| In the border regions of Hunan, Guangxi and Guizhou province (hereinafter referred to as Xiang Gui Qian for short), there exist lots of Kwan-yin Statues with a certain systematicness and continuity. Compared with conventional Kwan-yin Statues, they differ greatly in whole appearance and details, so the inner culture deserves a sound study. This paper aims to, through analyzing the differences of Ganyin Statues in the border regions of Xiang Gui Qian, and decodes the hidden culture of them.In order to analyze the difference of these Kwan-yin statues, first, its counterpart——conventional Kwan-yin statues must be analyzed. As the propagation of three types of Kwan-yin belief, Xian School, Mi School and Folk School, began to take shape in China, Kwan-yin Statues are divided into three types as well: Xian Convention, Mi Convention and Folk Convention.By means of studying various cases, the writer analyzes the external physical characteristics of four major types of Kwan-yin statues——Children-Sending Kwan-yin, Holy Kwan-yin, Sitting Kwan-yin and Thousand Arms Kwan-yin——were analyzed, and their features were concluded: in material, they are made mainly from common wood or stone; in gender, most of Kwan-yin are female; in statue types, Children-Sending Kwan-yin, diversified in postures, ranks first in number, and Sitting Kwan-yin is so much different from traditional ones, and Thousand Arms Kwan-yin takes on new features distinctive from Tibetan Thousand Arms Kwan-yin; in appearance, firstly, headdress and dresses possess secular and local color, for instance, statues with Yun Jian secular dresses, or local color Kwan-yin statues with phoenix cap or frog cap. Secondly, in posture, the makers of statues in these regions favor Sitting Kwan-yin most, and most Kwan-yin sit in a free and easy way, thus it even becomes a major type of Kwan-yin.Based on the above analysis and compare Kwan-yin Statues in the border regions of Xiang Gui Qian with conventional ones, it's safe to draw the conclusion that Kwan-yin statues in the border regions of Xiang Gui Qian vary greatly from conventional Kwan-yin statues in the whole appearance and details,and from local statue convention that is relatively independengt.The changing Kwan-yin statues in these areas have rich hidden culture, which is greatly influenced by the special human geography in these regions, blending of diversified culture influenced Children-Sending Kwan-yin, phoenix cap Kwan-yin is underlying effect of phoenix culture in Chu area,"lun wang zuo"Kwan-yin expressed the spirit of pursuing freedom.In a word, the author believes that the Kwan-yin statues have relatively independent local statue convention,and the special charateritics contribute to the cultural integration in these region, and the independence of local culture spirit. |
