The Study Of Time-space Distribution Of Chuan-Zhu Belief In Sichuan District From The Ming Dynasty To The People's Republic Of China

"Chuan-Zhu Belief" was originated from the deep tradition of Libing belief in Sichuan district before the Tang dynasty and it was always a folk belief feature in Sichuan district after the Song and Yuan dynasties, especially between the Ming dynasty and the Republic of China. This paper attempts to study the time-space distribution of the entities of Chuan-Zhu belief (the material carries—Chuan-Zhu temples, guildhalls and the spiritual carries—Chuan-Zhu customs and toponym). By doing so, on one hand it could organize the sources and the changing process of Chuan-Zhu belief in Sichuan district in the historical periods, on the other hand the formation mechanism and interrelations among the folk beliefs, social environment (official policy, war crisis, religion power, national movement, immigrant, belief tradition) and natural environment (distribution of drought and flood disasters, geographical conditions) in the agriculture-oriented society. The paper is divided into three parts. Part one focuses on the sources and the changing process of Chuan-Zhu belief which mainly discusses what Chuan-Zhu belief is. Part two is concerned with the distribution of the entities of Chuan-Zhu belief (Chuan-Zhu temples, Chuan-Zhu customs and toponym) in Sichuan district from the Ming dynasty to the People's Republic of China; through the comparison between them, it further reveals the distribution of Chuan-Zhu belief in Sichuan district. The third part explores the elements that influence the distribution and discusses the reasons why they are presented in such distribution.