Research On The Historical Geography Of Folk Religions In Modern Shanghai City(1843-1948)

Since Shanghai opening as a commercial port, the number of its immigrants increased who brought with their folk religions to the city in its modernization. Temples and deities in Shanghai city increased in particular as short-stay monks from other places built them for preach or others built for profit. In line with urban built-up areas, the distribution of temples in Shanghai spread from towns to concessions. Research on the Shanghai Social Welfare Office’s two investigation archives in 1920s and 1940s showed that the number of temples in Shanghai city kept on going since it as a commercial port and the growth rate of temples varied as immigrant number and religious policy changed. Distribution of urban built-up areas and immigrants decided the location of temples. Immigrants were mostly operators of newly-built city temples since Shanghai opening as a commercial port, and their experience, profession and native place decided the origin and type of temples they managed.This dissertation discussed from four aspects. First, transition of folk religions in Shanghai since it as a commercial port. Materials collected from local chronicles, archives, maps, newspapers, and literary works and so on revealed the ups and downs of temples history in Shanghai at that time, reproducing the spatial and temporal distribution of temples at every stage and the variation of deities. Historic maps at different history period was set agains to show the spatial and temporal location of one temple at that time, which figured out that distribution of temples was related with factors like the urban city expansion. Analysis of believes, origins and native places of monks and abbots worked out the reason that believes transited in temples after shanghai being a commercial port was closely related with it founders.Secondly, case study on Qu Zhenren, Lu Ban and Hong Miao showed how other religions came in with immigrants to Shanghai and how the religions existed before and after Shanghai as a commercial port were changed under the influence of immigrants and social changes. As studied, religious groups’worship for their deities had spatial dependence and they organized social life with their deities.Third, the article talks about how the folk religions confused with the the Buddhist and Taoism temples. And then, the folk religion had a phenomenon which the deities blended by trade region.Fourth, the relations between folk religions since shanghai as a commercial port and factors like urban built-up areas, distribution of immigrants and urban social space were analyzed as a whole. Research showed that the development of urban built-up areas led to the deterioration of traditional temples in Shanghai city and blew up the wind of new temples invaded into urban areas. New temple locations were related with immigrant settlements, thus participating to shape the social space of modern Shanghai city by influencing names of places and roads and business areas.