Religious ideas and actors have shaped Asian cultural practices for millennia and have played a decisive role in charting the course of its history. In this engaging and informative book, Thomas David DuBois sets out to explain how religion has influenced the political, social, and economic transformation of Asia from the fourteenth century to the present. Crossing a broad terrain from Tokyo to Tibet, the book highlights long-term trends and key moments, such as the expulsion of Catholic missionaries from Japan, or the Taiping Rebellion in China, when religion dramatically transformed the political fate of a nation. Contemporary chapters reflect on the wartime deification of the Japanese emperor, Marxism as religion, the persecution of the Dalai Lama, and the fate of Asian religion in a globalized world.

Thomas DuBois sets out to explain how religious traditions and philosophies in China and Japan have evolved and intersected.

About the Author
Thomas David DuBois is Associate Professor of History at the National University of Singapore. He is the author of Sacred Village: Social Change and Religious Life in Rural North China (2005) and the editor of Casting Faiths: Imperialism and the Transformation of Religion in East and Southeast Asia (2009).

Reviews
'DuBois provides a fresh look at East Asian history that establishes religion's rightful place therein for a broader audience. His study is highly informative and provides intriguing and insightful details for both specialists and non-specialists.' Thoralf Klein, Journal of Chinese Religions



Book Information
ISBN 9781107400405
Author Thomas David DuBois
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 390g
Dimensions(mm) 226mm * 152mm * 15mm