A Prelimiary Exploration Of Guizhou Immigration Guildhall And Regional Identity In Ming And Qing Dynasties

The Chinese society has undergone a variety of huge changes in politics,economy,culture and frequent population mobility,which provides the right climate for the establishment of the guildhall during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.At the same time,Guizhou experience waves of immigrants,giving priority to the military immigrants in the early Ming Dynasty and the spontaneous immigrants in the Qing Dynasty.On the basis of region and common belief,the guildhall is established spontaneously in order to contact the fellowship and narrate the nostalgia.On the basis of the same region and the common belief,immigration guildhall is built by the immigrants from the provinces,which is a symbol of regional culture.Meanwhile,the geographical identity of the origin is reflected in detail by the immigrant groups in the guildhall.In recent years,there are many studies on regional identity,however,there are few articles on the study of the regional identity in the immigration guildhall.In this thesis,the author takes the immigration guildhall in Ming and Qing Dynasties as an entry point to analyze the regional identity embodied in the immigration guildhall,and then explore the possible reasons for the formation of regional identity.First of all,by combing the local chronicles of Guizhou document since the Ming Dynasty,the author makes a basic statistics of Guizhou immigration guildhall during the period of Ming and Qing Dynasties: that is,the classification and the spatial and temporal distribution of the immigration guildhall.Secondly,through using interdisciplinary research methods and comparative research methods,the author investigates the regional identity implied in the immigration guildhall,namely the regional identity in terms of the worshipping gods,construction and social activities in the immigration guildhall during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Thirdly,the author probes into the reasons for the formation of regional identity,including immigration factors,local conception and so on.In a word,immigration guildhall in Ming and Qing Dynasties is a symbol of entity of the provincial regional culture,which reflects the origin of regional identity of immigrant groups.