Chinese cultural view, the inner idea of Confucianism and the intuitionism of the Taoist school—comments on The Silver Wings: a scholarly sequel to the Golden Wing

Abstract

The Silver Wings: Local Society and Cultural Changes in China (1920s–1980s) is a representative ethnographic work since the reconstruction of Chinese anthropology in the late 1970s. It used the perspective of cultural change to make a return visit to the field sites described in the book “ The Golden Wing ”. What is most academic valuable about the book is its methodological implications. To be specific, the book refers to the concept of “culture” in Chinese historical documents, putting the issues examined into the framework of the relationship between state and local society in the long course of Chinese history. In the field work, the author’s use of intuitive research methods and the look-back method is also commendable. If we want to understand this book exactly, it is best to combine the two films the author made, Dragon Boat Festival and winter solstice, because they form a semantic chain. In short, The Silver Wings is an excellent work of anthropology, it had lead Chinese cultural anthropology into a new historical period.