Religious culture at the centre of social organisation

1. Religious culture at the centre of social organisation

2. our terms • please keep in mind: • religious culture & social organization our terms (etic) to analyse something else • analytical terms do not necessarily represent the entire phenomenon, just a dimension • older terminology • diffused religion • Little Traditions

3. their framework • kinship • in sources as: zu族, xing姓,jia家 etc. • constructed, partly on basis of biological descent • residence • in sources as: cun村, zhen鎮 and so forth • natural village increasingly unimportant from Song onwards • provenance • usually migration history kinship-units • temporary migration (huiguan會館)

4. networks • network: worship • ancestors => group claiming shared descent • deities =>group claiming shared residence or provenance • professional deity (late) => group sharing profession (including Confucius!) • All-under-Heaven => privilege Son-of-Heaven

5. family and ancestors

6. family • kinship unit consisted of those people who claimed common descent from a shared ancestor • ≠ pure biological unit • adoption • exogamy based on family name • potential exclusion bad elements, daughters, prematurely deceased children • status differences • family of official could build long term groups • reform early Jiajing reign (1521-1567)=> every family could construct larger units

7. ancestors • lopsided research • dominated by southern China and relatively recent period (Fujian and Guangdong since the Ming) • earlier periods only covered in secular terms (groups without the ritual core) • ancestors at the core • direct ancestors worshipped at home • more distant ancestors worshipped elsewhere • nowadays: return home to worship ancestors and renew bonds

8. relevant rituals • during the marriage-rituals: • 拜天地 • 拜父母 crucial moment of transition , point of no ritual return • 拜祖先 • creating a group (family) and incorporating within larger unit • NB marriage ritual also contain exorcist rites (ex. crossing of wok) • daily small-scale sacrifice at family altar (core family) • refreshing sense of family • funerary rituals • refreshing the larger kin unit and networking • NB funerary rituals also contain exorcist rites (ex. feeding sheng–bird) • rituals for the dead • 清明 • 鬼節/盂蘭盆=>施食 rituals • support Buddhist institutions to maintain post-mortem services (burning lamps to rituals on fixed days) • collective ancestor worship (continued next slide)

9. 家壇 拜祖先 葬式 拜祖先 北干那那, 新山 (Malaysia) 拜父母

10. collective worship • larger kinship units through worship • Song onwards esp. through funerary ritual and maintaining Buddhist grave cults (elite families) • Jiajing (1521-1567) reforms, esp. important in Fujian and Cantonese cultural areas => allowed creation lineages • higher order ancestor allows larger groups • ancestral hall • hall owns land and engages in projects (avoid taxes on persons) • common enterprises: opening up land, school • arise in regions where pre-Han cultures (esp. Yao-She) put stress on larger kinship units

11. commentary • not essentially “Confucian” • predecessors already documented for the Shang • label (!) as “Confucian” is result Qing reappropriation of the lineage as “Neoconfucian”/classicist and the May Fourth movement attacks on kinship • Buddhist connections • funerary ritual in general • Ghost Festival narrative since Tang • Feeding Ghosts for Flaming Mouths since early Song • debate among Christian (Roman Catholic) missionaries • Jesuit vsDominican+Franciscan debate: Chinese Rites controversy • is it religion or commemoration • viewpoint of the Non-Action Teachings

12. residential groups and deities

13. village (classical cult) • outdoor worship stones and trees • seem to be inhabited (搜神記 anecdotes) • still in existence, esp. southern China-Vietnam (single cultural zone) • tree worship in Jinhua 金華 (S. Zhejiang), no doubt elsewhere as well • ? living trees (待考) • worship by village as a whole • spring and autumn sacrifice (before and after the N. Chinese harvest) • sharing of meat and alcohol • often led by mediums/shamans (still much unclear) • reinvention of tradition early Ming • Zhu Yuanzhang朱元璋 & Neoconfucian advisors • imposition altar worship on basis of “classical” texts

14. 深圳 (PRC) 石頭公 館南 (TW) 千年石母祠 長洲HK

15. village (premodern cult) • anthropomorphic worship God of the Earth • partly instead, partly next to the older cults, their relationship and evolution still needs study • different types • named xx 府君 etc. • generic 土地公，福德正神 • statue of generic deity: pink face, grey hair, holds bar of gold • roofed over shrine (rich communities may have temples) • worship by the village (later also street) on deity’s birthdays (no direct link agricultural season anymore) • reporting of village deceased=> sense of membership of community

16. territorial deity controls territory and its community of worshippers communal representation & benefits ascribed formal rites (state, communal, Daoist, Buddhist) charismatic deity helps whoever worships personal requests & benefits explains: erratic nature of benefits voluntary inspired rites (shamans, mediums) territorial : charismatic

17. higher territorial cults • higher territorial cults always encompassed lower level territorial units as well • Travelling Palace (Temple) of the Eastern Marchmount東嶽行宮 & City God 城隍 • underworld cult • in charge of a Daoist bureaucracy of exorcist deities • urban temples • acme of tribute paying hierarchy of shrines and temples: enact imperial structure • mostly temples for “heroes” (see further on) • territory 境 • marked by processions & tribute • may leave his territory • spreads with the groups that worship him/her

