Research Since The 1980s Lemo (Bai Branch) Religious Changes: From Traditional Religion To Christianity

Before Christianity spreaded to Nu river at the end of1920s, Lemo people had kept their traditional religion focusing on their own long-term native worship in a relatively closed geographical conditions, After Christianity had been spreaded to the Lisu people’s settlement, Lemo’s religion exhibited three different forms:the conflict and resistance between the Lemo’s traditional religion and Christianity before1949, accepted Christian belief from1978to early21century, the coexistence of traditional religion and Christianity after2005. Studies have found that Lemo people’s religion change can’t be simplily attributed to Mutual conflict or interaction between traditional religion and Christianity, In different historical periods, the causes of religion change were the different functions of religion and people’s functions of religion choices. From a certain perspective, people’s choices lead to religion change. But on the other hand,culture change caused by social change was anther important reason for the changes in religion. In Luobenzhuo, the change of local villagers’ livelihood model caused by the social change made its traditional religion and Christianity face the same challenge, and caused Lemo people’s change of spiritual and cultural life,and lead to local people’s new religious choice. At the same time, in the interaction between the religious body and the main belief body, constant self-adjustment so as to adjust to this new choice, it lead to the religious change.Therefore, in Luobenzhuo’s village, the inherent relationship between the religious belief and social change together with its inherent relationship between religion change and the functions of religion ever since the Reform and Opening-up have become the main point of this dissertation.Thus, I chose three typical stockaded villages in Luobenzhuo township, Lushui county, Nujiang Prefecture as the object of my study. The research is based on fieldwork, survey data and case studies from a synchronic and a diachronic perspective. Meanwhile,I used the methods of Anthropology and Religious Studies to analyse and discuss the inherent relationship between social change and religion change, and its inherent relationship between the function of religion and religion change.