Folk Belief Of The Fortresses In The North Of Datong During The Period From Qing Dynasty To The Republic Of China

Folk belief had a solid mass foundation in the traditional world and constituted a major part of folk culture. Investigation of folk belief will contribute to the understanding of social culture of basic level, and the life of common people as well as the structure and operation in local society .At present most of relevant studies focus on folk belief in South China, while relatively less in the North, especially in Shanxi Province. This thesis aims to investigate diachronically to make up for this weak line by putting folk belief in the local society's circumstances with the methods of community studies and fieldwork in social anthropology. It has interaction of folk belief and relationships of the fortresses as its subject, explores its situation, characteristics, and changes from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, and discusses folk belief's status and functions in local society, operation in lower society and the construction of local relationships, especially the associations and the cultural infiltration between the Mongolian and Han nationality .The study is based on the data findings from the seven fieldworks in the North of the city of Datong , Shanxi, corroborated and complemented with local documents and uses relative theories of social anthropology, folklore, religious anthropology.The occurrence and continuity of fork belief is closely related to the living environment of people, and the surroundings .Different environment will make different effects upon the mentality of people. As a result, fork belief has different kinds of ways. Compared to the open living places, the fortresses show more history stamps.During the period from Qing dynasty to the republic of China, there existed domestic folk belief such as ancestors, god of sky and land, kitchen god, door-god, local god of land, etc., in the fortresses in the North of Datong, Shanxi. The folk belief was more embodied by the great number of temples and various functions of gods between fortresses. In the fortresses in the North of Datong, the region characteristic of folk belief mainly displayed in three aspects: First, the tutelary god assumed personal command, the land abdicated; The military god was numerous, the Wenchang God did not prosper. Second, the people widely believed in the netherworld god, paid great attention to expel evil spirits or things. Third, the feminine God's status was higher than others. In the fortresses settlement's relations, the folk belief was also playing the important role. On one hand, the folk belief adjusted and adapted the fortresses' social relationships. The folk belief was the respective capital stock during the establishment of the fortresses' social position. On the other hand, the folk belief was also the joint link between the Mongolian and the Han nationality which nearby Great Wall. The Mongolian and the Han nationality's belief culture seeped mutually in the fortresses, the people took in after it, created one kind folk belief culture, it was both different from the culture of the Han and Mongolian nationality's.This article indicates the research of the folk belief of the fortresses in the North of Datong during the period from Qing dynasty to the republic of China is very important to the Great Wall culture. It's also a neglect aspect to study the history and social change along the Great Wall.