2. The Original Translocal Society: Making Chaolian from Land and Sea

Abstract

In the last few centuries, a substantial stretch of river marshes (sha 沙) emerged in the middle of a major tributary of Xijiang , the largest river system on the western edge of the Pearl River delta in southern China. Eventually named Chaolian xiang (潮連鄉), the island community was built by generations of fi shermen and settlers who fi shed, farmed, traded, and reclaimed river marshes. Th e history of settlement involved various groups who used symbolic and instrumental means to claim rights to the land, absorbed some newcomers while excluding others, created cultural identities, social institutions, and political alliances to become part of the late imperial order. Th ey left material records-temples, ancestral halls, river-landings, neighborhood shrines, burial grounds, stone stele commemorating renovations of communal buildings, marking markets, and managing confl icts. Documents were varied-local gazetteers, literary writings, lineage genealogies, political petitions, offi cial edicts, religious and ritual texts, trade and tax accounts.A close reading of these materials reveals narrative traditions privileging real or imaginary authorities of a land-based, literati-dominated state formation. Th ese forms marginalize certain populations and networks that were linked to maritime-based historical processes, which could have been signifi cant to the local community. We hope to uncover the missing links and highlight cultural Brought to you by | Florida Atlantic University Authenticated Download Date | 8/8/15 8:41 PM