18. 山西蒲县東嶽廟 霞海城隍廟 1930

19. higher territorial cults (continued) • “hero/heroine” cults • evolve from successful cults for hungry ghosts (e.g. 有應公) to whom divine assistance is ascribed (e.g. 關公, 天后) • receive socially & politically acceptable histories (ex. 天后/媽祖and 郭聖王） • official titles by the state in recognition of the support groups • conceptualized as feudal relationship: emperor, king, duke, etc. who rule over territory (not bureaucratic) • forms of assistance • collective/communal help (examples)weather-related • infectious diseases • protection community against bandits etc. • not at expense of individual members group • not very communicative • moonblocks & prayers, maybe dreams, rarely possession

20. 保生大帝‘保安宮 （(Taiwan) 有應公 (Taiwan) 有應公 • 真武 • (澎湖) (Macao)

21. “membership” territorial cult membership is conditional: • residential in the territory • right to work land or shared provenance • must be expressed through contributions & presence/participation • no exceptions (treat Christian case) • not everybody (treat migrants/kejia客家) beware for: • vocabulary of belief/membership

22. charismatic cults • treated in more detail in lecture five on shamans and mediums, here brief discussion to complete my analytical picture • not based on territorial units, but on personal attraction & bond • Max Weber’s concept of charisma • in the eyes of the beholder, not an absolute quality: belief by followers that someone possesses extraordinary qualities • outside institutionalized structures, not bound (NB there may be cultural conventions about what counts as charismatic) • charismatic deity helps individuals • personal support is always at expense of others (law of limited good) • deity him/herself also typically outside the system (naughty, unruly, disobedient) • liminal figures boluo fox • liminal creatures live between here and there => can mediate between worlds (good), can come to attack us (bad) • origins: • incomplete transition (hungry ghosts/demons 餓鬼) • non-humans changing form (animals, trees/plants, stones) • humans attaining life beyond life (immortals) • typically very direct communication through mediums

23. boluo fox

24. regional differences • little systematic study • lack of local sources for the north until mid-Ming • good local sources for Yangzi region from Song onwards • good local sources for parts of Fujian from Song onwards, otherwise mid-Ming onwards • rest of southern China mid-Ming onwards or even later • distortion by recording mostly officially recognized cults • impression based on Ming local gazetteers • far more local variety in the south (reflects diverse origins south) • figures classical mythology (Tang, Shun, Yao etc.) worshipped in regions original exploits (mostly north) • supra-regional cults mostly southern origin (<= trade)

25. a historical hypothesis • previous remarks largely typological, some historical comments: EXTREMELY tentative • overall historical change • originally: nature worship + demons + charismatic deities • late Tang onwards • nature worship replaced/superseded by anthropomorphic deities • charismatic deities start becoming territorial deities • spread supra-local deities with trade, military expeditions, some migration • no extreme standardisation pantheon • Watson 1985 based on misunderstanding local gazetteers • countercases: Taiwan, Yin county etc.

26. professional groups

27. Guilds and Kaufmannschaften • Guilds (hang 行) • worship of mythical inventor (curiously largely late imperial period, although guilds themselves already attested in Song period) • their centre usually located in temples (Eastern Marchmount two famous examples, in Changxing during the Southern Song and Beijing during the late imperial period) • Kaufmannschaften會館山西會館 • esp. late Ming onwards-early Republican period • replaced by Chambers of Commerce (early 20th century) • focus on regional deity • network building, common festivals, burial sites • maybe engagement in charitable activities • surprisingly little defense common interest

28. 山西會館 incenseburner

29. “Confucians” • Classicist school & Temple for Confucius • focus for officials & literati who worshipped Confucius => origin Western (Jesuit) term Confucians • those who worship “Confucius” and other classicist heroes as their “patriarchs”祖師 or ancestors 祖先 through sacrifice • creation of lineages of teachers and pupils

30. Temple of Confucius (Tainan), note invented rituals

31. sacrificial practice

32. basis of all ritual • burning incense • sacrifice • alcoholic drinks: tea • meat: fruit • raw: cooked • pay respect (hands, bowing, kowtow) • making representations • contact with extra-humans • possession ⇄ • soul travel ⇄ • encounters (often unaware at first) • dreams (surprisingly one way) • prognostication • moonblocks

34. society and politics

35. government supervision • until Tang • most local cults similar Earth deities (stones, trees etc.) • state did not care for the local world • highest elites organized separately through Buddhist and Daoist institutions=> these had to be controlled • from late Tang or Five Dynasties onwards • economic growth in some regions led to broader elite • in those regions new types of territorial cults • supervising/controlling/recognizing territorial cults means of making the loyal community & their leaders loyal to the imperial centre

36. research questions why was destroying local cults so important in the 1950s what does destruction ancestor worship mean for kinship groups? how do villages maintain unity in absence of worship (or did, in the Maoist period) regional differences and their significance