Avron Boretz's Gods, Ghosts, and Gangsters breaks new ground in the study of Chinese religious culture by providing an intellectually and emotionally compelling account of how largely marginalized males rely on ritual violence and violent rituals as means of self-production featuring narratives of personal identity. Based on a sophisticated conceptual framework that draws on the anthropology of masculinity as well as classic studies by Stephan Feuchtwang, P. Steven Sangren, Meir Shahar and Angela Zito, Boretz surpasses previous research on Chinese men, which was mainly characterized by an emphasis on their roles in fulfilling village and family norms. In contrast, this study focuses on young working-class men who chafe under the “hierarchical structuring of [male] potency and charisma” (p. 13) and often rebel against its strictures by operating on the transient and dangerous fringes of Chinese society (jianghu, literally “[the world of] rivers and lakes”). Such tensions also affect the relationship between sons who are subordinated to their fathers, and can only achieve autonomy by the unfilial act of rebelling or biding their time. They further manifest themselves in the aesthetics of martial ritual performances, erupting to the surface in violent fits that in some ways resemble childhood tantrums or the antics of rebellious deities like Sun Wukong and Li Nezha.
Apart from the Introduction and Conclusion, Gods, Ghosts, and Gangsters is divided into five main chapters. Chapter two (“Violence, honor, and manhood”) further develops the themes presented above, being noteworthy for its apt distinction between manhood (a status that must be attained) and masculinity (an amalgam of attitudes, attributes and behaviours), with Boretz arguing that manhood involves control or even repression of masculine tendencies. Boretz also elaborates on the precarious existence of marginal men who suffer “psychosocial estrangement from the institutions of mainstream society” (pp. 32–34) and attempt to compensate for their predicament by stressing reciprocity and other values that lie at the core of a self-defined “spirit of honor” (yiqi) that underscores both resistance to communal norms yet also the conscious adoption of some traditional ideals and virtues (pp. 35–39).
The book's ethnographic section opens with chapter three (Taidong: the mountains and beyond), which treats the south-eastern county once known as Taiwan's final frontier which now relies on altered meanings of frontier stereotypes (wild, tough, backward, primitive) to promote tourism. Boretz also examines how Taidong's history has shaped its ritual life, which resonates along a range of factional alliances and rivalries. In chapter four (“Fire and fury”), Boretz compares and contrasts two particularly boisterous rituals, the Bai Torch Festival of Yunnan and the rite of “Blasting Lord Handan” held as part of the Taidong Lantern Festival. While both rites spotlight marginal males who are put in harm's way, they also involve different types of masculinity. During the Torch Festival virile young bachelors fight to grab blazing torches erected by successful fathers in holes dug by men who fathered daughters (pp. 95–96); during the Blasting Handan rites, virile young male gangsters are subjected to fusillades of fireworks as a test of their masculinity and perhaps also as a form of atonement for violating communal norms (pp. 103–106).
Chapter five (“Tales from the Jianghu”) is the longest section of the book (61 pages). Here readers can truly appreciate the quality and value of Boretz's fieldwork in both China and Taiwan, as he presents numerous vibrant and even moving stories about the competition and violence that often rock Chinese communal life (see for example pp. 136–140, 161–174). Boretz's ethnography clarifies how marginal men who take refuge among their peers end up embracing a form of heroic masculinity, while also attempting to find a balance between social face (mianzi) and moral face (lian). Issues of face and the larger theme of producing male subjectivity are also explored in chapter six (“Wine, women, and song”), which portrays a “culture of carousing” based on ideals of response and reciprocity that involves elements such as eating, drinking, sexual play, singing, betel nut chewing, gambling and smoking (pp. 176–178, 184–191). Boretz points out that carousing features a combination of self-mastery and dominance with self-indulgence and rebelliousness (p. 182). His thought-provoking analysis suggests possible comparisons between the “[s]elf-mortifying act of reciprocating toasts to the point of misery as a sacrifice that establishes a hierarchical bond” (p. 199) and the acts of self-mortification performed during the Blasting Handan rites.
Taken as a whole, Gods, Ghosts, and Gangsters represents a model ethnography that sheds new light on the lives and very voices of men, voices that previous scholarship has either overlooked or misunderstood. The same cannot be said for some of Boretz's claims about the historical uniqueness of the phenomena he has studied, however, especially his emphasis on the “increasingly secular nature of [modern] gangs” (p. 120) (especially odd in light of the book's topic) and his argument that “temple festivals are increasingly being co-opted by political and business interests” (p. 120) (such interests co-opted festivals during earlier eras as well). There is also a posited dichotomy between “modern” and “traditional” spirit mediums (pp. 126, 130, 131) which requires much further explanation. The book has its share of minor errors, such as a reference to “Buddhist White Lotus” (p. 8) (Barend ter Haar's 1992 study has effectively discredited the validity of such labels), the translation of yuanshuai as “generalissimo” (p. 13) (“marshal” would be more appropriate), and the translation of fashi (hoat-su in Southern Min) as “sorcerer” (p. 115) (the generally accepted term is “ritual master”). Finally, some of the book's most interesting data and analysis is confined to the endnotes, when instead it merited inclusion in the body of the text.
These scattered flaws hardly detract from the significance of Boretz's accomplishments, however. The vivid ethnographic data and intricate analytical frameworks presented in this book promise to spark much further research on issues of power, violence and ritual in Chinese culture. One area that merits further explanation is how women fit into this picture. As Boretz aptly notes on page 44, cults and festivals to martial deities represent “…a desire among subject people for access to power structurally denied them.” This could also be said about cults to martial goddesses, which confront head on the touchy topic of gender roles and women's subordination. Perhaps the most renowned of these cults is to the Lady Linshui, the subject of a brilliant ethnography by Brigitte Baptandier which regrettably is not cited in Boretz's book. More could also be done on martial men's attitudes towards women, which combine feelings of misogyny (or impotence?) (p. 49) with a reputation for sexual prowess (p. 55). The book's lively writing and provocative treatment of these issues also make it ideal for classroom use.
