Study On Folk Religion In Suzhou And Songjiang District During Ming And Qing Period

During the period of Ming and Qing dynasty, the development of Folk religion in Suzhou and Songjiang district was related with given social ecology. It means that on the one hand , as a part of social cultural system, folk religion interacted with state power, social economic change and Confucianism ideas; on the other hand, the role of the man in the area of folk religion should be mentioned, the profit-oriented activities of man is very important.Out of concern for its reign, while trying to destroy some devil cults, state governors also wanted to make use of folk religion. Although this two kinds of measurements were not very successful, the state system and ideology still imperceptibly influenced the development of folk religion.Folk religion also had to be confronted with Confucianism ideas. Although Confucianism classics provided some princiles about how to sacrifice to gods and ghoats, these princiles were also ambiguous. As for Confucianism intellectuals, they mentally depended on the gods, and often took advantage of folk religon for regional welfare or personal profits. It complicated the gentry's ideas and provided space for the development of folk religion.As for common people, without state power and wisdom of manipulating gods, the meaning of folk religion became much more important to them. Although the intellectuals couldn't understand their sacrifice activities, the fact was that these activities are still rational.Besides, the folk religion in Suzhou and Songjiang district were also reltated with the economic rise of Jiangnan area since late Ming dynasty. The economic changes also interacted with the development of folk religion too. It should be especially mentioned that the change of folk religion could mirror the rise and fall of town economy.In a word, when we study the folk religion from the respect of social ecology, it will be found that at any time, any element could not play itself on its own. General speaking, both the elements of social structure and profit-oriented activities of the man molded the characteristics of folk religion in Suzhou and Songjiang district. One of these characteristics is that there exsited some mix areas in folk religion, the study of these areas would help us get a deeper understanding about folk religion in daily life.