Social Function Of Guan Di Belief In Northeast China

As a kind of religious and cultural phenomenon, the belief in Guan Di was founded in the Tang Dynasty, spreaded in the Song Dynasty, went through the Yuan Dynasty and finally reached a peak in the Qing Dynasty, and was deeply accepted by the central administration and the public. In the northeastern part of China, the Manchu and Oroqen people steadily held the belief in Guan Di all the time. Until the end of the Eighteen Century, the immigrants of Han nationality turned to be another one of the most important elements which lead the belief in Guan Di to the Mainstream faith beyond the Great Wall. The belief in Guan Di in the northeastern part of China is the research object of this essay; the research location covers Jilin City, Haicheng city and Hulin town. By this, a conclusion was made that the social function of believe in Guan Di is realized by its religious elements.Firstly, as the central part of the belief in Guan Di, religious ideology is a kind of integrated system, which affects the concept and actions of the believers, even the society. Individual reasons about their belief are multiple, but for all that, it rested, finally, on the desire of the Ultimate Concern, as a guide to the confusion of the variable outside world. The religious ideology of the belief in Guan Di is the stand of faith and loyalty.Secondly, religious concepts are derived from the religious ideology, which is a restraint to all the believers, not only their actions, but also their mind. Based on that, social order was built. In the past, the belief in Guan Di offered a kind of pattern for society works. Gods' almightiness is a kind of supervision and urge to the public, maintaining normal social order and control. Furthermore, Gods'explanations to the bad phenomena eliminate negative, antisocial power.Thirdly, religious experience adjusted the social mentality. Books of exhortation for good deeds recount God's signs and the experiences of other believers. Its unique and vivid affection to public is irreplaceable.Fourthly, religious actions are illustrated in this essay, as a kind of typical rite of the belief in Guan Di, so as to prove the social functions such as enhancement of social cohesion, the enculturation, promotion of social harmony and belief consolidation etc.Lastly, temples, as a typical symbol, are the principal organized pattern of the belief in Guan Di, and also the most important way for the public to communicate with the God. Temples of Guan Di offer a platform for ethnic identity and cultural communication to all nationalities in the northeastern part of China, as a necessary meeting-point.Through on-site investigation, interview and questionnaire survey, several social functions of the belief in Guan Di have been discovered, such as, the Ultimate Concern, the public order maintenance, social mentality accommodation, social cohesion enhancement etc. And all those functions were enforced by the elements of religion, for example, ideology, concepts, experience, actions and organization, on which the frame of my research is based. This essay, based on the survey data acquired by the writer through specific case studies in the northeastern part of China, shows the functions mentioned above.