Family Sacrifices

The Worldviews and Ethics of Chinese Americans

Russell M. Jeung, Seanan S. Fong, and Helen Jin Kim

First book based on a national survey on Asian American religious practices
Introduces the theory of liyi, an indigenous, decolonized Chinese concept based on a group's relational practices and moral values
Provides a new lens for understanding religious "nones" in the U.S.

Family Sacrifices

The Worldviews and Ethics of Chinese Americans

Russell M. Jeung, Seanan S. Fong, and Helen Jin Kim

Description

Fifty-two percent of Chinese Americans report having no religious affiliation, making them the least religiously-identified ethnic group in the United States. But that statistic obscures a much more complex reality. Family Sacrifices reveals that Chinese Americans employ familism, not religion, as the primary narrative by which they find meaning, identity, and belonging. As a transpacific lived tradition, Chinese American familism prioritizes family above other commitments and has roots in Chinese Popular Religion and Confucianism. The spiritual and ethical systems of China emphasize practicing rituals and cultivating virtue, whereas American religious research usually focuses on belief in the supernatural or belonging to a religious tradition. To address this gap in understanding, Family Sacrifices introduces the concept of liyi, translated as ritual propriety and righteous relations. Re-appropriated from its original Chinese usage, liyi offers a new way of understanding Chinese religion and a new lens for understanding the emergence of religious "nones" in the United States. The first book based on national survey data on Asian American religious practices, Family Sacrifices is a seminal text on the fastest-growing racial group in the United States.

Family Sacrifices

The Worldviews and Ethics of Chinese Americans

Russell M. Jeung, Seanan S. Fong, and Helen Jin Kim

Chapter 1: Introduction- Chinese American Familism and the Theory of Liyi
Chapter 2: The Roots of Chinese American Nonreligiousness and Familism
Chapter 3: Transmission: Chinese American Liyi Socialization
Chapter 4: Translation- Chinese Popular Religion and Confucianism in the U.S.
Chapter 5: The Yi of Family Sacrifice- Chinese Americans' Highest Values
Chapter 6: The Li of Chinese American Familism- Ritualizing Family, Food, and Fun
Conclusion

Bibliography
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C

Family Sacrifices

The Worldviews and Ethics of Chinese Americans

Russell M. Jeung, Seanan S. Fong, and Helen Jin Kim

Author Information

Dr. Russell M. Jeung is Chair and Professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. The author of books and articles on Asian Americans, religion, and race, he's a community activist and church leader in East Oakland, California. Dr. Jeung's memoir, At Home in Exile, shares his family's six generations in the US and his life with refugees.

Seanan S. Fong is a writer and Unitarian Universalist minister with a focus on serving the spiritual needs of Asian Americans. He holds a BA in philosophy from Stanford University and an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School. He also works as a product designer and conflict resolution professional in San Francisco.

Dr. Helen Jin Kim is Assistant Professor of American Religious History at Emory University. She completed her PhD in the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University and her BA in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University.

Family Sacrifices

The Worldviews and Ethics of Chinese Americans

Russell M. Jeung, Seanan S. Fong, and Helen Jin Kim

Reviews and Awards

"The strengths are that - in a compact book - so many avenues for research have been opened." -- Brett J. Esaki, University of Arizona, Religion

"Family Sacrifices is accessible reading for undergraduates and graduate students. It is a must read for scholars interested in reevaluating what is, and what is not, religious in a time in which institutional affiliations are declining rapidly, yet belief in the supernatural remains vibrant... Family Sacrifices provides an important first step into a more robust social scientific study of religion." -- Jerry Z. Park, Baylor University

"Family Sacrifices is an important volume, given the increasing prominence of Chinese Americans in American society and politics... Family Sacrifices offers a new conceptual approach toward understanding American religious nones by applying the ritual-ethical framework of liyi to the American context. The book does this well by focusing on praxis rather than belief in order to eschew the religious-secular dichotomy that religion scholars have employed in examining religious nones." -- Steven Hu, University of California, Santa Barbara, Koninklijke Brill NV

"Family Sacrifices is a worthy addition...representing a significant attempt by sociologists to think deeply about ethnicity and religion and provide the reader with an essential partanswer to and a better understanding of a complex question. This book, therefore, is situated well for students and researchers who are interested in the topics of spirituality, Chinese religions, and Asian Americans' religiosity." -- Di Di, Santa Clara University, Sociology of Religion

"Family Sacrifices is accessible reading for undergraduates and graduate students. It is a must read for scholars interested in reevaluating what is, and what is not, religious in a time in which institutional affiliations are declining rapidly, yet belief in the supernatural remains vibrant." -- Journal of the American Academy of Religion

"Family Sacrifices is a fascinating and important contribution to understanding how Chinese cultural, ethical and religious traditions are passed on in the United States. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand both the Chinese-American experience and Asian-American religions." -- Carolyn Chen, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of California

"Family Sacrifices debunks popular myths about of Chinese American religiosity. The authors offer a nuanced, culturally sensitive and powerful analysis of Chinese American familism as a hybridized and transpacific lived tradition rooted in Chinese Confucianism and folk religion and illuminate the presence of rituals and moral boundary systems among non-religious Americans. A major breakthrough in the field of religious studies." -- Min Zhou, Professor and Walter & Shirley Wang Endowed Chair in US-China Relations & Communications, University of California, Los Angeles

"This is a book on Chinese American religious life that we have been waiting for. It addresses longstanding sociological puzzles about the apparent lack of religious life of Chinese Americans, and it takes on the complex moral and religious discourses and practices of the so-called hyphenated Americans, for whom their immigrant heritage is still an essential part of life. What this nuanced ethnographic account shows is that the case of Chinese Americans is both particular and universal, and the superb analysis illustrates the often-hidden habits of the heart of Chinese American life." -- Anna Sun, author of Confucianism as a World Religion: Contested Histories and Contemporary Realities