Techniques and Forgeries

Abstract

As Taiwanese pilgrimages to Fujianese sites progressed during the early 1990s, Taiwanese donors and their would-be ancestors formed coalitions that engaged in scholarship, ritual, and reconstruction to augment their status. For Taiwanese temple managers, claims of efficacy and legitimacy were grounded in generational proximity to founding sites. On the other hand, relationships to founding sites were made through periodic ritual. History was a field of competition, and competition made the relationships intimated by historical truths vital. In response to these disputes concerning historical precedence, research and management institutions worked to shift the meaning of these disputes, causing historical truths to appear amid competition.