Das "kommunistische" Musterdorf Nanjie in der Provinz Henan: eine sozio-religiöse Interpretation

Abstract The following article deals with a model village in China's Henan province. This village re-collectivized its economy in the 80s; ideologically it is based on a cult of Mao Zedong. It calls itself the "only Communist village in the world". The article demonstrates the economy, the social structure, the system of distribution and sanctions, the closed corporate character of the community, its material and symbolic sources of investment, its objectives and its mechanisms of forcing through those objectives, as well as the Mao cult. The social and political structures are analyzed from a social-religious perspective: from the viewpoint of traditional concepts and perceptions of community and from that of religious aspects (tradition of local gods, of chiliastic movements and of religious revivalism). Finally, the issue of the social function of models for Chinese society is discussed.