The Research On The Water God Belief Of Han Dynasty

The belief in water god is a type of official folk cross-religion rooted in the agricultural society of Han Dynasty,and it’s also an indispensable part of China’s religious belief.As a mysterious force that surpasses human ability,it helped people deal with all kinds of troubles they encountered both in production and daily life when facing floods and other natural disasters,which indirectly reflects the tendency and requirement of people’s wish to conquer nature.Therefore,in a certain sense,it’s a kind of interest exchange from the value orientation of pragmatism,on the basis of matter rinciple and combined with daily communication.Through some utilitarian exchange like petition,dredge,and bribery in the water god sacrificial ceremony to pray for the relief of floods and droughts,which reflects how,under the influence of undeveloped scientific level and superstitious thoughts as well as the control of the two natural views of "Shentian" and "Humantian",people comforted their spirit and helped themselves through water god belief in the face of trauma,anxiety and fear brought by floods and droughts.Besides,under the intervention of the government,forming a complete set of water god sacrifice system and water god sacrifice objects,which had a profound impact on the development of Han Dynasty.Therefore,this paper is divided into the following parts to study and discuss the belief of the water god in Han Dynasty.The first part: Introduction.To review the previous research results on the subject of water god belief in the history field and expound the selection of research subject,research purpose,research methods and research approach of water god belief in Han Dynasty.The second part: namely the first chapter of the paper.Under the understanding of water culture as a carrier,this part examines and sorts out the meaning of the water god belief.The third part: the second chapter of the paper,as a religious beliefformed by the lower class of the society,the water god belief played an important role in the production and people’s daily life of at that time.At the same time,it also reacted upon the upper class of the society.It was a tool the ruling class used to maintain their rule and appease the people.Thus,the rulers of Han Dynasty continued to improve and develop the existing water god sacrifice system in Qin Dynasty,forming a water god belief sacrifice system with unique characteristics of Han Dynasty.The fourth part: from the third chapter to the fifth chapter of the paper.as one of the religious beliefs in Han Dynasty,the objects of water god belief are very extensive,so according to the existing relevant historical materials and combined with the research results of predecessors,the water god is reclassified and divided into three categories: water source gods,water damage gods,and water control gods.Draw some water god representatives of Han Dynasty to do related research on its development.The fifth part: the sixth chapter of the paper,firstly,as a type of religious belief that originate from the lower class of the society,the water god belief in turn acts on the upper class of the society and used by the rulers of Han Dynasty,and has an impact on different classes of society.Secondly,the agricultural-based Han Dynasty had frequent floods and droughts,the water god belief played a subtle role in the development and management of Han Dynasty water conservancy construction,and promoted the development of water conservancy in Han Dynasty.Finally,absorbed and borrowed by Confucian culture,Taoist culture and Buddhist culture,the water god belief played an important role in the development of Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism after Han Dynasty.