Study Of The Folk Belief In The Region Of Shandong During The Republican Period From 1912 To 1937

The folk belief is a kind of psyche of faith and act of faith, circulated inChinese folk. It has a broad mass base and it plays an important role inthe construction of psyche of faith of Chinese Han Nationality.In recent years,“the study of folk belief”has gradually become oneof the most popular topics of research, which attracts a lot of experts andscholars from different fields, including fields of History, CulturalAnthropology, Folklore, Sociology, Science of Religion, etc. Startingfrom their respective fields, these experts and scholars studied the folkbelief of our country with different perspectives.However, among the research treatises at the current stage, there arenearly no works which systematically discussed the folk belief inShandong during the Republican period from the view of the Chinesemodem social and cultural history. Also, in the past, scholars alwaysintroduced what folk belief was, and few could further discussed theproblems about“why”. In other words, it is not sufficient in studying thechange of folk belief.The author mainly studied the belief of divinity existing among theordinary people, including the relevant ritual activities. Combining with abundant literature researches and field surveys, the author combed andclassified the folk belief in the region of Shandong during the Republicanperiod, and made a deep excavation, comparison and conclusion on itsfeatures, functions and the cause of formation.The author not only discussed what the folk belief was in theregion of Shandong during the Republican period, but also found outthe reasons. By studying and concluding, the author thought the featuresof that kind of folk belief have particularly close connection with thetraditional production and living habits of this region and the rightpermeation of secular states. Besides, Qi and Lu culture, the traditionalthinking and the natural geographical environment also have importantinfluence.The folk belief in Shandong during the Republican period could bemainly divided into six types. They are figure god belief, animal godbelief, nature god belief, Heaven and earth deity belief, professionprotection god belief, sprit stone belief. The folk belief in the region ofShandong during that period was utilitarian, comprehensive, various andlegitimate. And it had the functions of releasing emotion, inheritingculture and stabilizing community.