The Research On Soundscape Of Li Ehua Temple Fair

In Lijia Guanzhuang in the town of Hou, Shouguang City in Shandong Province, a grand temple fair is held to commemorate the famous doctor, Li Ehua, of the Qing dynasty every13th day of the fourth lunar month each year. During the event, aside from the sounds emanating from the many attendees, all kinds of sounds can be heard accompanying the whole temple fair. I distinguish them as being comprised of the sounds of ordinary temple devotees, sounds of Buddhist chanting, and sounds of xiangzhan, a group of women who go into trance in order to foretell the future and treat illnesses. All these sounds comprise the entire sound field in the temple and constitute the focus of my research.The sounds produced by the xiangzhan are most special and belong to sacred music. I specifically focus on them in my research. As a special group, the xiangzhan have magical powers to mediate between ordinary people and god. They are believed to be able to medically treat the sick and to help solve their physical and psychological problems. The sounds of the temple fair devotees and those chanting Buddhist sutras can be found in other contexts featuring ancestor worship; they are not unique to the context of the Li Ehua Temple. In contrast, the xiangzhan are specific to the Li Ehua Temple and the sounds they produce during the process of treating the sick assume particular significance there. They are therefore closest to the local belief system and culture. For that reason, I have chosen them as the focus of study.Taking the Li Ehua Temple as a field site, this thesis thus explores the function of different kinds of sounds and their significance in the local cultural belief through the analysis of the sounds of the ordinary temple devotees, the sounds of Buddhist chanters, and the sounds of the xiangzhan, especially those sounds when they are treating the sick.