising on drug usage. He stresses that advertising in itself does not directly lead to drug misuse but should be considered as part of a host of factors in the social environment and in the media environment that have significant influence in determining people's behavior. He also urged that the existing pharmaceutical advertising codes, which are often violated, be reviewed and strengthened.

scholarly journals Television and Fertility

2010 ◽  
pp. 67-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Basten
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Low Fertility ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Media Presentation ◽  
Sliding Scale ◽  
The Media ◽  
Television Plays ◽  
The Impact

Much research has been conducted in the field of utilising the media - television and radio in particular - to promote particular public health messages. However, a burgeoning canon has examined how mass media can play a role in affecting change in fertility preferences and outcomes. In this paper we review these researches which have primarily focussed upon higher fertility settings. The impact of mass media presentation of families and children in low fertility settings has not yet been subject to rigorous sociological investigation so its impact can not be accurately inferred. However, given the pervasive nature of mass media and celebrity culture, we suggest that this is an important avenue for future research. We conclude that television plays a multi-faceted role in shaping individuals decision-making procedures concerning both demographic events and public health interactions. To illustrate this, we present a model which demonstrates a sliding scale of intent - but not impact - of various genres in order to understand the actual role of the media in shaping attitudes towards family size - either explicitly in terms of edutainment or implicitly as a forms of normalization.

The impact of media sentiments on IPO underpricing

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vikas Gupta ◽  
Shveta Singh ◽  
Surendra S. Yadav
Keyword(s):  
Initial Public Offerings ◽  
Investment Strategy ◽  
Ipo Underpricing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Ipo Performance ◽  
Post Market ◽  
The Media ◽  
Sentiment Score ◽  
The Impact

Purpose In initial public offerings (IPOs), the media plays a pivotal role by disseminating the information to the investors who generally lack the expertise to understand the information through the prospectus. Thus, media coverage can impact the investment decision of the investors and the IPO performance. Media typically covers the IPO before listing, suggesting that it may play an important role in explaining the opening price rather than the closing price on the day of listing. Therefore, this study aims to disaggregate the traditional IPO underpricing into three categories: voluntary, pre-market and post-market and provides a comparative analysis of the media sentiments impact on the traditional and disaggregated IPO underpricing. The authors’ disaggregated IPO underpricing analysis will facilitate the investors in making an effective investment strategy based on media sentiments. Design/methodology/approach The study deploys sentiment analysis using bags of n (2) grams approach to gauge the sentiments on 2,891 media articles and uses “robust-regression” technique to analyze them on a sample of 222 Indian IPOs during 2009–2018. Findings The study reports that the sentiment score is positively related to the traditional underpricing; the sentiment score is positively associated with the pre-market underpricing and does not have any significant relationship with the post-market underpricing; the number of media articles does not play a significant role in explaining the IPO underpricing. The findings highlight the presence of a semi-strong form of efficiency in the Indian IPO market. Originality/value Existing literature focuses that the role of media on IPO performance is based on the developed countries. IPO laws differ based on the countries. For instance, in India, investors can check the demand by the other categories of investors on a real-time basis. Thus, it is interesting to study whether, with such a high level of transparency, media can explain IPO performance in the Indian market. Media generally covers IPO before listing; therefore, the present study disaggregates the IPO underpricing to evaluate the role of media on the primary and secondary market separately. It will help the investors to decide when to enter and exit the market.

Mediascape and Movement

2019 ◽  
pp. 100-122
Author(s):  
Francis L. F. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Protest Movements ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter reviews the relationship between the media and the Umbrella Movement. The mainstream media, aided by digital media outlets and platforms, play the important role of the public monitor in times of major social conflicts, even though the Hong Kong media do so in an environment where partial censorship exists. The impact of digital media in largescale protest movements is similarly multifaceted and contradictory. Digital media empower social protests by promoting oppositional discourses, facilitating mobilization, and contributing to the emergence of connective action. However, they also introduce and exacerbate forces of decentralization that present challenges to movement leaders. Meanwhile, during and after the Umbrella Movement, one can also see how the state has become more proactive in online political communication, thus trying to undermine the oppositional character of the Internet in Hong Kong.

Huju and The Politics of Revolution, POST-1949

Huju ◽  
2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan P. J. Stock
Keyword(s):  
Social Power ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Recent History ◽  
Special Contribution ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Ordinary Folk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Changing Role ◽  
China Post

This chapter examines how music becomes inscribed with social power. Topics considered include the reorganization of huju troupes in the new People's Republic of China, post-1949; the impact of the specialist composer since the 1950s; the changing role of the performer; and the expression of political content in dramatic situations, words, actions, and music. Regional opera styles, such as Shanghai opera, it turns out, led the way in the reform of traditional opera in mainland China, with adaptations applied in these styles later transplanted to more established historical forms such as Beijing opera. It is argued that music in huju makes a special contribution to the ‘envoicing’ of the weak, a tendency that becomes problematic at times when the ordinary folk who people these operas must be portrayed as dauntless revolutionaries. Ironically, perhaps, the operas produced at the most publicly politicized periods of China's recent history are those that now appear the least eloquent in terms of their political argument.

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