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be required on a regular basis, and that the soul will suffer impoverishment and starvation if these are not forthcoming." In theory, at least, both the decedent's immediate descendants and the generations still to come will acknowledge a continuing obligation in this regard, and faithfully see to his needs; in reality, of course, the living are not always so mindful of their duties. We have already noted that anyone in Roman society who failed to perform the necessary sacrifices to the dead might feel their wrath, and that even today such is also the case among the LoDagaa and Nāyars. Are Chinese spirits similarly capable of defending their interests?
40
Here we enter an area of deep but insightful disagreement. In his book Under the Ancestors' Shadow, which is based upon field studies in a Yunnan community that he calls "West Town", F.L.K. Hsu claims that "to living descendants their own ancestral spirits are always benevolent, never malicious" (p. 210). The data that Hsu has marshalled in support of this position are impressive, and there is a consensus among scholars today that in Chinese society at large one normally expects the ancestors to be protective and supportive of their own lineage members. At the same time, however, scholars also generally concede that the ancestors are thought to punish their kinsmen if legitimately provoked. Arthur Wolf speaks for this majority when he remarks that "neglect of worship is the most common reason given for misfortunes attributed to the agency of the ancestors."
41 The fifteen case-histories that Wolf collected in the Taiwanese town of San-hsia, however, hardly warrant so bland a verdict. In one instance, a family is sentenced to perpetual poverty; in a second, a son is driven to banditry; and there are three examples of vindictive ancestors held directly responsible for deaths in the family. These reactions at times border on the capricious, and this is precisely how Emily Ahern characterizes ancestral behaviour in Ch'i-nan. She relates the story of an elderly man, who for years had been in terrible pain because of a bad back. The affliction was attributed to a particular ancestor, and numerous attempts to palliate his anger had all failed. Ahern's informant told her that the "ancestor just has a bad heart. That's why the man has that trouble with his back. The ancestor is causing it out of meanness." Thus, there is ample evidence to suggest that in
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be required on a regular basis, and that the soul will suffer impoverishment and starvation if these are not forthcoming." In theory, at least, both the decedent's immediate descendants and the generations still to come will acknowledge a continuing obligation in this regard, and faithfully see to his needs; in reality, of course, the living are not always so mindful of their duties. We have already noted that anyone in Roman society who failed to perform the necessary sacrifices to the dead might feel their wrath, and that even today such is also the case among the LoDagaa and Nāyars. Are Chinese spirits similarly capable of defending their interests?
40
Here we enter an area of deep but insightful disagreement. In his book Under the Ancestors' Shadow, which is based upon field studies in a Yunnan community that he calls "West Town”, F.L.K. Hsu claims that "to living descendants their own ances- tral spirits are always benevolent, never malicious” (p. 210). The data that Hsu has marshalled in support of this position are impressive, and there is a consensus among scholars today that in Chinese society at large one normally expects the ancestors to be protective and supportive of their own lineage members. At the same time, however, scholars also generally concede that the ancestors are thought to punish their kinsmen if legitimately provoked. Arthur Wolf speaks for this majority when he remarks that "neglect of worship is the most common reason given for misfortunes attributed to the agency of the ancestors.
,,41 The fifteen case-histories that Wolf collected in the Taiwanese town of San-hsia, however, hardly warrant so bland a verdict. In one instance, a family is sentenced to perpetual poverty; in a second, a son is driven to banditry; and there are three examples of vindictive ancestors held directly responsible for deaths in the family.42 These reactions at times border on the capricious, and this is precisely how Emily Ahern characterizes ancestral behav- iour in Ch'i-nan. She relates the story of an elderly man, who for years had been in terrible pain because of a bad back. The affliction was attributed to a particular ancestor, and numerous attempts to palliate his anger had all failed. Ahern's informant told her that the "ancestor just has a bad heart. That's why the man has that trouble with his back. The ancestor is causing it out of meanness. Thus, there is ample evidence to suggest that in
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