The Research On Social Function Of Belief In Guandi

Belief in Guandi is an important part of Chinese folk beliefs,and has always occupied a high position in the ancient Chinese belief system,also an important part of loyalty culture system.Its research can not only reflect the values of people,but also create a positive cultural and social atmosphere.The inquiry about the belief in Guandi focuses on exploring the value of times and social function embedded in the belief,and then making full use of the belief in Guandi to serve the modernization and social life.As the hometown of Guan Yu,Yuncheng plays an important role in the enrichment of the image about Guan Yu,the construction of temples in Guandi and the development of belief process.It can be said that Yuncheng is one of the cradles and bearers of the belief in Guandi and contains rich faith stories and respectful acts,it's an important place to study the belief in Guandi and treasures trove of information about belief in Guandi.Guandi has been used as cultural card of Yuncheng,carrying the spiritual symbol of the region.This paper intends to use the belief in Guandi in Yuncheng as the core and starting point to explore the reasons for the existence and inheritance of belief in Guandi since the Song and Yuan dynasties to today,and then to discuss the main beliefs of the faith groups in this long river of history.Then one by one to explore the psychological and social functions that behind those beliefs,which is the core content and foothold of this article.The thesis consists of three parts:In the first part,in order to explain social function of belief in Guandi,I cut in from the motivation that can produce faith.According to the difference of main motivations that push faith to produce,the motivations of belief are divided into four categories:admiring loyalty,group identification;hosting hope,self and family dual drives.By Combining with the inscriptions of temples of Guandi in Yuncheng,fiction,field survey data,drama and poetry to fully and reasonably summarize motivations of belief in Guandi.The second part,linking the motivations of belief to elaborate thebehaviors of faith.The behaviors with universality and obvious hereditability,infiltrating in all aspects of society and lives of public people,admiration and credence for Guandi has dissolved in daily behavior.By repairing temples,worshiping at the age,participating temple fair,acting to Guandi,making visit with ceremony and other acts and rituals to show not only the actual needs of belief and spiritual sustenance of the faith groups,but also the social status and value of life of an era and a society.The third part,corresponding with the behaviors of belief one by one,and combining with field surveys to explore the social functions of belief in Guandi.The belief in Guandi is a real existence,which plays a role in example education,advocation of public welfare,psychological adjustment,emotional care,cultural communication,economic promotion and other aspects.Function and value are the reasons for the existence of things,is a reasonable basis for the inheritance of belief.Exploring the social functions of belief in Guandi,on the one hand,is to demonstrate the value of times of belief in Guandi and it's necessity to exist.On the other hand is to inspire the state and local to reasonable and fully use the belief in Guandi to serve the social construction,to inject the values of loyalty and sincerity into the construction of a harmonious and civilized city,and to create a good social atmosphere.In general,this article takes the Song and Yuan dynasties to today as the research background and the core and the foothold are the social functions of the belief in Guandi.The article begins with the motivation of belief and leads to some behaviors of belief that exist and has faded.Then through analyzing behaviors one by one to explain the psychological activities,social functions and the values of times behind the behaviors.Although the belief in Guandi has returned to pure folk belief in the 1920 s,the numbers of belief has decreased,however,the motivations that motivated people to produce beliefs are still existance.Ways of belief may be shifted or simplified,but the function and value that reflected by those ways can not be ignored.