Deification, Visualization And Application In Chinese Folk Religion

Zhima is a form of Chinese traditional and religiously inspired folk artwork. Zhima isaround9centuries old and can be traced back to the Song Dynasty and was still in useup until the early twentieth century. Due to the onset of modernization and thesubsequent changes in society the use of Zhima gradually faded from people’s lives.This thesis focuses on the Zhima work of the Neiqiu county as the key research focus.The Zhima of this region was referred by locals as “Shenma”. Even in current timesZhima is still created, circulated and used as an important and practiced form of FolkReligion. With this relative rarity in mind, this thesis aims to carry out a generalinvestigation into the relationship between the living object and its environment. Thisthesis aims, in so far as is possible to present Shenma in its entirety. With the study ofShenma acting as the primary vehicle, this thesis aims to discuss differentperspectives, psychological operations, multiple forms of Zhima as well as meaningsand values of Chinese folk religion in a modern context.In the past century, Zhima has received reactively limited attention from researcherand academics, the writing of its history is thus incomplete. With this in mind thisthesis attempts to apply the arguments of Song Tao from the Ming Dynasty togenerate clues as to the meaning of Zhima, according to his research which explainsthat:“horse-wood horse-horse painting on paper-wood block pictures of gods is calledZhima”. This is the key evidence that documents an outline of the history whichshows the birth prosperity and decline of Zhima. I believe that the clarification ofsuch historical records must be the foundation for study of the various aspects ofZhima. For the purpose of this thesis, it is only in the context of a clear historicalbackground, that a specific investigation of Neiqiu Shenma can be undertaken.The specific investigation of Shenma is divided into two parts: context and images.The investigation of”context” looks towards history, geography, cultural ecology andfolk religion to form the necessary conditions in which the occurrence, existence andderivations of Shenma in Neiqiu can be understood. Culturally, the long history ofwar and mass immigration had a great influence on the cultural status of Neiqiu. Theyears of war were a primary reason behind the frequent folk religious activities in Neiqiu. In this region, the practices of folk religion permeate almost all aspects ofpeople lives. In this context, Shenma has become an important part of folk faithpractice since its creation. Due to the fact that Shenma was enshrined by every family,it naturally had a more close relationships with everyone and, therefore, plays themost significant role in folk faith practice in Neiqiu.Through the use of field research in Neiqiu, this thesis considered the effect ofShenma on folk belief with two basic aspects in mind: First, the images of gods whichare printed in Shenma; Second, the illusional circumstance in the family which iscreated by the godly images. For the latter, it refers directly to Divinity locations,meaning temples in Neiqiu. Locals create this secure space in order to enclose reality.It is likely that people could live and work propitiously in this safe space, which isassumed to be protected by gods. This psychology of Divine Space extends into thehome of locals, through the utilization of Shenma.The image for looking is another important function of Shenma. The main reasonlocals have a strong and faithful affinity for Shenma is because Shenma stands for“close to fortune and far away from adversity”. It acts as people’s “ideal sanctuary”thus averting disasters and giving people hope in their life. At the same time, Shenmahas a lot of values and inestimable positive effects on developing morality andmaintain order of social life. Through analysis of the image itself, the Iconography,the prototype of gods that print on Shenma are presented. All the values containedwithin the images of Shenma are thus revealed. Besides this, the ways of folk like andcreative activities of the gods are represented and meaning an observer will be acutelyaware of these dynamics. At the same time, based on the image analysis, theprototype、image and position of gods in a family are reemphasized. Thus thehypothesis, stating that the home space in Neiqiu is structured as a Divine Space willbe consequently proven.This thesis also investigates the existence of forms of Shenma in modern life. Basedon the fact that forms change with the locals’ living environment, this thesis considers:on one hand, the positive part of Shenma related to traditional values has faded due tothe disappearance of traditional lifestyle. On the other hand, something we realized inthe newly created Shenma is that, even the changing of folk beliefs forms are never stopped in history, the mental structure of people is deep-seated and has neverchanged. People habitually intend to ask gods to help and create new deities whenthey face states of emergency, especially in dangerous situations.This thesis finally considers the typical meanings of Shenma and the application ofChinese folk belief. In the end, the relationship between Chinese folk religion,nationality and culture will be introspected.