The Studies On Yan Emperor Tradition And Regional Socity From The Later Of Ming Dynasty To The Republic Of China In The Southeastern Of Shanxi

Southeastern of Shanxi is one of the districts where ancient sage Yan Emperor’s story distributes around. Also, in this area, there are many temples and legends about him. The earlist legends record about Yan Emperor can trace to the Sui and Tang dynasties, and the earliest inscriptions about him are in the Northern Qi Dynasty years. In the later thousands of years, people strengthen the identity of Yan Emperor because of the promotion of these stories.This paper will do a research on Yan Emperor during late Ming Emperor to the Republic of China. The first chapter presents Spatial distributions of Yan Empreor’s historical remains. Then it highlights the implications of cultural traditions about Yan Emperor during late Ming Emperor to the Qianlong peak of Qing Dynasty. Yan Emperor had a extremely sacred image in local polks, not only regarded as ancestor and patron saint of agriculture and pharmaceuticals industry, but also known as the Rain God. Yan Emperor was sacrificed nationally during this period, the distribution of Yan Emperor’s temples is extremely common in southeastern of Shanxi. Regional officials and gentry as was the backbone of society, plays a leading role in the re-emergence of the Yan Emperor cultural tradition.The second chapter focuses on cultural activities of Yan Emperor from Jiaqing to Xianfeng Emperor in Qing Dynasty. With the decline in southeastern imperial examinations and businessmen gathered strength since the Ming and Qing Dynasty, there were a lot of business inscriptions in Yan Emperor temple, especially Ze and Lu merchants become a major donor to repair the temple. The reason businessman doing so was that Yan Emperor was considered the first inventor of "do business in the morning" and Jiaqing Emperor made the Yan Emperor Temple no different from other temples. Since it could provide a considerable economic benefits for merchants and could make the local businessman participate in such public affairs, there were many opportunities for them to improve their authority embodied in the local society.The third chapter focuses on the significance culture of Yan Emperor from Tongzhi Emperor of Qing Dynasy to the Republic of China. In the late Qing Dynasty of southeastern of Shanxi, there were frequent natural disasters, economic depression and various social contradictions, but the cultural of Yan Emperor has not shown a tendency and its temples remained to be rebuilt again and again. Under the slogan of "nation-state", meaning of ancestor Yan Emperor culture is greatly expanded. It has been elevated to a high degree of national unity, and becomes a symbol of the Chinese nation.In short, the late Ming Dynasty to the Republic of China, Yan Emperor gradually became the God of our country which was so different from other tradition worships in China. With the expression "nation-state", the culture of Yan Emperor reflects the diversity in the history of southeastern of Shanxi and the complexity of continuity across time.