Page 186 - Chinese Woman Living and Working

WOMEN’S WORK AND RITUAL SPACE IN CHINA 173
Jiayuan women also play a leading role in the reinstatement of rituals inside the
household, including worship of the God of Heaven (Tianshen) and a hierarchy of other
deities. The rituals are costly and involve feasting, incense and fireworks. Women, not
men, preside over these household rituals, with children and husbands helping out
(Li 1996:122). Because of the interruption of several decades in transmission of these
rituals, there is a degree of reinvention and re-creation. For example, the women do not
know that the deity, Shuimu niangniang, was traditionally a disciple of the Buddhist deity,
Guanyin. They offer her pork and chicken as offerings to her when vegetarian offerings
are more ritually ‘appropriate’. Modern ideas are added to the old in a fascinating pastiche
of ritual practices. For example, in the past the Earth God was only given one birthday
celebration on the second day of the second month, but now the ritual has been expanded
by a woman called Deng who has set up three ritual acts for this deity. Another woman
presiding over this ritual decided to bake a birthday cake for the god. As Li notes, ‘women
have reinvented this deity in line with contemporary logic’ (1996:122).
The ritual activities are shaped by the new consumer expectations of the reform era.
The expenditure on festivals and celebrations is becoming quite burdensome for some
families. If only incense is used then the expenditure is small, but if a banquet is required
then it becomes quite costly. Given the sheer number of deities who need propitiation,
this can come to a few hundred yuan in a year. Those who can most afford this sort of
expenditure are the managers of businesses, and so it is wives of the affluent who are the
most active. Jiayuan village has one Christian family. This family goes to church once a
week and does not participate in the reinvented rituals, arguing that they save a lot
of money that way (Li 1996:123). Li concludes that the revival and reinvention of these
rituals by women presents a challenge to the traditional patriarchal way of life. However,
it is unclear whether the reinvented rituals assist women’s status in other ways within the
community. One could also view the phenomenon as the adaptation of the women’s
ritual work for the household to the new conditions of reformist China.
In the case of Jiayuan, the emergence of entrepreneurship and a consumer culture were
critical factors in women’s ritual enterprises. Festival activities made a comeback as well;
for instance, the community ritual performances known as jiaohui, which involve
theatrical troupes, dragon dances, fireworks, lantern shows and processions of images of
the local deities through village streets (Li 1996:116). These rituals and festivals are
intimately associated with affluence and conspicuous expenditure. What is striking is the
way that women have chosen to engage in ritual activities that consolidate the ancestral
cult of the patriline. However, women are no longer marginal players but managers and
inventors of ritual occasions.
Another example of the revival and reinvention of women’s ritual is Dazuo village in
Hui’an County, Fujian. Qiao Jian and Chen Lili, who have carried out fieldwork in
Dazuo, note that women play a leading role in all of the four levels of religious activities in
this village—individual, family, lineage and regional (1994:763). The economic conditions
of Dazuo differ significantly from those of affluent Jiayuan. Dazuo is close to the coast and
the main traditional source of employment was fishing. However, the catch has declined
in recent years and some of the men have sought jobs in Taiwanese fishing boats. Another
key industry in the region is stone carving. Many younger males look for apprentice posts