The Temple Fair And Rural Society Of Pinglu In Shanxi Province From Qing Dynasty To The Republic Of China

The temple fair, regarded as the material and culture result of the traditional Chinese society, is an important perspective of basic social operations, and forms an important content of rural social life, with its close connection with people's faith, amusement, trade and intercourse. Recent temple-fair studies have attracted domestic historical circles, folk-custom circles, anthropological circles and sociological circles and have witnessed great acheivement. The temple fairs in Shanxi are long in history, abundant in content, but concrete and profound research is rare at present; also the writer has not read any paper about interactive relation between temple fair and rural social life in a certain village. Therefore, this topic is choosen, with the view of thoroughly understanding the real situation and order of the local society, and accurately holding the interactive relation between temple fair and rural society, by probing into the rural temple fair activity in Pinglu, Shanxi during the period of Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China. This paper will not merely contribute to our understanding of the then state of the local rural society,and the significance of the function and influence of temple fairs on the rural society, but contribute to our understanding of the accumulation of traditional culture in the realistic society, which will help better exert various functions of the temple fair,and serve the local economy, cultural construction and social harmonious progress. This paper is divided into six parts:The preface gives a systematical introduce of the origin and development of the temple fair, overviews the research achievement, and states the purport and idea of this research.Chapter one overviews the Pinglu rural temple fair, summarizes its characteristics. The temple fairs in rural Pinglu had already risen in the Ming and Qing times, and the comparatively general ones are those that have national regulations such as Dragon King, Kuan Ti, the Great Emperor of Eastern Mountain and City God, as well as Three-Clouds Empress, Goddess of Mercy, Wei Chigong and Clear Spring God, all of whom have been offerred sacriffices and worshiped by the local people as protecting gods. Local temple fairs have three characteristics, due to the influences of natural and social factors: worship holding most to Dragon King; the exchange of the products in agriculture, handicraft industry and animal husbandry occupying great proportion; unconvention in many activities.Chapter two details the relationship between Pinglu Temple Fair and people's mental life. The essence of the temple fair lies in faith. From Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, there was grand memorial ceremony at each Pinglu temple fair, which included placing gods, pleasing gods, and thanking gods. Holding a memorial ceremony had met people's various spiritual demands and had placed the bright hopes on the future, strengthened the member's spiritual approval and unity. What's more, god worship activity could also entertain people by entertaining gods, facinating gods, rewarding gods. In the temple fairs, people's body and mind had been made joyful and relaxed, and dry rural life had been added a lot of pleasure.Chapter three explaines emphatically the people's social intercourse in rural Pinglu Temple Fair, which could be divided into commodity exchange and human communication, according to the kind of associating. The rural temple fairs were the supermarkets of the countrysides, the main place that peasants and herdsmen and merchants carried on the trade and business, and had played a very important role in the interflow of commodities between town and country, between the farming and pastoral areas. This kind of contacts had ensured the normal running of people's life and production. In addition, rural people's daily life in traditional era was quite stopped up , but the stratums participating in temple fairs were extensive, including local officers,and the rank and file, even women fettered by " the three obediences and the four virtues " had broken through the fetters and appeared at the temple fairs. The temple fairs provided a platform for various human communications, such as conferring the marriage, visiting the relatives, paying off the debts, exchanging information.Chapter four analyzes the function and influence of Pinglu Temple Fair on the rural society. The holding of the regional temple fair had guaranteed a smooth running of people's life and production on the basis of economy, had promoted the development of commodity economy. It had strengthened the merger inside and outside the village on politics, which was favorable to the autonomy and control of the village society. It had satisfied people's faith demand on culture , which enriched people's amusement life, and promoted the spreading and development of the folk culture and arts. In a word, its positive role was definite. But because the good and evil people who participates in temple fairs mixed up, such things influencing the social security and destroying the social conduct as fighting , prostitution and whoring , organizing gambling , taking drug to traffic in narcotics , molesting women often happened. At the same time the superstitious activities at the temple fairs were also what we do not recommend today. The two compared, under the social environment at that time, the positive role of the temple fairs occupied main position.The conclusion has summarized the content of the full text, and suggestions are given that how the positive role of the temple fairs can be exerted nowadays, and how the negative influence can be reduced and restrained.