The temple of memories

the long version

This study focuses on the politics of memory in the village of Dachuan in northwest China, in which 85 percent of the villagers are surnamed Kong and believe themselves to be descendants of Confucius. It recounts both how this proud community was subjected to intense suffering during the Maoist era, culminating in its forcible resettlement in December 1960 to make way for the construction of a major hydroelectric dam, and how the village eventually sought recovery through the commemoration of that suffering and the revival of a redefined religion. Each chapter in this moving book addresses a particular problem of remembrance associated with the history of Dachuan's Confucian temple, its reconstruction, and its function in the transmission of ritual knowledge and religious values from village elders who remember the pre-Communist era to younger people for whom even the trauma of radical socialism is but a receding memory. This account of the struggle of a devastated community to resurrect its heritage, and thereby itself, gives us a vivid understanding of the complex interactions of memory, history, and religion.