| Studying folk beliefs was an important breach for studying local society and its folk culture. GanNan which was comparatively far away from the central government provided rich soil for the propagation and the spread of the folk beliefs. Since Tang and Song dynasty, especially in Ming and Qing dynasty, GanNan folk beliefs had developed extraordinarily, and become one of the major local characteristics. Folk beliefs took all kinds of gods as their carriers, and the article took the main god of the region—Xu ZhenJun as the object of study, aimed to reveal the development of the local society, social transformations, and the important role that folk beliefs played in integration in local society.The article restored the process of "Hakkaization" of the Xu ZhenJun faith in Gannan from the historical context dynamically, by studying the time when Xu ZhenJun faith appeared in Gannan, the channels of it, the number and distribution of WanShou palaces in GanNan, the temple fairs of ZhenJun, and some other related contents informatively. The article stated that at the very beginning, Xu ZhenJun faith was introduced by Taoist JingMinDao through preaching in Yuan dynasty, and it met its climax in Ming and Qing dynasty. Its process of dissemination and development could be divided into three stages, in which the officials played the dominant role. After analyzing some cases, the article stated that the Xu ZhenJun faith and the commodity trades of villages in GanNan were inextricably linked. For the people, joining in the Xu ZhenJun faith was tantamount to the purchase of the market ticket, and Wanshou Temples became the symbol fields of the markets. At the same time, Xu ZhenJun also served as the chief executive role of the local society. Among the intricate clan relations, Xu ZhenJun faith adjusted the interactions between the clans, and maintained the harmonious development between them to create an environment of good order for the development of traditional society in Gannan. |
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