A Study Of King Tang Temples In Zezhou Region Since Ming Dynasty

The King Tang temples and their rituals in this study are a cultural mechanism deeply embedded in the village society of Zezhou region,which vividly reflecting the "diffuse" nature of Chinese folk beliefs.This study takes the King Tang Temples in Zezhou region since the Ming Dynasty as the core category,and uses inscriptions,local records and fieldwork data as materials to analyze and explore the temples in terms of their spatial and temporal distribution,style and characteristics,deity system,customary culture,temple builders and their motivation for participation,and modern changes of the temples.Since the Ming Dynasty,The King Tang temples in Zezhou region have been mainly distributed in villages,mostly as "She temples" of the villages where they were located,which were places of worship for rural communities and centers of secular activities.The overall system of temples includes parts such as the main hall,the ear room,the dedication hall,and the theater.Among them,the general public worshiped King Tang in the main hall,using the idol position of "King Tang in the center,the Empress and the Prince(or Yiyin and Zhonghui)on the left and right".In the ear room,Guangong and Gaomei are enshrined.Guangong symbolizes the morality of Confucianism,and Gaomei decides whether to descend to the son according to the people’s virtue,forming an edifying group that regulates the people’s style.In the wing-room,various "functional deities" closely related to production and life are worshiped,forming a practical group sacrifice aimed at solving practical demands.These rituals were also an important way to strengthen the people’s sense of village order and regional community.The construction model with the "She" organization as the core and the wide participation of scholars,farmers,businessmen,and industry is an important guarantee for the continuous construction of King Tang temples.Among them,the head and the members of the "She" organization are the core participants.The gentry rectified the name of the temple by writing inscriptions and the merchants and kilns constituted an important supplement to the village community’s "apportionment by mu" financing method.Marginal groups such as monks,incense clubs,women,and God horses also actively participated in the temple building.Different groups had different understandings of "why a temple should be built for King Tang".Most Confucian intellectual elites endorsed the belief in King Tang,and they saw the temple as a place to conduct moral edification based on the concept of "Shinto setting up a religion".A few critics were concerned that the excesses of the rituals caused economic distress to the people and that the ritual system needed to be reformed.On the other hand,the general public worshiped the King Tang out of pragmatic beliefs in the pursuit of their own practical benefits.The "rites" of the Confucian intellectual elite,which focused on indoctrination,and the "customs" of the common people,which focused on practicality,were not opposites but coexisted as one and became an important basis for the King Tang temples to take root in rural society.The fact that the King Tang temples have survived with difficulty in the modern society and have flourished in recent years,Which reflects the tenacity of the temple and its rituals.Since the 1980 s,a large number of temples have been rebuilt and restored under the leadership of the village party branch and village committee.At the same time the rituals flourished and formed the new characteristics.Due to the ambiguous status of folk beliefs in the national legal policy,the temples in order to avoid the potential risk of being classified as "feudal superstition",have made efforts to construct their own social and cultural attributes and actively integrated into the overall development of the local society,showing strong "cultural characteristics."In general,the King Tang Temples are closely linked to the interpersonal interactions,daily life,moral education and cultural traditions of the people in Zezhou region and is closely connected to the local society of Zezhou region.The current flourishing of the King Tang belief is both a historical continuation of the faith tradition and an example of a comprehensive carrier of today’s cultural heritage resources.