Research On The Cultivating Function Of The Ancestral Temple

The research on ancestral temple and issues related to it is a breakthrough point of great importance for those who research Chinese rural society.Enter the 21 century, ancestral temples which were stroke even destroyed have been restoring in vast rural areas,especially in Jian in Jiangxi Province,emerging as a new phenomena in country. Someone holds that the establishment of ancestral temples is the revival of feudal influence;others think it is an effective way to preserve Chinese traditional culture.No matter which side people hold on to,it is true that ancestral temple has come to revive. Under the background of constructing new socialist countryside,how to view the reviving of ancestral temples,directly influences the evaluation of Chinese traditional culture,development and transformation of society and the construction of harmonious countryside.The researcher has analyzed literature involving ancestral temples,in general,present studies define the main function of ancestral temples as ancestor worship,and what educates peasants is the ancestral culture which focuses the ancestral temples and is composed of ancestral temple architectural culture,the tablet and the couplets of the ancestral temple,genealogy and family regulation,ritual activities,etc. however,researches on ancestral temples' cultivating function still lack in complete, thorough analysis.Through case studies and interviews,the researcher carried out a field survey into the "A" village of Xinxu town in Jian of Jiangxi Province,revealing not only the process of ancestral temples' popularity and decay but its resurrection cause,reaching a conclusion that ancestral temples,as a symbol of the countryside,bears the burden of significant education function for contemporary peasants.Based on case studies,the researcher infers that the appearance of contemporary ancestral temples can not be view apart from the changes of the economy,politics,culture and society. Such phenomena could be attributed to several reasons.First of all,since the opening and reform,due to series of "peasant-beneficial policies" aiming to improve development of agriculture and rural economy,many peasants broke away from poverty and become increasingly rich,thus settled the economic basis for building ancestral temples.Secondly,the government executes "country politics" of the villagers self-monitoring system,which works through self-monitoring organizations to legally deal with affairs involving villagers' benefits so that the government could loosen control on the countryside and people gain not only economic freedom but democracy rights to join community management.As peasants began to make democracy decisions, their "right consciousness" became stronger and stronger as well,leaving a relative loose politics room for building ancestral temples.Additionally,material civilization has been progressing as well as economy flourishes;however in the countryside,spiritual civilization dose not share the same fast pace in progressing,the hard-to-beat clan culture become people's prime support for spiritual belief and serves the building for ancestral temples as "cultural hotbed".Further more,the countryside elite leadership advances the building of ancestral temple.And besides all that,ancestral temple,as a core site in the country,its construction also full fills the psychological needs of people.The originally function of ancestral temples is ancestor worship,secondary function is education carried by different carriers including ancestral building,rituals, genealogy,villager regulations and so on.In various ways these carriers educate people with collective consciousness,identify with nationality,individual socialization,and culture inheriting,sense of morality and ruling by law.Undeniably,to a certain extent, the returning of ancestral temples is actually a manifestation of plundering material resources and social resources under the cover of traditional culture which is used as supportive symbols.It's usual to learn in our survey that every ancestral temple costs many people and large amounts of money.But,judging whether the contemporary ancestral temple building is detrimental depends on whether it is harmless and whether it protects people legal benefits.Such phenomenon is to some extent history restoring, and suitable with country life.Hence,the starting point of developing peasant education should consist with principles both of education and of country life.