The Temple Fair Of The Northern Shaanxi And The Social Changes Of The Northern Shaanxi In The First Half Of The 20^th Century

In this paper,the formation,type, distributed range, duration and content of activities of temple fair of the northern Shaanxi as well as its development in modern society.From the three time intervals ,the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, the Agrarian Revolution period and Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Area period , the activities of the temple fair of the northern Shaanxi are discussed in the modern times , especially in the first half of the 20th century.Meanwhile , its unique performances of reforming period are presented in the modern times.This paper is divided into three parts:Introduction is the first part which mainly summaries achievements of the studying temple fair in the academic sphere and analyses its existing deficiencies. Moreover, the origin and concept of temple fair are defined.The research methods of this paper are also shown.In the second part,the folk belief of the northern Shaanxi are outlined.People of the northern Shaanxi had the first religious belief in the period of ancient times. After the Eastern Han Dynasty,with the formation of Taoism and spreading of Buddhism,the situation of Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism were formed in the northern Shaanxi . Therefore,the temples as reflection of different religious belief were built up gradually, the temples rising situation were also formed.During the development of temple,thus the temple fair was formed.The temple fair of the northern Shaanxi has different classifications depending on the different partitions.The durations of temple fair were different,but mostly concentrated in the summer and fall,and not contrary to the farming seasons.Its activities were rich and colourful,burning incense and worship the gods, operas and rewarding the gods, commodities transaction,etc.They were important contents of folk activities in the northern Shaanxi.In the third part,the roughly development clues of temple fair of the northern Shaanxi are discussed in the first half of the 20th century. Meanwhile,its characteristics of the times are also shown.In the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China,the features of temple fair of the northern Shaanxi mainly manifested in two aspects.On the economic point,they promoted the development of commodity economy in the modern times of the northern Shaanxi,linked up the communication and connection of the northern Shaanxi and other areas.On the political point,they promoted hand in hand of different political parties and combined the strength of national unity.The temple fair became the political arena which the revolutionary party organized and launched a revolution.In the Agrarian Revolution period,the temple fair of the northern Shaanxi became the center which communists assemblied secretly and commanded the battle. The KMT and the CPC offered sacrifices to the Yellow Emperor of ancestors by means of the temple fair,the national identities were established gradually,and finally walked on a joint Anti-Japanese war road.In the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Area period,the border area government adopted measures suiting local conditions and turned a thing to advantage.They propagandaed revolutionary and education by making use of the temple fair.The religious superstition colors of temple fair of the northern Shaanxi were weakened.The temple fair became a social life center of the masses of the people.