A Study On The Folk Belief Temple In Hexi Corridor In Ming And Qing Dynasties

Temple i s the material carrier and sacred space of folk beliefs and, it is the product which people believe t he materialis tic world. People in dai ly life and production formed gradually a set of belief customs which was concerdered could avoid disasters, in order to make the gods have shelter and make people worship and rewa rd convenient, to buil d tem ple become inevitable.The folk belief temple this art icl e discussed, I t refers t o these t empl es which excepted to Buddhi st temples and Taoism tem ples, they had extensive i nfluence and beli evers in the folk, like t he Dragon King temple, Guanyu t empl e, the Town God temple,Etc. These temples existed widely in the urban and rural areas in Hexi rigion, the folk belief was acti ve in the folk, they have prec ious historical value i n the Hexi corri dor in researching t he folk belief, folk activit ies, the social atmosphere and social economic status in Ming and Qing dyna sties, which is a special historical data. However, for these temples, researchers had l ess attention, m any aspects were not clear. The aut hor has no m eas urement of shallow, according to searc h the relevant data with Hexi Local Records whi ch existed in Ming and Qing dyn asties, for the fol k beli ef temples in Hexi region in Ming and Qing Dyn asti es, the author has retrieved and searc hed comprehens ivel y, made comprehensive investigation with regional distribution characteristi cs and all kinds of temples’ function and infl uence.Accor ding to space distribution level to divide these tem ples, it could be di vided into four typ es: di stributed in all regional, sub-regional temples, distributed betwee n two and si x counties, di stributed in one county.The characteristics of the first and the second type were quantity and wide redi nal distribution. The belief space of the third and t he fourth typ e were limit ed, they were mostly local temples, and closely li nked t o People’s daily li ves, s uch as Bai zi pal ace and S hengmu tem ple, whi ch had the function of prayi ng children. The thi rd and the fourth type tem ples, some were distributed only in Hexi corridor; their di stribution had a connec tion with unique humani stic history and natural environm ent in Hexi corridor.Temple’s function categor y of combi nati on in different geographi cal environm ent has certa in differences. During the Ming and Qing dyn a sties, t he function categor y combi nati on of fol k beli ef temples i n Hexi corridor could be divided int o t hree categor ies, they were life protection cat egory, agricultural protection category, and cit y protection category. Lif e protection category had the functi on of prayi ng peace,chil dren and official career, and also had a function of disaster preventi on.Agricultural protection category t empl es had the function of prayi ng for rai n and pests disas ter preve nti on, etc. City protection category temple’s functions were to protect the city, to prot ect the people and to help the war, etc. These t empl es’ s functi on categor ies constituted t he main funct ion combination of folk beli ef temples in Hexi corrider during Ming and Qing dynasties.Creating temples and temple’s functi on present ed and expressed could not restrict without regional environment. In Ming and Qi ng dyn asties, temple’s categor ies and function combination were closely related to the natural environment and soci al environment in Hexi corri dor. Such as the water shortage natural envi ro nment impelled a large number of praying rain temp les appearan ce. In daily life,such as the pursui t of m oney, eage r to get chi ld, the pursuit of longevity and the pursui t of offi cial career, etc. All these demands i mpel led the creating of life protection category temples. In agricultural protection categor y temples, temples wit h the function of praying rain had been in the majority, it was rated to t he lack of rain and t he drought natural environment, and agricultural type in Hexi corridor. The creating of war assi stant t ype tem ples was impelled class temple was bui lt duri ng the Ming and Qing dynas ties in of many war cont ributed to the soci al environment. It was the result that the social environment whi ch t he war happened frequently impelled the creating of war assi stant t ype tem ples in Hexi corridor during Ming and Qi ng dyna sties.