"spirit" And "people",

As an inseparable part of China, Taiwan has captured many scholars' attention and numerous researches have been conducted due to its particular geographic locations and unique cultures. Living by the Sun-moon Lake, the Thaw people is a new single nationality, which was added to the traditional "Nine Ethnic Groups of Gaoshan Mountains".As a result of its close proximity to the Sun-moon Lake, the Thaw's culture, particularly its religious belief, has attracted people's attentions profoundly. Moreover, the "independent style" of the Thaw ethnicity adds more to its popularity among the scholars in that no similar religious belief can be found in Taiwan area or in the Mainland of China. The research conducted in this paper plays a significant role in enriching the ethnographic documents of nationalities in China, thus carrying important academic value in the field of contemporary study into the local ethnic groups. Apart from this, it offers authentic and objective materials to promote the ethnic development and social harmony across the Straits.In view of the historical documentary and field work, at first, the author collects the ethnic materials relating to the religious beliefs of the Thaw. Then, its culture of religious beliefs and prospects are interpreted and analyzed by employing relevant theories in the field of ethnology, anthropology and sociology.This paper is divided into 7 chapters.What comes first is the prologue, which explains the significance of this research, reviews the literatures on the religious belief of the Thaw nationality, and introduces the main content and research methods of this paper.The first chapter "A General Introduction to the Thaw Nationality" outlines the geographic environment, history, demographic condition, livelihood and the major cultural forms.The second chapter "Contemporary Displays of Religious Beliefs of the Thaw Nationality" looks into their traditional beliefs-----the procedures and rites of the Worship of Hunting and the Worship of Eel which are held on the 1st and 3rd day of July in Chinese lunar calendar by XianShengMa at the same time in different headmen's families. Through investigation, the author discovers that the two rituals are merely artificial exhibition of their conventional beliefs in modern times. No longer do they possess the original connotations-----The Thaw do not have the modes of production such as hunting animals and catching the Eels.The third chapter "The Modern Religion of the Thaw Society" tells that the modern religion of the Thaw nationality is embodied in two rites and activities. The first is the worshipping in July (Chinese lunar calendar), with "Purdue of the zhongyuan Festival" being the most stately one which is held commonly by the Thaw people and the Han people in the Mingde Temple on the 15th of July (Chinese lunar calendar). The second one is the weekly-held preaching. The participants include not only the Han people but also the Thaw people. Even the Priest XianShengMa of the Thaw nationality attends the preaching.In the fourth chapter "Carnival of the Thaw Nationality—Ancestor Worship" the author studies intensively the procedures and rituals of the sacrificing for the ancestry. It is an activity lasting the whole month in August. The sound created by Chu is the prelude to this activity. The August is permeated with mysticism and spree:early morning's worshipping on the first day of August; the removal of contamination and worship on the second day of August; Trial hunting ritual and the worship on the third day of August; the construction of ZuLingWu and the beginning of HuiYin on the fourth day of August; the mid-way worship which lasts to the 15th day of August, and the last worshipping on the 30th day of August. The Thaw people imitate Han nationality to name the ZuLing worship as Guonian______spending the Chinese New Year.In the fifth chapter "The interpretation of 'Spirituality' and'Humanity'", the religious system of Thaw ethnic group is categorized as 'Spirituality'and 'Humanity'. Spirituality is not only the top concern of the ancestor worship of the Thaw nationality, but also the concept of different family groups, it is even more the core issue of their earthly life and holy world. The ancestral spirit of the Thaw depends on humanity. XianShengMa,LuZh,Singers and the people of removing contamination all are human. Had humanity not existed, the emergence of the ancestral spirit would have lost its meaning. Therefore, 'Spirituality' and'Humanity', as well as their inherent relationship, have been interpreted in this chapter.The sixth chapter "The Characteristics, Functions, Development and Tendencies of the Thaw's Religion" first analyses the characteristics and functions of the Thaw's religion. Then it explains the religious impact on the social values, economic lives and cultural models. The change of the Thaw's religion and its prospect are also delved into in this chapter. Regarding the change and the prospect, the author points out that the change of social environment, the acculturation incurred by the contact with Han people and the change of internal social structure of the Thaw are the main reasons why the change of the religious belief has occurred among the Thaw. Besides, the author touches on the tendencies of the Thaw's religion. Programmability, secularity, multiplicity and integrity have been identified as four main tendencies.