Studies Of Folks Life And Shanhua Temple Fairs Of Gangu County Of Gansu Province

Temple fair is one of the traditional activities universally existing in China. In this thesis, as one of the example, the life of the folks and Shanhua Temple fairs which were held in Jiangjiawan village of Baijiawan township in Gangu county, Gansu Province, were studied in detail. Based on the Cultural Functionalism theory of Malinowski, the relationships between the basic demands and derivative demands of the folks with the Shanhua Temple fairs were analyzed.Firstly, the geographical and cultural environment of the Shanhua Temple were briefly described. And the folk groups and their characters were discussed. By using the data collected from the fieldwork, buddhist induction story were introduced. Meanwhile, the religion belief of Guaying for the local folks were studies, which including the worship of Guanying and Tied doll.Then, with fieldwork surveying, the author gives detailed information about Shanhua Temple Fair’s ceremonies of saying prayer, sending and welcoming the huge candle and touching off firecrackers; about various people who join the fair; and about the activities of entertainment and trade. Besides, it is also analyzed how those ceremonies and activities show the local folk’s basic demands for surviving and reproduction.Finally, the author analyzes the religion, social interaction, entertainment, commerce and trade of the Shanhua Temple. On the basis of these analyzing, the regulate activities, regulate activities, and regional relationship were studied in detail.