Hot and Noisy Religion

Abstract

Overloaded cultural space that weathers any push toward total control inevitably seems less important than a conflagration like the Taiping rebellion. Yet the lack of official decrees and bloodied spears should not disguise the importance of mundane life. The religious developments I will be discussing from Taiwan have issued no grand pronouncements, raised no political hopes, and forged no cannons. Resisting nothing, however, need not imply accepting everything. The early Taiping, after all, also resisted nothing. These chapters will concentrate on some apparently minor corners of Taiwanese culture, which nevertheless have much broader implications for resistance, acquiescence, and the nature of indeterminate meaning.