"Standardization" And "Pseudo Standardization" Of The Belief In Guangong

The God is not only some kind of belief, it is a sense system,or it can be regarded as the symbolization and construction, forwhich different people may endow it with different meanings.TheAmerican scholar James L.Watson in his Standardizing the Gods: ThePromotion of T’ien Hou("Empress of Heaven") Along the South ChinaCoast puts forward the concept of "standardization" of the gods,while another American scholar Michael Szonyi comes up with theconcept of "pseudo standardization" to refute Watson’s idea.I amdeeply inspired by these two theories, and then I bring the"standardization" and "pseudo standardization" into the study ofthe belief in Guangong(a traditional Chinese warrior in the ThreeKingdoms era) so as to interpret the features of traditional Chinesebeliefs.The paper in chapter I introduces the belief in Guangong, thereal Guangong in history and the historical development of thebelief in Guangong. Chapter II discusses the promotion of thestandardization of the belief in Guangong. It first tries to letus understand the concept of the standardization of the gods, thenstudies the promotion of "standardizing" the belief in Guangong,and finally analyzes and summarizes the significance of"standardizing" the belief in Guangong. Chapter III discusses theexisting "pseudo standardization" in the standardization of thebelief in Guangong. It first defines clearly the concept of "pseudo standardization", then chooses the “Five Fiends” in the south ofChina and the “Fairy Fox” in the North of China as the typicalcases from the historical facts that unorthodox sacrifices judgedby the government are still worshiped and sacrificed under the coverof Guangong Temples to discuss the fact that Guangong Temples remainin name only, and analyzes profoundly the significance of “pseudostandardization” of the belief in Guangong by the comparativeanalysis of the Guangong and unorthodox worships in the eyes of allsocial classes. Chapter IV analyzes the causes of the specialphenomenon and interprets the features of traditional Chinesebeliefs through the facts of “standardization” and “pseudostandardization” of the belief in Guangong.