Uncanny Beliefs

Name: Uncanny Beliefs
Price: 61.95 AUD
Availability: OutOfStock
ISBN: 9780674303409

Superstition in Modern Chinese History

Emily Baum, Albert Wu

$61.95

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We will update you on expected arrival time to us. If this delay is too long, please let us know within 2 business days and we can give you options regarding cancelling or adjusting your order. More details on cancelling your order can be found in our Terms of Trade.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Harvard University Press
07 April 2026

Asian history; Religion & politics; History of religion; Oriental religions

Series: Harvard Contemporary China Series

In the early twentieth century, scholars around the world believed that ""superstition"" belonged to a bygone era. Yet despite their confident predictions, superstitious beliefs have endured. Perhaps nowhere has the history of superstition been more prolonged and tumultuous than in China. From the late nineteenth century to the present day, intellectuals and politicians have denigrated practices like divination, ancestor worship, and geomancy as unbefitting of a modern nation, and governing regimes have launched a succession of campaigns to replace superstitious thinking with science and rationality. Efforts to eliminate such practices from public life, however, have regularly encountered resistance from people who continue to find meaning in them.

Uncanny Beliefs seeks to understand what ""superstition"" has meant in modern China-and questions why superstitious thinking has remained such an urgent target of state intervention. Through a range of temporal and thematic perspectives, the chapters in this volume link the study of superstition to the histories of science, religion, gender, state building, and popular culture. In doing so, they collectively broaden our understanding of modern Chinese history by revealing the complex entanglements of superstition with religion, modernity, authority, and everyday life.

Edited by: Emily Baum, Albert Wu
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9780674303409
ISBN 10: 0674303407
Series: Harvard Contemporary China Series
Pages: 346
Publication Date: 07 April 2026
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Emily Baum is Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine. Albert Wu is Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.

Bargains! PROMOTIONS

Uncanny Beliefs

Superstition in Modern Chinese History

Emily Baum, Albert Wu

$61.95

Paperback

See Also

Contact Abbeys

Contact Galaxy

Contact Language

Contact Us

About ABBEY'S