Analysis On The Regional Features And Cultural Connotation Of Paddy Production Customs In Southeast China

Southeast China has witnessed a long history of paddy production which, as the primary mode of production in the region herein mentioned, affects deeply the life of the people therein. The paddy production customs therein are region characteristic because of the special environment of nature and culture therein. This article analyses the customs of paddy production in Southeast China with emphasis on the regional features of the customs and the relation between the customs and the daily life, folk belief and folk literature, hoping to extract the social values and humanities as embodied thereby. This paper analyses the influence of the paddy production customs on folk life, revealing that the paddy production customs are motivated and experiential in that they arise out of and evolve with the objective needs of paddy production, and that the customs are vital to peasantry life because of their influence on life and festivals. It is also revealed that the customs of paddy production reflects the folk belief, or, otherwise put, the customs and the folk belief is what phenomenon to essence. Folk belief evolves together with the development of paddy production and enriches its customs which, when passed down incessantly, provides in turn motivation and need for folk belief. This article also points out that the customs of paddy production is the source of inspiration for folk literature in Southeast China where rice-motif stories, though told of all the sections of social production, are all confined within paddy cultivation, a feature special to the region thereof. These folk stories reflect the religious psychology and the good hopes of the people cultivating rice in Southeast China as well as their life and customs.