Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Maps and Figures ix
4. Preface and Acknowledgments xi
5. Introduction. Two Voices Joined in the Chengdu Plain 1
6. Part One. The Haunted Past of Hope Township
7. Chapter 1. A Public Execution 17
8. Chapter 2. A Local Band of the Gowned Brothers 34
9. Part Two. The Worlds of the Paoge
10. Chapter 3. Spirituality and Customs 49
11. Chapter 4. Secret Codes and Language 60
12. Chapter 5. Disciplines and Dominance 78
13. Part Three. The Rise and Fall of the Lei Family
14. Chapter 6. A Tenant Farmer and Paoge Master 97
15. Chapter 7. Entering the Paoge 111
16. Chapter 8. The Decline of Power 119
17. Chapter 9. A Family Crisis and a Rural Woman’s Fate 127
18. Part Four. Picking up the Threads
19. Chapter 10. Fall of the Paoge 145
20. Chapter 11. Looking for the Storyteller 154
21. Chapter 12. Untangling Paoge Myth 165
22. Appendix 1: Paoge Ranks 179
23. Appendix 2: Lei Family Tree (1945) 181
24. Appendix 3: Selected Ritual/Festival Events 183
25. Appendix 4: Chinese Texts of Sayings and Poems 185
26. Appendix 5: Brief Comments on Texts, Myth, and History 189
27. Character List 195
28. Notes 203
29. Works Cited 225
30. Index 249