This work is an applied study of two contemporary Beijing religious sites and their developments. Using socio-economic theories, I will explore how temples in Beijing were reconstructed in preparation for the 2008 Olympics, and how these reconstructions gave the sites new meanings and purposes. Temples for consideration include the White Pagoda Temple and the Huoshen Daoist Temple, both of which were spaces renovated with the help of the Beijing municipal government. Before the Olympics, each site was promoted as a marker of China’s cultural1 relics, and through tourism efforts, each location was perpetuated as such. This kind of religious tourism will be explored for the purpose of investigating how religion is at present used as a means for generating an “imagined” narrative of contemporary China. In this article, religious tourism is understood as any travel motivated by religion, where the site at one point was associated with a religion.2 Religious tourism, however, also includes activities not associated with pilgrimage to a sacred site. These include sight-seeing, religious cultivation, and recreation.3 Activities related to cultural consumption that occur at religious sites also fall under the umbrella of religious tourism. As such, there is no such thing as a “tourist.” Instead, there are many contexts in which people participate in tourism. As Oakes and Sutton contend, these socio-economic situations in China have as much to do with state attempts at modernization as they do with a growing wealthy population that is increasingly interested in traveling.4 Activities at a religious site do not therefore distinguish pilgrim from tourist. Instead, in contemporary China, these two categories converge. Pilgrims are becoming more like tourists, and tourists like pilgrims. In the following, I will argue that recent promotions of religious sites, through the government supported tourist industry, encourage consuming religious sites as cultural artifacts. This encourages a convergence between tourists and pilgrims. Such an amalgamation increasingly occurs in what sociologist Fenggang Yang calls the “gray” religious market. After detailing Yang’s theory of a gray market, I argue that convergences of tourists and pilgrims reduce the costs (i.e., social costs) people incur when participating in religious activities. Government supported temple reconstructions further reduce potential costs. To evidence such activity, I will compare temple reconstructions occurring at two different Beijing locations. This will highlight narratives within China’s gray market that associate religions with commodities related to “pastness,” authenticity, and ideals of historical and contemporary customs.
目次
Introduction China’s Gray Market of Religion The Gray Market and Religious Tourim Historical Beijing and Religious Tourism White Pagoda Temple Huoshen Daoist Temple Conclusions notes
