The Study To The Ritual Soundscape Of Mazu Danchen (birthday) In Dongmen Island Zhejiang Province

This thesis takes the ritual soundscape of the Mazu danchen(birthday) in Dongmen island in Zhejiang province as the subject. The Mazu belief is one of the most influential folk believes in Fujian and Taiwan. Among the littoral areas and the oversea Chinese settlements, it is also treated as the goddess on the sea. Surveying the recent researches on this subject, most of them focus on Fujian and Taiwan provinces, while the study in other areas is seldom; Most of the researchers study from the perspective of history textual research, transmission, function, meaning, and so on. However, There is few studies that take the soundscape as the subject. With the aim to supply a gap in this area, the author studies the soundscape of the Mazu danchen(birthday) ritual in Dongmen island, Zhejiang province. Besides, the author also wants to illustrate the variety of the Mazu soundscape through studying the case.Through the study to its appearance which analyzes the ritual and its sound, the thesis also aims to study the changes happened in the society and its history. Therefore, we can speculate on other areas' situations, and explain why the sound of Mazu danchen(birthday) ritual is regarded as the symbol of the native belief as well.With theories and methods of ethnomusicology as the guide, the thesis analyzes the soundscape performing traditions, such as its performing place, function, rules, repertories, continuity, transmission, musicians, partners, and so on. And the author not only combs out the documents, but also does some fieldworks. Taking its environment as the point of entry, which includes the belief system and its social environment, the author analyzes the relationships among belief, ceremony, and performance and sets up the ethnography about the ritual.