A Cultural Geographical Investigation Of The Female God Belief In Hainan Island In The Ming And Qing Dynasties

For a long time,the ancient Hainan Island served as the "foreign land" ruled by the Central Plains.It’s political,economic,and social aspects have highlighted its own characteristics.Compared with other regions,the goddess faith development is a major feature of the local gods ’beliefs in Hainan Island,and it has distinctive regional characteristics.This article focuses on describing the three main goddess beliefs in Hainan Island,and reveals how the local society of Hainan Island can reflect the promotion of the state and the active participation of all levels of civil society to localize the national deities or enter the local worship of local deities.The combination of legal status with national affairs and people’s life will build a space of faith.This article is mainly divided into six parts.The introduction mainly introduces why this topic was chosen and its discussion value,the research and writing methods to be used in this article,and innovations.The first chapter introduces the natural and social background of the development of deities ’beliefs in Hainan Island,the overall development of the goddess’ beliefs,and the prominent reasons.The second,third,and fourth chapters summarize the three main goddess beliefs in Hainan Island: the respective development processes of Matsu,Madam Xian,and Saint Mizuo,the distribution of temple sites and the spread of belief,the evolution of clergy,and the situation of believers.Chapter five specifically compares the similarities and differences of the three,analyzes how the goddess beliefs play a role in the construction of a belief space,and works together from the country to the place.At the same time that the people gain spiritual comfort through the belief in the gods,the goddess beliefs also serve to educate the people.