Contesting the Yellow Dragon

Xiaofei Kang received her Ph.D. from Columbia University. She is Associate Professor of Religion at the George Washington University. She has published on religion, ethnicity, tourism, and gender, including The Cult of the Fox: Power, Gender and Popular Religion in Late Imperial and Modern China (Columbia, 2006).Donald Sutton (Ph.D. Cambridge) is Professor Emeritus of History and Anthropology at Carnegie Mellon University. He has published books on 20th century warlordism and popular religion in Taiwan, and numerous articles on the 18th century Miao in west Hunan and on ritual in past and recent Chinese societies.

"Contesting the Yellow Dragon presents a masterful account of the mutual accommodation between Tibetan and Chinese religious traditions in Southwest China as seen in the processes by which the scenic area of Huanglong was transformed into a World Heritage site. The authors vividly portray the paramount place of religion in Chinese life, which today encompasses roles played by tourists and local women. This book will be of tremendous benefit to scholars in fields like history, anthropology, religious studies, etc."Paul R. Katz, Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica"[This volume] brings a much-needed investigation of the Sino-Tibetan area. [...] Groundbreaking and fascinating to scholars of religion as well as of culture, modern ecology, and tourism, this work serves as an important contribution to the understanding of relations between the areas and cultures of China."Linda L. Lam-Easton, California State University, Northridge, Choice (January 2017)

• Acknowledgments viiList of Figures and Photographs xAbbreviations xiNote on Ming shilu and Qing shilu xiiNote on Tibetan Terms xiiiIntroduction 11 Garrison City in the Ming: Indigenes and the State in Greater Songpan 162 Qing Songpan: Recovery, Over-extension and Disaster 693 Guns, Gold, Gown, and Poppy: Ethnic Frontier in a Failing Republic 1234 Sharing a Sacred Center: Conch Mountain of the East, Yellow Dragon, and Chinese and Tibetan Culture 1715 Songpan, the State and Social Revolution, 1950–78 2236 Opening Up the Borderland I: The Politics of Tourist Development and Environmental Protection 2777 Opening Up the Borderland II: Ethnicity for Tourists 3118 Contesting the Yellow Dragon in the Age of Reform: Local Initiatives and Responses 3349 Ethnoreligion, Ethnic Identity and Regional Consciousness at Songpan 375Conclusion 410Bibliography 425Appendix: Religious Activities in the Songpan Region 457Tibetan Glossary 468Index 471