With Barend ter Haar (left) and Frank Kouwenhoven (right). Image: Yves Menheere.

Following the online publication of my recent film on the 1995 New Year’s rituals in Gaoluo, its public world premiere was at a grand event last week in the village itself. Shortly afterwards I visited Leiden University to present the film, as well as my portrait film on the Li family Daoists in Shanxi, as part of Yves Menheere‘s course on Chinese religion, and in collaboration with Frank Kouwenhoven of CHIME.

As I often stress (e.g. here), the study of both topics belongs firmly within the realm of religious studies, even if it has been dominated by Chinese musicologists. Sure enough, the distinguished sinologist Barend ter Haar graced us with lively comments, and I was delighted to see Tao Jin, formidable authority on Daoist ritual, on a visit from Beijing via Paris (see under Ritual life around Suzhou, and here).

With Tao Jin.

With both films concerning ritual life in north China, their subjects and soundscapes may appear somewhat similar, but the differences are significant (click here for differences in approach that emerge from studying with the two types of group). The Li family Daoists are

• occupational, in a small group of five or six
• active in a small radius around their home village; constantly busy, mainly for funerals,
• with dense ritual sequences,

whereas Gaoluo is

• among many amateur devotional associations, village-wide (cf. Xi’an, Yunnan, Jiangsu, and so on)
• mostly serving the village itself, and not busy except at New Year,
• its ritual sequences less dense.

My most focused fieldwork with the Li family Daoists was from 2011–18, with previous trips in 1991–2 and 2001–3; the film mainly shows footage from 2011 to 2015.  My fieldwork in Gaoluo took place from 1989 to 2003, the film footage showing three weeks in 1995.

While the impact of the Intangible Cultural Heritage on the Li family Daoists has been negligible (cf. here), in village ritual associations like Gaoluo it has been major—which makes the 1995 footage even more significant.

I look forward to introducing both films further to live audiences in the coming months. Meanwhile, do watch them online!