Study On Brunei Chinese Religious And Its Connection With Ancestral Land

Brunei Darussalam is a monarchy country with Islam located in the north of the island of Kalimantan.In the early 20 th century,hundreds of Chinese settled in Brunei.Later,with the discovery of oil,a large number of Chinese people,especially skilled workers,began to settle down in Brunei and gradually formed a large scale.Tengyun Temple is the only and largest Chinese temple which was registered by the Brunei government.It was built by the Fujian Chinese in 1918.In1959,due to land expropriation by the Brunei government,Tengyun Temple was relocated to the present downtown area for reconstruction.In 1960,the new temple was completed and renamed.The main gold of the temple is Guangze zunwang,who was from Nan'an,Fujian.Xuantian shangdi,Baosheng dadi,Zhusheng niangniang,Guansheng dijun and Fude zhengshen are also worshiped in the temple.Based on fieldwork and historical documents,it is found that the early Tengyun Temple was built because of dividing incense from the Fengshan temple in Nan'an and the Chinese transported temple decorations to Brunei.Later,they set up the music group and invited teachers from Kinmen,Fujian.Moreover,the board of directors of Tengyun Temple has invited gezi opera performance team from Xiamen,Fujian to Brunei for god performance in Mid-Autumn festival,which was also the birthday of Guangze zunwang and Fude zhengshen for more than ten years;They also organized incense ceremonies and returned to the ancestral temple.Taking Tengyun Temple as a case study,this thesis discusses the religious belief and ritual activities of the Brunei Chinese,and analyzes the motivation for them to build internal unity of the Chinese ethnic group,the good interaction with the government and based on the recognition of the patriarchal culture with the native land,thus generating the connection with the hometown and ancestral temple and the transnational practice of worship.Finally,the thesis discusses this connection,which reconfirms the identity of the temple as the only legitimate Chinese temple,strengthens the ethnic identity of the Chinese,and enriches the religious culture in Brunei.On the other hand,it also has a positive impact on the prosperity and revival of local economy and culture in native land,as well as the friendly development of China-Brunei relations.