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How far can wings of belief carry us? What kinds of new social and moral systems evolve out of transnational religious movements? The recent literature on globalisation has shown only little interest in religion, in spite of the cutting-edge global role of beliefs like evangelical Christianity. The literature has attended even less to the movement of non-Western traditions. We do, however, have numerous alternative models of how global ideas in general spread: they can seep through the cracks within and between systems of control based in nation-states; they can flow through mobile cosmopolitans with a global sense of belonging; they can reside in diasporas centred around the idea of a common homeland; they can exist in the institutions of transnational villages; and so on.
These various images of global culture are not mutually exclusive, of course, and none of them alone captures the full complexity of the possibilities. Here I want to explore briefly just two dialectical relationships that characterise some of the features of the transnational Chinese religions discussed in the essays collected here. The first is the relationship between global culture and the continuing institutional power of the nation-state. The second is the counterintuitive combination of universalising beliefs with a strong sense of rootedness in specific places or ethnicities.

Academics and policy makers have grown increasingly interested in the ways that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) may encourage better governance, democratic politics, and perhaps ultimately a global civil society. In Civil Life, Globalization and Political Change in Asia, Robert Weller has brought together an international group of experts on the subject, whose chapters address these questions through a series of extensive case studies from East and Southeast Asia including Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Culture, Economy, and the Roots of Civil Change -- Culture and Economy -- Voluntary Associations and Civil Life -- 2 Legacies -- Philosophical Legacies and Key Terms -- Institutional Legacies -- Conclusion -- 3 The Limits to Authority -- Taiwan and the Republic of China -- The People's Republic of China -- Conclusions -- 4 Business and the Limits to Civil Association -- Social Embeddedness -- The Role of Women -- State Embeddedness -- Conclusion -- 5 Religion: Local Association and Split Market Cultures -- Local Temple Religion -- New Selves and New Moralities -- Women and Religion -- Split Market Cultures and Civil Association -- 6 Forms of Association and Social Action -- Taiwan's Environmental Movement -- The People's Republic -- 7 Alternate Civilities and Political Change -- The Bifurcation of Social Associations -- Alternate Civilities, Alternate Modernities -- Women's Leading Roles -- Associational Life and Political Transformations -- Appendix -- Bibliography -- Index

A veteran journalist explores the surprisingly varied and vibrant array of religious groups that are now thriving in a country that is officially atheist but searching for something to believe in.