Wang Jian, Li hai xiang guan: Ming Qing yilai Jiangnan Su Song diqu minjian xinyang yanjiu (Profit and harm inseparable: Research on the folk beliefs in the Suzhou and Songjiang areas of Jiangnan since the Ming and Qing dynasties). Shanghai: Shanghai remin chubanshe, 2010.

Rostislav Berezkin

Fudan University

This book by Wang Jian deals with the folk (or more precisely popular, or local) beliefs of the areas of Suzhou 苏州 and Songjiang 松江 that are parts of the larger Jiangnan (Lower Yangtze Valley) region famous for industry, commerce, and culture during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The main goal of this book is to demonstrate how different strata of the quite complex Jiangnan society participated in the religious life of the region and made use of different popular cults and practices. …