Study On Ancestral Halls And Temples Of North Hainan

Hainan ancestral halls and temples carry on traditional Chinese timber frame as the feature of architecture, presenting a distinctively national character and regional feature of architecture. Since Hainan coastal residents going to sea for a living and seeking development, it makes people closely connected with the ocean while sea trade activities have been very active. Therefore, they have the sea god worship which is a result of Marine culture. Hainan was an immigrant society in its history while their ancestors came from the central plains. The process of migration was related to kinship and geography. When immigrants settled down, they built local-style dwellings based on compact communities, but also were dependent on the role of religion in order to achieve a better living and work in peace and contentment, which is the foundation of hainan’s folk belief. No matter religious entities, beliefs, the prayer ceremonies or the dates are all similar to those of mainland. Due to believers’worship of the gods, the architecture of ancestral halls and temples not only plays an important role in the folk belief, but also becomes the essence of traditional architecture in Hainan. Also, it was inherited from the tradition of the central plains’religious architecture in shape, style and construction. But the different details in performance reflect that the national characters and local features are a kind of natural and social culture phenomenon. Research on traditional ancestral halls and temples of Hainan province will enrich and develop both Chinese and Hainan’s local architectural history; fill the blank in the research of Chinese architectural history; and explore the historical, science, and artistic values of the traditional architecture. It also has academic values for heritage protection and utilization in Hainan, and references for contemporary architecture’s creation.From the perspective of architecture, this paper draws lessons from the foundation of the related disciplines such as sociology, anthropology theory. Through the on-the-spot investigation on ancestral halls and buildings in North Hainan and further literature query, interviews and material collection, the architecture’s shape, system and space have been generalized, the basic characters have been analyzed and the ways of protection and utilization have been discussed.This paper is divided into six chapters:the first one is an introduction which put forward the general ideas, including sources of the topic, research purpose and meaning, applied theories and methods, and frame structure, etc. The second chapter is consist of an introduction to the traditional culture of north Hainan region, an analysis of several influential traditional cultures in Hainan, and a discussion of regional characteristics of North Hainan’s culture which paves way for the introduction of ancestral halls and temples below. The third chapter is an analysis of North Hainan’s architecture of ancestral halls and temples. From the perspective of architecture, this chapter analyzes the selection, layout, shape, space, structure, decoration, and construction practices of those architectures. Chapter four is mainly about unique customs, beliefs and ancestral halls and temples in Yangshan district, introducing unique beliefs and customs in this area, analyzing the general features of Yangshan architecture and researching on the special land worship in this region. Chapter5has a amount of typical examples, separately from the ancestral halls, temples, to Yangshan architecture which are all key to the foundation and evidence of this paper. Chapter6discusses the way of protection and utilization. Through the analysis of the status quo of ancestral buildings and temples in north Hainan, the protective measures are put forward, and the most reasonable way of protection and utilization are discussed.The whole paper is about60,000words with180pictures and diagrams(172pictures,8diagrams).